Trend of holding kids back to excel in high school sports is on the upswing | Engelhardt

The Duncan brothers are kind of the local poster boys for the recent trend of high school athletes being “held back,” the controversial practice of giving a player an added year of maturity and perhaps an edge over their younger opponents.

Although there was and is considerable flack about this practice, nothing the Duncans did was against the IHSAA’s rules. As long as a player does not turn 20 before the state finals of the sport he or she is competing in, the player is still eligible. So, if an athlete is 19, he is eligible, even though most seniors are 18 or even younger.

This trend seems to have picked up nationally the past several years, even though purists are shaking their heads in dismay.

“Oh yes, I think my parents holding me back did me a lot of good athletically,” said Ernie Duncan, a 2014 Harrison High graduate who is 10th on the City's all-time leading boys' basketball scoring list (1,428 points) and helped lead the University of Vermont to a pair of NCAA tournament berths in college.

“I was ready to play right away in college and it took less time to adjust. It also gave me a better chance to go and play a Division I sport and achieve what I achieved.”

Ernie Duncan: Harrison grad Ernie Duncan returning to Evansville to conduct two-day basketball clinic

Younger brother Everett Duncan, a 2015 Harrison grad, is the City's No. 7 all-time leading scorer (1,551). He also played for Vermont, along with youngest brother Robin, now a senior for the Catamounts.

Colson Montgomery, a sensational multi-sport athlete who was drafted in the first round by the Chicago White Sox in July, turned 19 on Feb. 27, his senior year at Southridge. He went on to spark the Raiders to the Class 3A state baseball championship and lifted them to the 2A semistate in basketball. Montgomery hit .287 last summer for the ACL (Arizona Complex League) rookie league White Sox.

Even though it’s totally legit, he by definition was playing one grade out of his class. We’re just trying to shine a light on the issue. It's a loophole being exploited. The classic letter of the law vs. spirit of the law debate. Again, neither Montgomery nor the Duncans did anything wrong.

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Former Castle basketball standout Blake Simmons, who helped spark the Knights to the Class 4A semistate as a junior in 2012, played most of his senior season at 19. Blake went on to play for his father, Marty, at the University of Evansville.

Josiah Dunham, a member of a tremendously athletic family, is playing basketball for Evansville Christian as a 17-year-old sophomore. He has already been offered by UE.

Barr-Reeve principal Jeff Doyle is against what he describes as a "win at all costs" philosophy.

"I don't think it's a good idea for people to be held back for athletics," said Doyle, who starred at Loogootee High School and was a member of the University of Southern Indiana's NCAA Division II men's basketball runners-up in 1994. "I don't agree with that."

This practice has been commonplace in western Kentucky for decades. Travis Perry, an exceptional point guard from Lyon County, was “held back” one year in grade school. He was so talented he started on the varsity basketball team in seventh grade. Yes, in Kentucky, seventh and eighth graders are eligible to play for the high school varsity, with the exception of football and soccer. More on that later.

Only a sophomore, Perry is playing his fourth season of varsity ball and could become Kentucky’s all-time scoring leader. He already has offers from Creighton and Mississippi.

The Indiana High School Athletic Association’s Rule 4 speaks to the Age Rule and is as follows:

Unlike Doyle, North athletics director Tyler Choate has no issue with students being "held back."

"If parents are following that by law, I see no issue with students being older for their grade," said Choate, also North's girls' basketball coach. "I believe it is solely a parent's decision."

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Reitz boys’ basketball coach Michael Adams discussed the possibility of holding back his son, Drew, several years ago. But Michael's wife, Donna, basically told him he was crazy.

“There’s no secret it does make a big difference (athletically),” Michael said. "I talked to my wife and she said, 'Why do that?' He was a straight-A student and he's a doctor now. She was right."

Drew was valedictorian of his senior class at Reitz and played basketball for Marian University.

Lander, Ford, 'play up'

While athletes being “held back” a year for athletic reasons has drawn controversy, Khristian Lander was pressured by then-Indiana University men’s basketball coach Archie Miller to graduate early from Reitz, so he could join the Hoosiers. Essentially, Lander was playing for IU last season when he should’ve been a senior in high school.

As mentioned previously, Kentucky gives seventh and eighth grade athletes the opportunity to play high school varsity sports, with the exception of football and soccer. Current Saint Louis University men’s basketball coach and former University of Kentucky standout Travis Ford played for Madisonville North Hopkins’ high school varsity team when he was still in eighth grader.

Ford may have been ready in terms of talent to play all the way up to the varsity level as an eighth grader, but was he ready mentally? Was Lander really ready to play for IU last season?

All in all, this craziness seems to show no signs of abating, whether an athlete is being "held back" or "playing up."

Contact Gordon Engelhardt by email at gordon.engelhardt@courierpress.com and follow him on Twitter @EngGordon.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Holding kids back a year isn't against rules, but still controversial