Sports effected will be 2019 Baseball, Softball, Football/Cheer and Soccer
Douglas Coffee County Parks and Recreation Department has been notified by the Georgia Recreation & Parks Association (GRPA) that a new age control date for 2019 Baseball, Softball, Football/Cheerleading, and Soccer youth sports will be effective beginning with basketball registration which begins September 17, 2018.
GRPA is the governing body for most recreation level sports programs in Georgia and DCCPRD follows the guidelines set forth by the GRPA for Douglas-Coffee County Parks and Recreation sports programs. A recent rule change made by GRPA will establish a universal age control date of September 1 for all sports programs starting in 2019. This new date will be consistent with the age control date for school, and will allow for children in the same grade to be in the same age division in sports programs. It will also eliminate the current system of different age control dates for each sport, allowing a child to be in the same age division for each sport during the same year.
“Please understand that this change was made on the state level and we deeply regret that any children will be adversely affected by the implementation of this rule,” says Stevie Young, Parks and Recreation Director. “However, we have to follow the rule that will be in effect for the basketball season. In the long run, this will be a good change and will simplify the age control date and make the ages for different programs more consistent.”
Many baseball and softball players will be adversely affected. Any baseball player with a date of birth between May 1 (the current age control date) and September 1 (the 2019 age
control date), will be one year older by this rule and will lose a year of eligibility. For example, a player that turns 13 years old on May 2, 2018, will be a 12 year old under the current May 1 age control date, but will turn 14 years old prior to the new age control date of September 1 in 2019 and will be a 14 year old, skipping his 13 year old season. It will be the same for softball players born between January 1 (the current age control date) and September 1 in 2019. Those players will also lose a year of eligibility under the new age control date. On a positive note, the new age control date will also make some children eligible to participate a year sooner than under the current age control dates.
For additional information, please contact the Recreation Department at (912)384-5978 or email syoung@cityofdouglas.com.