Influence of the Relative Age Effect on Height, Motor Performance and Technical Elements of Olympic Volleyball Athletes

Abstract

Introduction The Relative Age Effect (RAE) refers to the chronological age difference that occurs between athletes of the same age category, which can benefit individuals born in the first two quartiles of the year. This phenomenon is commonly studied in team sports, yet the results are still inconsistent, especially in volleyball. Objective This study analyzed the distribution of the number of births per quartile of Olympic volleyball athletes and whether this would influence anthropometric/motor variables and technical elements. Methods The sample consisted of 116 male athletes who scored during the Rio 2016 Olympics. For data analysis, we identified each athlete’s quartile as well as data on height, attack and defensive (or block) range, and respective scores during the games. The Chi-square test was then used to verify interquartile distribution. To assess the normality of the other variables, we conducted the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Once accepted, one-way ANOVA was performed with the Bonferroni post-hoc test to verify significance between quartiles. A significance level of p≤0.05 was adopted. Results There was no significant difference in the distribution of athletes between quartiles (p = 0.74). When comparing the other variables in terms of the athletes’ trimester of birth, we did not observe any significant difference between height (p = 0.79), attack (p=0.59) and defensive range (p=0.07), and in the scores for serving, attacking and blocking between quartiles either. Conclusion The Relative Age Effect was not observed in Olympic volleyball athletes, therefore this phenomenon is not related to the athletes’ performance. This shows that other possible variables may influence the development of these athletes, discarding the relative age phenomenon. Level of Evidence III; Retrospective and Comparative Study.

Prevalence of the Relative Age Effect in Elite Brazilian Volleyball: An Analysis Based on Gender, the Playing Position, and Performance Indicators

“…Similar results were reported by Lupo et al (2019) , who analyzed the initial phase of the career of 3,319 adult athletes from various team sports, and found that relatively older athletes were overrepresented in the early stage of the sports career, corroborating that RAE may prevail up to adults when it is very pervasive in the youth context. On the other hand, Solon Junior and Silva Neto (2020) did not find any RAE in Olympic volleyball players, speculating that complex factors such as refined tactical skills may reduce the impact of maturational aspects. Our results contradict the findings of Solon Junior and Silva Neto (2020) , since RAE was present in the analyzed elite male athletes.…”

“…On the other hand, Solon Junior and Silva Neto (2020) did not find any RAE in Olympic volleyball players, speculating that complex factors such as refined tactical skills may reduce the impact of maturational aspects. Our results contradict the findings of Solon Junior and Silva Neto (2020) , since RAE was present in the analyzed elite male athletes. These differences could be explained by characteristics of this sport context, in which the maturational aspects are determinant for the selection of talents in youth categories ( Campos et al, 2020 ), favoring relatively older athletes who usually present an anticipated maturation process (height and muscle mass) compared to younger athletes ( Malina et al, 2015 ).…”

“…The chi-square test (χ2) was performed to verify differences between birth date distributions in relation to gender, playing position and performance, as previously proposed in recent research that investigated RAE in volleyball ( Campos et al, 2020 ; Rubajczyk and Rokita, 2020 ; Solon Junior and Silva Neto, 2020 ). Athletes were divided into four quarters (Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4), and 25% was assumed as the expected frequency for each quarter, as proposed by Cotê et al (2006) .…”

“…Evidence indicates that RAE influences selection and talent identification in different team sports ( Rubajczyk and Rokita, 2020 ; Schorer et al, 2013 ) such as soccer ( Yagüe et al, 2020 ; Figueiredo et al, 2022 ; Szwarc et al, 2019 ), basketball ( Kalén et al, 2021 ), rugby ( Kelly et al, 2021 ), futsal ( Castro et al, 2022 ), handball ( de la Rubia et al, 2021 ; Peña-González et al, 2021 ), and volleyball ( Campos et al, 2020 ; Işın. and Melekoğlu 2020 ; Rubajczyk and Rokita, 2020 ; Safranyos et al, 2019; Solon Junior and Silva Neto, 2020 ), with older athletes having better chances of being selected by coaches and talent scouts compared to their younger peers within an age category ( Furley and Memmert, 2016 ).…”

“…Thus, considering the specific characteristics of the sport system in a given country is warranted in new studies focused on RAE ( Lupo et al, 2019 ). Many studies have investigated RAE in volleyball, considering different sport levels, such as youth athletes ( Campos et al, 2020 ; Okazaki et al, 2011; Rubajczyk and Rokita, 2020 ), university athletes (Safranyos et al, 2019), and senior athletes who participated in World Championships ( Solon Junior and Silva Neto, 2020 ), with controversial results. With regard to elite Brazilian volleyball athletes, only one study, to our knowledge, has assessed RAE among male and female athletes who competed in the National League first division ( Parma and Penna, 2018 ).…”