Please join us January 12 At 6PM for the next ATA Parent Meeting
The 8th Grade Red Shirt Year is a Great Idea!
Recommended for parents of rising 6th-9th grade students.
Why should you consider the 8th grade red shirt year for your child?
It’s not just about the sport… it’s about the brain!
(executive functioning, prefrontal cortex, and transitional years)
Middle school years are full of incredible changes in the body, but the most important is the development of the brain, primarily the prefrontal cortex. Some areas of your child’s brain are fully formed by age 4 or 5, like the senses of sight and touch, but other areas develop much later. The last portion to mature is the prefrontal region.
Why is the prefrontal area so important to the transitional years before high school? Primarily, because this is the region in control of executive functioning. Executive functions are the skills we use daily to organize and regulate our reaction to incoming information – a necessary tool for successful learning.
Think of these basic skills:
Impulse and Emotional control
Resiliency and Flexibility
Working Memory
Time Management and Organization
Connecting the past to the present
Children with an early high functioning prefrontal lobe are often labeled as gifted or advanced in traditional schools because – possessing these tools – they appear to be as compared to their classmates. They can control the impulse to shout out, laugh or say something inappropriate. They can attempt to solve a problem more than once without discouragement. They can determine whether or not they understand something and remember what they learned the day or week or month before.
A part of their brains may have matured earlier, but it does not necessarily mean that they will have the most successful results later in life. It does mean however that they may be in a better position to succeed when placed in a higher learning environment as high school and upper level courses. Schools often push these children ‘ahead’ and skip grades due to their apparent boredom.
However, what sometimes happens to the ‘advanced’ learner is that ‘good grades’ come without much effort, so he has no need to develop healthy study habits. Then, when content actually requires a deeper level of analysis, he is not well prepared. This sometimes results in confusion or a low self-esteem, thinking that he is no longer ‘smart’ because things do not come easily.
To those whose brains develop a bit later may be labeled as having ADHD or other learning disability. Obviously this can further develop into low self-esteem or lack of confidence, which can then lead to poor performance and the loss of desire to learn or study or attend school. When this diagnosis is met with extra hours of tutoring of the same material in the same ways that are not getting through in the classroom, the results can lead to shutting down completely or escaping into behavioral issues.
So although a red shirt year can definitely benefit the young college-bound athlete to gain more strength, speed and agility, it can also enhance her ability to think, organize and develop self-confidence and joy in learning.
In a small personal environment as College Prep, students can be challenged without being overwhelmed. Instructors are consciously working to identify and strengthen each student prior to passing them along to the next level. With approval, red shirt students may begin taking high school level courses. Most complete 2-4 high school credits during this transitional year, which can either be used to lighten their load and ease travel, or to allow them to take additional advanced courses according to their affinities. This extra time also allows them to further explore likes and dislikes, community service projects, and other interesting topics and experiences.
From perfunctory to prefrontal thought, the red shirt year is worth considering for your budding student-athlete.
