Reclassing. The act of moving your graduating year back one year. Professional athletes like Andre Drummond , and Karl Anthony towns have reclassified and look how they ended up In the NBA making millions of dollars. Both were offered D1 scholarships after very great senior seasons Karl Anthony towns reclassed his senior year due to an injury. In this gap year he went on to break every record in the school for basketball  and got drafted to the timberwolves after playing his college career at Kentucky . The story for Andre Drummond is a different story. Andre reclassed his freshman year after being told countless times he was too small to play basketball in his gap year he hit his growth spurt and he hit it hard growing almost a foot taller he also went on to destroy records at his high school and get drafted to the pistons following his college career at Uconn. After reading this do you think reclassing should be allowed in middle school and high school sports? Or does it grant an unfair advantage.

The first reason reclassing should be allowed in highschool and middle school is because High schools offer a short window of time to exhibit your injuries and athletic ability. (cooper)Reclassifying is an obvious advantage of recovering from injury and getting the year or season they missed back. Getting this season back can give you time to recover from the injury . An injury could put a dent in any athlete's chances at a college scholarship.(cooper)When a college recruit sees that a player they are recruiting didn't play in their junior season they immediately aren't going to be interested in the lack of stats from the missing season. Finally Reclassing is a sign that you have the talent to play a sport in college, or potentially go pro.(cooper) This means if somebody who got hurt in their junior year of highschool who didn't have the potential to play in college they would just play their senior year and think nothing of it. But if a player who had D1 potential got hurt reclassing would allow them to not only gain back the season they missed, but show on paper to a college coach that they are ready to take the next step and play in college

The second reason is gaining an extra year of development could mean getting more athletic and gaining more experience in their sport. (cooper)Height and weight is a serious competitive advantage in the recruiting aspect. For example if you reclassed your 8th grade year gaining 10 pounds and 3-4  inches is a great advantage heading into highschool potentially getting onto a varsity team. It is common for a teen to grow several  inches in the year used for reclassing. An example of this is hitting your growth spurt as you are known to hit around the ages of 12-15 years old. (cooper) Finally size and experience is something that college coaches look for when recruiting you . (cooper)When a college looks at a recruiting profile and sees 6’3 and has been playing since third grade compared to 5’10 and has been playing since 7th grade. It’s pretty obvious who the coach is going to choose.

The third and final reason is another year means another chance to sharpen study skills, and take a class over to higher your GPA. Getting this higher GPA will help you get into the college because you can get a scholarship but if your grades aren't good then you won't be accepted into the school.(cooper) When reclassing you are gaining the biggest advantage of taking the class over. When athletes are given this opportunity of taking a class over it can't be wasted as the class should help boost your GPA.Also, maintaining a GPA slightly higher than your GPA last year shows improvement to recruiters who need to know you have the grades to be able to play. (cooper)When reclassing your intention is to 1. Become a better athlete 2. Develop better grades and test scores. These intentions are what get you recruiting and accepted into your dream colleges and hopefully lead you to the pros.(cooper)

In conclusion, reclassing should be allowed in high school and middle school sports. Reclassing is a major benefit for the athletes because if they get injured, need better grades, or simply need to get bigger or stronger. Despite those who believe it grants an unfair advantage the evidence says otherwise, because how is it fair to get hurt your senior year and not have an option to get your senior year back and be able to play.