A 7-foot 13-year-old, throwing down tomahawk dunks.
A 9-year-old kid hitting 350 feet home runs.
A 12-year-old wide receiver with a full beard running a 4.6 second 40 yard dash.
While genetically gifted athletes certainly exist for every age range, the overwhelming amount of insane athletic feats pulled off at younger and younger age ranges is increasing rapidly. Every day it feels as if there is another five star recruit or number one player in the class pulling off improbable feats at very young ages.
A large cause of this new phenomenon is reclassing, where kids decide to change their grade in order to stay with a grade level that better suits their athletic or academic abilities.
While many times reclassing is a positive action, some athletes may try to game the system in order to become a higher prospect in a younger class, in turn hurting all the prospects who are true members of that class.
In the 2026 mens fencing class, three out of the top 12 fencers are listed in the under 19 list, while typical junior fencers are in the under 17 list, indicating that many of the top fencers reclassed. While this is just one example, almost every youth sport is facing similar issues to this right now, creating tough decisions for athletes as to whether or not they should reclass.
Eighth grader Michael Sorrell recently reclassed from the class of 2028 to the class of 2029 for a variety of reasons.
“The main reason that I (reclassed) was to give my body and mind an extra year to develop, and for skill development, but I believe that it will also help with college recruitment and maybe also professional opportunities,” Sorrell said. “Another reason was because I was honestly supposed to be in the grade that I am in now all along. When I got into St. Mark’s in 2nd grade, we had the choice to put me in 1st grade or 2nd grade, and at that time we were just thinking about what was best for me.”
Reclassing proved to be the right decision for Sorrell, helping him achieve good academic skills and develop physically for his upcoming high school season.
Sorrell is a standout basketball player for his class and hopes to continue his high performance at the school.
“While I was homeschooled, I led my homeschool basketball team to a winning record while leading them in points and assists, and I believe that I made a huge improvement during my homeschool year as it allowed me more time to work on certain areas of my game, like my IQ and my skill development also took a big leap,” Sorrell said. “Outside of sports, I achieved a 3.89 GPA, which was my biggest goal to achieve. Also, I was able to play for my homeschool teams freshman and JV team as an 8th grader, and I was also able to meet the Howard University’s Men’s Head Coach.”
Sorrell developed significantly as a player during his time while being homeschooled, due to the school not allowing students to reclass, and honed vital skills that will help him throughout the rest of his career. While Sorrell could have stayed at the school, he is grateful for the opportunities that homeschooling provided him and its preparation for high school.
“I believe that I would not be as prepared to play winning high school basketball,” Sorrell said. “I would also not have had to be able to get ahead on the rigorous St. Mark’s high school workload, so I think that both my academic and athletic career would have unfolded differently. I wouldn’t say it gave me an advantage, but I would say that it helped me improve in the areas that I needed to, and I am grateful for that.”
Deciding to reclass can be an extremely difficult decision, but Sorrell had the support of his family and friends the whole time, helping to ease the process. Additionally, reclassing also creates unforeseen issues that Sorrell had to solve, but in the end, he felt like he made the right choice.
“My dad was actually the person who first thought of the decision, so my family thought it was a great idea,” Sorrell said. “My teammates and coaches thought it was a good decision and said that it was smart to have an extra year to improve. (The hardest part) was probably socially, because when I reclassed I went to homeschool for a year, and I was missing all of my old friends, but I was able to make new friends at my homeschool basketball team.”