Hi Green, welcome! My 4th-grade DS8 skipped 1st grade, so he's at least a year younger than his classmates. He has some company with a couple kids who are the same (short) height. We did discuss the sports issue before we skipped, but by the time he entered kindy it was pretty apparent that we didn't have that sporty of a kid! We got training wheels off his bike last fall, but that was too soon, so now he won't get on his bike at all because he doesn't want anyone to see him on a bike with training wheels but he's too afraid to go on it without. He is enjoying fencing outside of school, and it is not an age-based sport (well, there's a range of ages in his class). He is a fast runner, despite his size. He also dared to get on a razr scooter this summer, and he loves it.
I guess for us re: the whole sports issue, it came down to the fact that he wasn't going to be the sportiest kid even if we kept him with agemates. And the academic need was more important in our family. We talked with our kiddo before the skip and warned him that he'd probably be one of the slowest in gym, and he said "that's OK, I'm already the worst." It really hasn't been that bad, as he's been keeping up pretty well since the skip.
I have not noticed any kids judging each other on size in my DS's class, and in fact one of my DS's best friends is the tallest in the class.
