The psychology of bio-banding: a Vygotskian perspective

Abstract

In sports, children are typically grouped by chronological age. Age groups are ideal for matching children in terms of experience, cognitive, motor and social development and allowing them to be and compete with their same age peers. They do, however, fail to consider differences in the biological maturity. Strategies are being trialled in football clubs to counteract the effects of individual differences in maturity, such as moving players up or down the age groups and bio banding. These strategies result in players of mixed ages playing together, however there is very little research or guidelines for practitioners regarding the potential benefits or detriments within sport or how best to prepare and develop players in a mixed age group. This paper reviews the literature regarding mixed age groups for school and sport and provides a case study example from an Elite Premier League Academy on how to support players at both ends of the maturity spectrum.

Revisiting youth player development in Australian Rules Football: Is there a place for bio-banding?

“…In contrast, late-maturing older players are encouraged to take on the position of leaders and consolidate their learning through teaching, organising, motivating and communicating with their younger yet physically matched peers. 65 The precise measurement of anthropometric values is vital for accurately estimating adult stature and as such, those responsible for the assessments must be appropriately trained. 13 Further study and validation 13 of field-based maturity assessments are also needed.…”

“…To optimise the benefits of bio-banding, certain English soccer clubs align their psychological support service to bio-banded phases ensuring that early and late maturing players are best prepared to meet the next challenges of opportunities that bio-banding formats present. 65 Employing principles derived from the study of mixed-age classrooms, conditions are created to ‘scaffold’ the experiences of early and late maturing players. Coaches and practitioners help early maturing players develop the necessary skills to adapt to greater challenges and potentially, failure.…”

“…In contrast, late-maturing older players are encouraged to take on the position of leaders and consolidate their learning through teaching, organising, motivating and communicating with their younger yet physically matched peers. 65…”

Can discreet performance banding, as compared to bio-banding, discriminate technical skills in male adolescent soccer players? A preliminary investigation

“…While bio-banding might be an effective method with which to suppress the potentially deleterious effect of mismatched body sizes on competitive equity within youth sport, it might not necessarily account for differences in physical performance which can exist independently of weight or stature (15). Moreover, the use of psychology training has also been suggested in light of the fact that bio-banding does not account for psychosocial differences between delineated maturity groups (16). Accordingly, while smaller players might be physically outmatched by larger opponents, this does not necessarily mean they are of lesser ability and this may be even more applicable in sports, such as soccer or basketball, in which forceful collisions are not a primary component of competitive play.…”

Human biology of physical activity in the growing child

“…Presenting a case study from UK football (soccer), Hill and colleagues (Hill et al 2020) discuss how educational principles derived from Social Development Theory and research conducted in mixed-age classrooms can be used to support the learning and development of early-and late-maturing players in bio-banded (i.e. maturity matched) competitions and training.…”