The relative age effect in selection to international team matches in Norwegian handball

Abstract

Many elite sport organisations have introduced structured talent identification and development (TID) initiatives in youth sports to better facilitate elite sport performance. However, selection mechanisms for TID programmes (e.g., junior international team) are biased towards relatively older athletes and limited studies exist with Scandinavian contexts. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the relative age effect (RAE) in youth, junior and senior male and female international team selections among Norwegian handball players (n = 657). A Chi-square goodness-of-fit test assessed whether a skewed birthdate distribution occurred at the youth, junior and senior international team levels and odds-ratios were calculated for RAE distribution. Moreover, a Kruskal-Wallis test was used to assess differences between the number of international youth, junior and senior level appearances by birth quartiles. Significant uneven birth date distributions were shown for youth (χ2(7) = female 40.383 and male 105.716, p <0.001) and junior (χ2(7) = female 27.427 and male 30.948, p <0.001) international players, favouring the relatively older player (odds-ratio of 1.9–8.3). At the senior level, no uneven distribution was identified. The comparison of the number of matches in each age category and the quartile of birth showed a difference in the women’s youth category, where players in quartile 8 had a significantly lower number of appearances compared to quartile 1. The results form part of a growing body of knowledge about selection mechanisms in sport, which favours relatively older athletes within Norwegian Handball. Such findings are important for policy and practice for informing TID programmes for inclusive selection opportunities for all players.

The relationship between the relative age effect and performance among athletes in World Handball Championships

“…In the male senior category, older athletes achieved higher effectiveness percentages in shots and steals. This finding is contrary to the results reported by Bjørndal et al [27] who observed that the RAE did not impact the number of matches that athletes played in after they were initially selected to a team. Surprisingly, these study findings indicated that while international team selections favoured relatively older players, they did not strongly affect the possibility of players achieving a successful international career after first being selected.…”

“…Studies that have investigated athlete selection to international or national youth and junior teams within TID systems in handball have reported similar RAE impacts in women's handball [27,43,44]. The fact that the RAE was not found to have an impact on athletes in the senior category for women can be explained by the depth of competition in women's handball and other sociocultural factors across and within female sporting settings [20].…”

“…A key indicator of determining the impact of the RAE could be how well athletes learn in training and competition situations [76]-understood as the speed at which athletes acquire new skills or improve in ability. Other possible strategies to reduce the impacts of the RAE include making coaches more actively aware of how the RAE impacts selection processes [27] and creating more opportunities for athletes who are relatively younger. Adjusting the age categories used in youth and junior international competitions, so that the older players in a group could change category each year [44], could also be a way to improve current systems.…”

“…The authors noted that relatively younger players of the same age cohort (U- 19) were more likely to be selected in the Danish talent system, compared to relatively older players. Bjørndal et al [27] reported notably skewed birth date distributions among the men and women selected to the U-19 and U-21 Norwegian international handball teams. However, at the senior level, the birth date distributions appeared to be uniform.…”

Challenges and [Possible] Solutions to Optimizing Talent Identification and Development in Sport

“…Whilst some TIDS have substantial resources to develop, deliver and support their programs, this is not a luxury of all TIDS. Interestingly, with the plethora of talent research available and recent summaries (e.g., Baker et al, 2012Baker et al, , 2017, little research has considered how system resourcing influences talent identification and development.…”