Prevalence and Impact of the Relative Age Effect on Competition Performance in Swimming: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This systematic review aimed to examine the prevalence of the relative age effect (RAE) in swimming and its impact on competition performance according to different types of interacting constraints. A systematic literature search, following the PRISMA guidelines for preparing systematic reviews, was performed through four electronic databases, and nine studies met the inclusion criteria. The quality of the selected studies was evaluated using STROBE, and an average score of 16.2 points was obtained. In these studies, the prevalence of the RAE in swimming was observed in more than half (58.65%) of the participants analysed, and the effect of the RAE was more accentuated in young categories (decreased as age increased and was inverted in older ones) and in male swimmers (double that in female swimmers).The impact of the RAE on competitive performance appeared to be related to the strength demands of the event, as the performance in simultaneous strokes, in shorter events, and of swimmers in the postadolescence period seems to be more affected by the RAE. These results indicate that the RAE in competitive swimming relies on individual and environmental (the swimmer’s age group and gender) but also task (the competitive events) determinants or limitations. This should serve as a guide for a more effective design of selection and development procedures for young athletes.

Relative Age Effect and Gender Differentiation Within Sport- A Systematic Review

“…On the other side, the lowest RAE was found among females in the Junior (U19) group. Lorenzo-Calvo et al (2021) had written a systematic review among swimmers in 6 capital papers. In this particular study, the prevalence of RAE in swimming was observed in 58.65% of participants analyzed, and the effect of RAE was more frequently found among youth categories (decreased as age increased and was inverted among older ones) and among male competitors (two times more than among female swimmers).…”

“…The existence of the Relative age effect (RAE) is a topic that is often ignored by coaches, but in recent times RAE gained greater attention from sports scientists and the coaching community. In the sports field, relative age can be defined as the chronological age difference that occurs between athletes of the same age group (Lorenzo-Calvo et al, 2021;Diaz del Campo, 2013). The collection of consequences derived from this difference in a birthdate is commonly referred to as the RAE (Lorenzo-Calvo et al, 2021;Barnsley, Thompson, Barnsley, 1985).…”

“…In the sports field, relative age can be defined as the chronological age difference that occurs between athletes of the same age group (Lorenzo-Calvo et al, 2021;Diaz del Campo, 2013). The collection of consequences derived from this difference in a birthdate is commonly referred to as the RAE (Lorenzo-Calvo et al, 2021;Barnsley, Thompson, Barnsley, 1985). In other words, it is a theory that if a grade is composed of people born from January to December, students born in January will inevitable have better physical, cognitive, and mental development than students born in December (Minsoo, Jiwun, Hyo-Jun, 2021;Sedano, Vaeyens, Redondo, 2015).…”

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

“…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.…”

Comparing cross-sectional and longitudinal tracking to establish percentile data and assess performance progression in swimmers

“…Thus, early maturing swimmers are promoted for talent development programs, and potentially highly talented but late maturing swimmers can be deselected and irreversibly lost from the talent program 9 . The dominance of early maturing swimmers and those born early in the year may result in faster race times during adolescence 10 , especially in simultaneous strokes and sprint events 11 . Thus, expectations for talented, but normal or late maturing age-group swimmers would be overestimated.…”