New evidence of relative age effects in “super-elite” sportsmen: a case for the survival and evolution of the fittest

Abstract

The relative age effect (RAE) describes an overrepresentation of players born early (Q1) in a selection year and is highly prevalent within youth sport pathways. However, a dearth of research has investigated the RAE at the "super-elite" level. The present research assessed the presence of RAE in super-elite performers. Study 1 investigated RAEs in the world's best international Test cricketers (N = 262) over a 20-year period according to a robust and stringent "super-elite" criteria. Results revealed the RAE (Q1) when all disciplines were combined. Upon closer examination, this effect was also observed for the batting and spin bowling disciplines, whereas no RAE was found for the pace bowling discipline. Study 2 investigated RAEs in super-elite rugby union players (N = 691) over a 20 year period. Results revealed the RAE for backs (Q1) and a reversal of the traditional RAE (Q4) for forwards, and when all rugby union positions were combined. These findings provide new evidence of RAEs at the super-elite level and present both inter and intra sports differences. Potential explanations for these findings are explored, owing to the survival and evolution of the fittest concepts, and the implications for future research and applied practice are presented.

Does the Relative Age Effect Influence Short-Term Performance and Sport Career in Team Sports? A Qualitative Systematic Review

“…These results, in men's sport, are in line with other studies that confirmed that relatively young players, considered as "talented, " achieved more and greater attainments throughout their sport career in terms of competitive experience (Carling et al, 2009), competitive productivity (Sims and Addona, 2016), longevity of sport career (Jones et al, 2018), ranking position (Ford and Williams, 2011), or salary (Ashworth and Heyndels, 2007). These results, given the relevance of team sports in their respective sociocultural contexts, could be explained by the "underdog effect" (Gibbs et al, 2012).…”

“…In this kind of studies, the impact and magnitude of the RAE can be accurately evaluated, but they have the inconvenience of assuming an equal distribution of the athletes by grouping method throughout the year (Dixon et al, 2020 ). On the other hand, studies based on the “longitudinal performance analysis” have proliferated with the aim of verifying the consequences derived from the RAE throughout the sport careers (Steingröver et al, 2016 ; Fumarco et al, 2017 ; Jones et al, 2018 ). The indicators most used to assess long-term performance have been individual or collective cumulative statistics, position in the ranking, victory rates, or number of national/international appearances.…”

The Relative Age Effect and Talent Identification Factors in Youth Volleyball in Poland

“…The presence of an RAE has been observed at the senior and youth levels in the following contact team sports: basketball (Arrieta et al, 2016;Werneck et al, 2016), soccer (González-Víllora et al, 2015;Skorski et al, 2016), and handball (Schorer et al, 2009). Contrary, the RAE was not found in other team sports such as rugby (Jones et al, 2018) and water polo (Barrenetxea-Garcia et al, 2018). In line with this, the findings of existing literature on RAE in contact team sports have been controversial so far.…”

The Talent Development Pathway for Elite Basketball Players in China

“…These factors have been studied with different approaches, focusing on athlete talent development career transitions [18,[23][24][25] or talent development as a holistic phenomenon [13,14,16,26,27]. In both cases, a vital itinerary has been a recurrent tool to study in depth elite career pathways [8,23,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34], since it allows the investigators to understand the factors affecting the athlete and his circumstances. Stambulova et al [24] already talked about the importance of such circumstances, especially when considering their cultural framework.…”