Relative Age Effect in 14- to 18-Year-Old Athletes and Their Initial Approach to This Effect—Has Anything Changed Over the Past 10 Years?

Abstract

One of the environmental variables associated with early talent development and the achievement of a high level of proficiency in sport is the relative age effect (RAE). The purpose of our study was threefold: (a) to calculate the RAE in young Israeli athletes (ages 14–18 years); (b) to examine how the athletes perceived this effect, if the effect indeed exists; and (c) to compare the RAE findings of this study with those of two previous studies on elite male (Lidor et al., 2010) and female (Lidor et al., 2014) Israeli ballplayers. Participants in the current study were 1,397 athletes (390 females and 1,007 males) who competed in five individual (gymnastics, judo, swimming, tennis, and track and field) and five team (basketball, soccer, team handball, volleyball, and water polo) sports. Data on the RAE, as well as on a number of aspects associated with this effect as perceived by the athletes, were collected via two closed questions. Data analyses showed that the RAE was found to be significant among the male athletes in four sports—swimming, basketball, soccer, and team handball; those who were born early in the year had a higher representation in these sport programs. However, this effect was not found to be significant in the female athletes. Most of the female and male athletes did not think that their birth date influenced their athletic success. However, a large portion of those who were born in the first quarter of the year (Q1) and the second quarter of the year (Q2) among the male athletes felt that they exhibited stronger abilities in the sports program compared to their peers who were born in the third and fourth quarters of the year (Q3 and Q4, respectively). The data of the current study provide additional support for the use of an “open door” approach to accepting children to sport programs by policymakers and coaches in Israel.

Relative Age Effect in Brazilian water polo: analysis of male and female athletes from U16 to senior categories

“…Barrenetxea-Garcia et al 31 analyzed male and female participants in 2011, 2013, and 2015 World Championships and did not find RAE for this sample. Similarly, Lidor et al 33 found that RAE was not prevalent in a sample of young male and female Israeli athletes (14-18 years). On the other hand, Lupo et al 32 demonstrated the presence of RAE at all early stages but not in the late phase subgroups of the senior career of male water polo elite athletes.…”

“…Even though RAE is a widespread phenomenon in different individual 20,21 and invasion team sports [22][23][24][25][26][27] , investigations in water sports focus on swimming [28][29][30] , being scarce in water polo [31][32][33] . In addition to that, the results from studies that investigated RAE in water polo are inconsistent.…”

Relative Age Effect on Brazilian male elite futsal athletes according to playing position and performance by goals scored on Brazil National Futsal Leagues

“…Relative Age Effect (RAE) reflects the asymmetrical distribution of athletes based on their birth date relative to an arbitrary cutoff 1,2 , and has been recently studied in several team sports, like cricket 3 , handball 4 , beach handball 5 , basketball 6 , rugby 7 , soccer 8 , volleyball 9 , and futsal 1,[10][11][12] . Wattie, Schorer, and Baker 13 propose that the existence of RAE and its extent in a given sports context can be inter-preted based on the interaction of individual, environmental, and task constraints.…”

“…Furthermore, evidence suggests that RAE remains up to adult-elite professional players in some sports 12,15 . In general, RAE in elite athletes is justified by the following explanations: (a) relatively older athletes are more developed regarding several motor skills and physical capacities compared to younger peers, and (b) relatively older athletes are more likely to be perceived as talented by coaches compared to younger athletes, which makes them more likely to be selected for better teams 2,23 .…”

Exploring Relative Age Effects in Youth Ice Hockey Through a Single Team Case Study and Composite Narratives

“…With few exceptions (Chittle, 2020 ; Lidor et al, 2021 ), the research on relative age effects has been acquired through quantitative approaches, often relying on archival methods. It is vital that researchers interact directly with social agents to understand relative age effects.…”