The Need to Consider Relative Age Effects in Women's Talent Development Process

Abstract

Relative age effects (RAEs) refer to age differences among athletes in the same selection year. This study analyzed birth date distributions of 301,428 female athletes (aged 10-20 yr.) in Swiss Youth sports and the subgroup (n = 1,177) of the National Talent Development Program (TDP) in individual sports. Comparisons showed significant RAEs in the distribution of athletes' birth dates in alpine skiing, tennis, athletics, fencing, and snowboarding. Significant "reverse" RAEs with an overrepresentation of athletes at the end of the year were found in table tennis. In the TDP, significant RAEs were found in alpine skiing and tennis. No RAEs were detected in athletics. In table tennis, fencing, and snowboarding, "reverse" RAEs were found. Clearly, RAEs are complex and vary across individual sports for females.

Efeito da idade relativa no Campeonato Brasileiro de Basquete: Categoria sub-15

“…The presence of RAE at higher competitive levels was found in a meta-analysis with athletes of different modalities and countries 7 . Thus, the results of the present study corroborate the premise that greater competition in the selective process may aggravate RAE 25 . In fact, the chronological age of young athletes in relation to their peers has been considered a relevant factor, which affects the athlete's chance of achieving higher performance levels 7,19 .…”

“…In this period of adolescence, due to maturational processes, chronologically older boys are generally taller and heavier, stronger and faster, and exhibit greater cognitive abilities and greater sports experience, resulting in temporary performance advantages over their peers chronologically within the same age category 4 . In female athletes, RAE is not so evident 20 and tends to disappear in adulthood 8,14 and there are situations in which inverse RAE is observed 25 . Our findings for females do not corroborate the available literature.…”

Relative Age Effects Across and Within Female Sport Contexts: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Estimated samples within studies are coded and highlighted in Table 3. from two studies were modified this way [25,61]. Sport contexts where a participant may have been present in several samples, due to multiple event entries (e.g., Breaststroke and Freestyle in swimming) were included as this was reflective of the organisational structures employed in the respective sport.…”

The Role of a Relative Age Effect in the 12th Winter European Youth Olympic Festival in 2015

“…As a consequence, relatively older athletes do not have the advantages seen in strength-related sports. Additionally, in technique-related sports such as figure skating, it is advantageous to be less mature, as is the case in sports such as gymnastics (Baker et al, 2014;Baxter-Jones, Helms, Maffulli, & Baines-Preece, 1995;Van Rossum, 2006) or table tennis (Romann & Fuchslocher, 2014b); consequently, relatively younger athletes were favorably selected. This is relevant because peak performance age in these two sports is reached during the adolescent years.…”