The influence of initial selection age, relative age effect and country long-term performance on the re-selection process in European basketball youth national teams

Kalén, Antón; Lundkvist, Erik; Ivarsson, Andréas; Rey, Ezequiel; Pérez-Ferreirós, Alexandra

doi:10.1080/02640414.2020.1823109

Cited by 20 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(30 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As the NT consists of 12 players per tournament, the generally most used strategy seems to be leaning toward being more individualistic than in earlier studies in other sports (Güllich and Emrich, 2012;Barth et al, 2018). Similar differences between sports have been found when studying the number of players re-selected from 1 year to the next, where the re-selection was much higher in European NT basketball than in both German and Portuguese football Güllich, 2014;Kalén et al, 2020). These observed differences between sports could probably be related to the sport's popularity within specific countries, which might increase the number of licensed players in these sports and, consequently, the number of players available to be selected.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 51%

“…This allows us to compare the success of different selection strategies. Earlier basketball research has, for example, found a relationship between higher rates of re-selection in youth NT programs and better long-term performance of the senior NT (Kalén et al, 2020). A possible explanation discussed is that higher reselection rates might be an indication of better organization and clearer strategies within the program, which has been shown to lead to better performance (De Bosscher et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…However, a recent study found that European youth basketball NT programs have a lower turnover of players, with 70-80% reselected from 1 year to the next (Kalén et al, 2020). Furthermore, another study showed that European senior basketball NT players had played an average of around three youth championships (Kalén et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Talent Selection Strategies and Relationship With Success in European Basketball National Team Programs

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is limited knowledge of the talent selection strategies used by national sporting organizations to identify and develop talented players in basketball. Therefore, we aimed to explore differences in selection strategies between European youth basketball national team (NT) programs, and how they relate to the program’s success. Specifically, we examined differences in the number of youth NT players and within-country variance in the 1988–1999 generations between 38 countries (n men = 38, women = 32). Further, we tested if the number of youth NT players and within-country variance was related to the NTs senior ranking, youth ranking, and youth-to-senior player promotion, using generalized Bayesian multilevel models. We further checked the moderating effect of the amount of licensed basketball players in each country. On average, 15.6 ± 2.0 male and 12.4 ± 1.8 female players were selected per generation. Over a third of the NTs consistently selected a higher or lower number of players than the average, with a difference of 8.1 players (95% CI [5.8, 10.8]) for men and 7.6 players (95% CI [5.4, 10.0]) for women between the countries with the highest and lowest average. When licensed players were used as moderator, the differences decreased but did not disappear, in both genders. There was an above 99.3% probability that a higher number of players was positively related to higher men’s senior and youth rankings, and women’s youth ranking. Within countries, generations with a higher number of youth players generated more senior players, with a probability of 98.4% on the men’s, and 97.3% on the women’s side. When licensed players were used as moderator, the probabilities for these relationships remained largely unaffected, apart from women’s youth ranking, which sank to 80.5%. In conclusion, the selection strategy in basketball NT programs varies between European countries and selecting a higher number of players possibly relates to better long-term performance and more players promoted to the senior NTs. These findings show that talent development programs should make conscious decisions about their selection strategies as it can affect their success.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 51%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Talent Selection Strategies and Relationship With Success in European Basketball National Team Programs

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…RAEs occur not due to a single factor but rather due to a complex interaction of individual constraints (e.g., an individual's date of birth, maturation, and abilities), environmental constraints (e.g., talent promotion programs and coaches), and task constraints (e.g., the physical and physiological demands of the sport). This interaction leads to advantages for early-born players in athletically demanding sports such as track and field (Romann and Cobley, 2015), ice hockey (Nolan and Howell, 2010), handball (Wrang et al, 2018), basketball (López de Subijana and Lorenzo, 2018;Kalén et al, 2021), and soccer (Votteler and Höner, 2017;Hill et al, 2020a;Romann et al, 2020;Yagüe et al, 2020). This is particularly the case in team sports, where the specific demands of different playing positions can even be associated with different RAEs (Wattie et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relative Age-Related Biases in Objective and Subjective Assessments of Performance in Talented Youth Soccer Players

Leyhr

Bergmann

Schreiner

et al. 2021

Front. Sports Act. Living

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Talent research has recommended that multidimensional assessments of performance are needed to improve the identification and development of talented young athletes. However, factors such as the relative age effect may cloud our ability to assess factors related to performance. The aim of this study was to determine the extent of any relationship between soccer players' chronological and relative age, and objective and subjective performance assessments. Data for highly talented male soccer players selected into the German Soccer Associations' talent promotion program (N = 16,138) for U12 to U15 age groups (Mage = 12.62 ± 1.04 years) were examined. Besides anthropometric assessments, players completed a battery of five motor tests that objectively assessed speed abilities and technical skills (specifically sprint, agility, dribbling, ball control, and juggling). In addition, coaches subjectively rated players on their kicking, tactical, and psychosocial skills, as well as providing holistic evaluations of each player's current and future performance levels. Correlation analyses were used to investigate the extent of any relationships between the chronological and relative age of players and their results for each of the assessments. A strong linear decrease in the frequency of later-born players confirmed the overrepresentation of early-born players in all age groups (0.92 ≤ |r| ≤ 0.95, each p < 0.001). From U12 to U15, significant (each p < 0.001) correlations were found between the chronological age of players and their height (|r| = 0.70), weight (|r| = 0.69), speed abilities (|r| = 0.38), and technical skills (|r| = 0.43). When evaluating each age group separately, small effects were found when correlating relative age with the anthropometric assessments (0.18 ≤ |r| ≤ 0.26), and only trivial effects with speed abilities and technical skills (0.01 ≤ |r| ≤ 0.06). Similarly, low correlations were found for the subjective evaluations of kicking, tactical, and psychosocial skills with chronological age across age groups (0.03 ≤ |r| ≤ 0.07), and with relative age in each age group (0.01 ≤ |r| ≤ 0.11). The results show a skewed distribution toward early-born players and—in reference to their relative age—advanced performance in late-born athletes. However, trends toward a better holistic rating of early-born players for current and future performance levels were found. Coaches should be aware of these effects during talent selection, but also when interpreting results from subjective and objective assessments of performance.

show abstract

“…However, in the context of international competitions for males, the impact seem less clear. International competitions are specialised high-performance sport contexts, and it might naturally be assumed that player selections would be influenced primarily by technical-tactical criteria , a player's initial selection age, or the country's long-term performance (Kalén et al, 2020). The lack of impact of RAE on performance in female competitions has been explained by lower biological and conditional differences among players from the same selection year (Konstantinos et al, 2018) and by the "depth of competition hypothesis" (Baker et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relative Age Effect on Competition Performance of Spanish International Handball Players: A Longitudinal Study

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Competitive success is the ultimate objective of elite professional sport organisations. Relative age effects (RAE) impact athlete selection processes in the short and long-term performance. The aims of this study were: (i) examine the presence of RAE by gender, competitive level, and playing position, as well as evaluate the impact of RAE on individual (goals, percentage of effectiveness in shots, saves; percentage of effectiveness in saves, assists, turnovers, steals, blocked shots, penalties, minutes played, and minutes played per match) and collective competition performance (final team position); and (ii) analyse the impact of RAE on the evolutionary trends of individual performance in international competitions throughout 16 seasons in Spanish handball (2005–2020).Methods: The sample included 631 Spanish handball players (male: n = 359; female: n = 272). A Chi-square goodness-of-fit test was used to assess whether a skewed birthdate distribution occurred. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) of independent measures was used to examine the individual and collective statistical parameters by birth quartiles. A linear regression in a Hopkins sheet were performed to compare individual performance trends.Results: The results revealed RAE in the male formative categories (p < 0.001), as well as the male and female senior categories (p < 0.05). By position, RAE especially affected the “centre-back” in the male formative (p < 0.01) and senior categories (p < 0.05). No significant relationship between RAE and individual performance was found in male formative categories, while an impact of RAE on the “minutes played” was detected in the female senior category (p < 0.05). With regard to collective performance, a higher number of relatively older handball players was observed in the best ranked teams in the male formative categories and in the quarter-final teams in the female formative categories (p < 0.05). Among the male players, relatively older players spent more minutes on the court than relatively younger players, although this advantage dissipated over time and did not lead to better performance. Among the female players, relatively younger players were found to perform better as the level of competitive handball increased.Discussion: These findings are important for talent identification and development policies in sport federations and other elite sport institutions by demonstrating the many unintended consequences of selections to international competitions at the youth level.

show abstract

The influence of initial selection age, relative age effect and country long-term performance on the re-selection process in European basketball youth national teams

Abstract: The influence of initial selection age, relative age effect and country longterm performance on the re-selection process in European basketball youth national teams, Journal of Sports Sciences,

Cited by 20 publications

References 18 publications

Talent Selection Strategies and Relationship With Success in European Basketball National Team Programs

Talent Selection Strategies and Relationship With Success in European Basketball National Team Programs

Relative Age-Related Biases in Objective and Subjective Assessments of Performance in Talented Youth Soccer Players

The Relative Age Effect on Competition Performance of Spanish International Handball Players: A Longitudinal Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About