The influence of age-policy changes on the relative age effect across the Australian Rules football talent pathway

Haycraft, Jade Alexandra Ziems; Kovalchik, Stephanie; Pyne, David B.; Larkin, Paul; Robertson, Sam

doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2018.03.008

Cited by 22 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…A number of structural solutions have been proposed to address RAEs, including systems for rotating cut off dates on a yearly basis (e.g., Hurley et al, 2001), classifying athletes by maturation status (e.g., Cumming et al, 2017), or applying a correction factor to performance results (e.g., Romann and Cobley, 2015; Cobley et al, 2019). However, there is a paucity of research investigating the long term effectiveness of these proposals (Haycraft et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The term relative age effect (RAE) refers to an asymmetry in the birth distribution of a population where there is an over-representation of athletes born close to the date of selection (Cobley et al, 2009; Boccia et al, 2017b). The RAE was first observed in Canadian ice hockey (Barnsley et al, 1985) and subsequently in many other team sports, such as soccer (Steingröver et al, 2017; Brustio et al, 2018; Cumming et al, 2018; Doyle and Bottomley, 2018; Peña-González et al, 2018), Australian football (Haycraft et al, 2018), basketball (Arrieta et al, 2016), and rugby (Till et al, 2010), as well as in individual sports, such as swimming (Cobley et al, 2018) alpine ski (Müller et al, 2016; Bjerke et al, 2017) wrestling (Fukuda et al, 2017), and track and field (Romann and Cobley, 2015; Brazo-Sayavera et al, 2017, 2018; Kearney et al, 2018; Romann et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relative Age Influences Performance of World-Class Track and Field Athletes Even in the Adulthood

et al. 2019

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The relative age effect (RAE) is a common phenomenon observed in youth sports and is characterized by a significant over-representation of athletes born close to the date of selection. However, there is a lack of research on RAE in world-class track and field athletes and it is not clear if this effect persists into adulthood. Thus, this study examined for the first time the prevalence and magnitude of RAE at world class level in all track and field disciplines. Birthdates of 39,590 athletes (51.6% females) ranked in the International Association of Athletics Federations top 100 official lists between 2007 and 2018 season of Under 18, Under 20, and Senior categories were collected. Under 18 and Under 20 athletes born in the first week of the year are about 2 to 3.5 times more likely to be included in the top-100 ranking than the athletes born in the last week of the year. RAE was overall larger in male compared to female athletes. In some disciplines (e.g., throwing events) RAE persists in Senior category. These findings suggest that in some disciplines relatively younger athletes may have less chances of reaching world-class performances even in the adulthood. Governing bodies should reflect upon their policies for athlete support and selection to minimize the RAE.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relative Age Influences Performance of World-Class Track and Field Athletes Even in the Adulthood

et al. 2019

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“…With regard to sport in general, there is particular current relevance in the proposals made in the study by Hurley et al (2001) of youth hockey in Canada, together with the work of Romann and Cobley (2015) on sprinters. For soccer, the sport particularly considered here, the academic literature has suggested several solutions that might mitigate the effect being analysed (Haycraft et al, 2018;Helsen et al, 2005;Padrón-Cabo et al, 2016;Sedano et al, 2015). In this sense, Mann and Van Ginneken (2017) undertook a promising experiment at the PSV Eindhoven soccer club in the Netherlands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for the Relative Age Effect in the Spanish Professional Soccer League

Yagüe

González

Alba

et al. 2020

Journal of Human Kinetics

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The concept of the relative age effect refers to the consequences of the physical and psychological differences that may exist between those born earlier or later within the same calendar year. The objective of the present study was to examine this phenomenon in Spanish professional soccer, identifying the influences of the competitive level and the club of origin. The sample comprised 2,130 individuals from five competitive categories: under 12 (U12; n = 480), under 14 (U14; n = 338), under 16 (U16; n = 390), under 19 years old (U19; n = 489) and professional players (n = 433), with nine teams from the Spanish professional soccer league (PSL). Statistical analysis was based on a chi-squared test followed by calculation of the odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. The main results show that at all levels of competition there was over-representation of individuals born in the first few months of the year. By clubs, the same over-representation was observed. It may be concluded that the relative age effect is consistent and exists throughout Spanish soccer, whether at youth or professional levels. An analysis by age categories showed a more pronounced effect in those competitions in which the youngest players participate, while in clubs the effect continued to be significantly present in all cases investigated in the study.

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“…This is not surprising considering the National U16 age group is an entry point into the AFL talent pathway, therefore it is assumed players have had limited exposure to specialised coaching and fitness training. 3,34 Interestingly, the Local U14s showed the lowest measures of match activity profiles and not the Local U12s. This may be a result of difference in the organismic constrains in this age group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Relationships Between Physical Testing and Match Activity Profiles Across the Australian Football League Participation Pathway

Haycraft¹,

Kovalchik²,

Pyne³

et al. 2019

International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance

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word count: 248 Text-only word count: 3,117 ABSTRACT Purpose: To establish levels of association between physical fitness and match activity profiles of players within the Australian Football League (AFL) participation pathway. Methods: Players (n = 287, range 10.9 -19.1 years) were assessed on 20-m sprint, AFL agility, vertical jump (VJ) and running VJ, 20-m multi stage fitness test (MSFT), and Athletic Abilities Assessment (AAA). Match activity profiles were obtained from global positioning system (GPS) measures; relative speed, maximal velocity, and relative high speed running (HSR). Results: Correlational analyses revealed moderate relationships between sprint (r = 0.32-0.57, p ≤ 0.05), and jump test scores (r = 0.34-0.78, p ≤ 0.05) and match activity profiles in Local U12, Local U14, National U16 and National U18s, except jump tests in National U18s. AFL agility was also moderate-to-strongly associated in Local U12, Local U14, Local U18, and National U16s (r = 0.37-0.87, p ≤ 0.05), and strongly associated with relative speed in Local U18s (r = 0.84, p ≤ 0.05). Match relative speed and HSR were moderate-to-strongly associated with 20-m multi-stage fitness test (MSFT) in Local U14, Local U18, and National U18s (r = 0.41-0.95, p ≤ 0.05), and AAA in Local U12, and Local U18s (p = 0.35-0.67, p ≤ 0.05). Match activity profile demands increased between Local U12 and National U16s then plateaued. Conclusions: Physical fitness relates more strongly to match activity profiles in younger adolescent and National level players. Recruiters should consider adolescent physical fitness and match activity profiles as dynamic across the AFL participation pathway.

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The influence of age-policy changes on the relative age effect across the Australian Rules football talent pathway

Cited by 22 publications

References 27 publications

Relative Age Influences Performance of World-Class Track and Field Athletes Even in the Adulthood

Relative Age Influences Performance of World-Class Track and Field Athletes Even in the Adulthood

Evidence for the Relative Age Effect in the Spanish Professional Soccer League

Relationships Between Physical Testing and Match Activity Profiles Across the Australian Football League Participation Pathway

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