Relative Age Effect: A Systematic Discrimination against Biologically Younger Athletes
Physical differences associated with birth-date among athletes of the same selection year have been described as the Relative Age Effect (RAE). The aim of this study was to examine whether RAE still exists in soccer and running sport disciplines as well as to evaluate its progress among different ge...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego
2021-01-01
|
| Series: | Central European Journal of Sport Sciences and Medicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://wnus.edu.pl/cejssm/en/issue/1210/article/19264/ |
| _version_ | 1818993248464535552 |
|---|---|
| author | Aristotelis Gioldasis Evangelos Bekris Athanasia Smirniotou |
| author_facet | Aristotelis Gioldasis Evangelos Bekris Athanasia Smirniotou |
| author_sort | Aristotelis Gioldasis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Physical differences associated with birth-date among athletes of the same selection year have been described as the Relative Age Effect (RAE). The aim of this study was to examine whether RAE still exists in soccer and running sport disciplines as well as to evaluate its progress among different gender, age, and sport context and if it has an effect on performance. Using official archives of the international sports’ associations (World Athletics-UEFA), birthdates and performance were collected for 7226 athletes (4033 males; 3198 females) who participated in soccer and running events. A chi-square test was used to assess differences between observed and expected birth date distributions. The study showed an over-representation of athletes born in the first quarter of the selection year for both soccer and running events. RAE is more obvious in younger age groups and in sports that require higher explosive speed, strength, power and anaerobic capacity such as soccer and short distance sprints. It was also found that RAE is associated with performance. In conclusion, athletes of younger age groups with greater biological age have a physical advantage in explosive sports (i.e. soccer and short distance running) that probably does not predict their future development. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T20:39:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a5fe5b73e7bb47c1a4adbde302d279e7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2300-9705 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T20:39:02Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Central European Journal of Sport Sciences and Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-a5fe5b73e7bb47c1a4adbde302d279e72022-12-21T19:27:09ZengWydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu SzczecińskiegoCentral European Journal of Sport Sciences and Medicine2300-97052021-01-013510.18276/cej.2021.3-03Relative Age Effect: A Systematic Discrimination against Biologically Younger AthletesAristotelis Gioldasis0Evangelos Bekris1Athanasia Smirniotou2School of Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, GreeceSchool of Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, GreeceSchool of Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, GreecePhysical differences associated with birth-date among athletes of the same selection year have been described as the Relative Age Effect (RAE). The aim of this study was to examine whether RAE still exists in soccer and running sport disciplines as well as to evaluate its progress among different gender, age, and sport context and if it has an effect on performance. Using official archives of the international sports’ associations (World Athletics-UEFA), birthdates and performance were collected for 7226 athletes (4033 males; 3198 females) who participated in soccer and running events. A chi-square test was used to assess differences between observed and expected birth date distributions. The study showed an over-representation of athletes born in the first quarter of the selection year for both soccer and running events. RAE is more obvious in younger age groups and in sports that require higher explosive speed, strength, power and anaerobic capacity such as soccer and short distance sprints. It was also found that RAE is associated with performance. In conclusion, athletes of younger age groups with greater biological age have a physical advantage in explosive sports (i.e. soccer and short distance running) that probably does not predict their future development.https://wnus.edu.pl/cejssm/en/issue/1210/article/19264/RAEtalentsoccerrunning |
| spellingShingle | Aristotelis Gioldasis Evangelos Bekris Athanasia Smirniotou Relative Age Effect: A Systematic Discrimination against Biologically Younger Athletes Central European Journal of Sport Sciences and Medicine RAE talent soccer running |
| title | Relative Age Effect: A Systematic Discrimination against Biologically Younger Athletes |
| title_full | Relative Age Effect: A Systematic Discrimination against Biologically Younger Athletes |
| title_fullStr | Relative Age Effect: A Systematic Discrimination against Biologically Younger Athletes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Relative Age Effect: A Systematic Discrimination against Biologically Younger Athletes |
| title_short | Relative Age Effect: A Systematic Discrimination against Biologically Younger Athletes |
| title_sort | relative age effect a systematic discrimination against biologically younger athletes |
| topic | RAE talent soccer running |
| url | https://wnus.edu.pl/cejssm/en/issue/1210/article/19264/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT aristotelisgioldasis relativeageeffectasystematicdiscriminationagainstbiologicallyyoungerathletes AT evangelosbekris relativeageeffectasystematicdiscriminationagainstbiologicallyyoungerathletes AT athanasiasmirniotou relativeageeffectasystematicdiscriminationagainstbiologicallyyoungerathletes |