What is a good explanation for why the WCA does not have age categories?

[Cubenovice]

Introducing age groups where a 9-yo may participate in <10, <13, <15, <18 and Open could result in much more solves throughout the competition for younger competitors.

Tim.

I'm sure people like Feliks or Seb Weyer would love that: double (triple?) the amount of solves for more chances to set WR's.

I think that the number of possible age classes should be kept to a minimum. Something like < 7, <10 and open.
<7 is not likely to have a lot of competitors but it gives the organiser the opportunity to award (and thus motivate) these little cubers.

[TimMc]

I think that the number of possible age classes should be kept to a minimum. Something like < 7, <10 and open.
<7 is not likely to have a lot of competitors but it gives the organiser the opportunity to award (and thus motivate) these little cubers.

With such a limited range of age groups the organiser might as well just introduce some novelty prizes "Fastest competitor under 10 years of age" etc. I awarded some prizes for the top 10 most improved at AN2011 (compared with 3x3 averages from AN2010) for encouragement.

Tim.

[shelley]

Age categories in other sports aren't just to let kids compete with their peers. It's to make things more fair so that you don't get adults beating up on little kids in situations where that's clearly unfair.

If a 3-year-old can solve a cube and a 14-year-old is cubing circles around all the 18-year-olds, it's nothing special if your 8-year-old can solve one. It's like asking for recognition just because you're the only person representing Iran at a small US competition.

[qqwref]

Age categories in other sports aren't just to let kids compete with their peers. It's to make things more fair so that you don't get adults beating up on little kids in situations where that's clearly unfair.

Yeah, agreed. In cubing I just don't see it being so unfair, unless the kid is extremely young (<6?) - we've already seen that if a younger person puts in the same dedication and work as everyone else they can be just as fast, so I don't think we will gain anything as a community for treating a 10-year-old who's spent two months cubing as the best young person in the region. I'd rather encourage young people to really get into the sport, than give them prizes just for being young and then have them quit later when they realize they don't want to put in the time to actually be on the level of the rest of the competitors.

It's like asking for recognition just because you're the only person representing Iran at a small US competition.

Haha, awesome analogy.

[Zarxrax]

The reason most other types of competitions have age groups, is because it would just be dumb to put an 8 year old kid on a football field with 17 year olds (although it would be an amusing sight).
Kids actually have an advantage in cubing, because of all the free time that they have available to practice with.