Relative age effect: beyond the youth phenomenon

Autor: Don Kirkendall, Patrick Wakefield Joyner, John Lewis, William J Mallon, Rehan Dawood, Austin Fagerberg, Baker Mills, William Garrett
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, Vol 6, Iss 1 (2020)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2055-7647
DOI: 10.1136/bmjsem-2020-000857
Popis: Introduction Initially described in a sports context in ice hockey in 1985, the relative age effect (RAE) refers to the performance advantages of youth born in the first quarter of the birth year when trying-out for select, age-restricted sports. The competitive advantage bestowed to the relatively older athlete in their age band is the result of the older athlete being more physically and emotionally mature. These more mature players will likely go on to be exposed to better coaching, competition, teammates and facilities in their respective sport.Objectives Our study sought to characterise the ubiquity of this effect by examining the birth distribution of some of the world’s most elite athletes, Olympians.Methods We extended the exploration of the RAE beyond specific sports by examining the birth quarter of over 44 000 Olympic athlete’s birthdates, born between 1964 and 1996. Our hypothesis was that the RAE would be prominent in both Olympic athletes as a whole and in selected subcategories of athletes.Results and Conclusion The fractions of births in the first versus the fourth quarter were significantly different (p
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