About this Research Topic
2024 marks the 40th anniversary of Grondin, Deshaies, and Nault’s (1984) seminal work on relative age effects in sport. During their study of competitive youth and professional ice hockey and volleyball in North America, Grondin and colleagues showed how those born in the first months of the selection year were overrepresented, whereas those born in the last months of the selection year were underrepresented in ice hockey, although such discrepancies were not observed in their volleyball sample. Shortly after, Barnsley, Thompson, and Barnsley (1985) reaffirmed these results in North American ice hockey whereby they showed similar findings, which they termed as “relative age effects”. Barnsley and colleagues suggested how the age band structures used to group athletes leads to a number of potentially talented ice hockey players not achieving the level of performance that would accurately reflect their ability. Since then, these two inaugural studies have inspired and informed hundreds of relative age research methodologies across the globe. Despite their initial warnings, however, these effects have proven very difficult to reduce or eliminate in high performance sport systems.
The current relative age research field has consistently reaffirmed some important realities. Most noteworthy, relative age effects are widespread throughout boys and girls sport and are having important implications on the identification, selection, and development of young athletes. This is having a direct impact on the long-term performance, participation, and personal development outcomes in sport, too. Moreover, relative age effects are often magnified in more ‘popular’ sports (i.e., basketball, football, rugby) and when competition level increases (i.e., progress into talent pathways). Whilst there is considerable research that has identified relative age effects across different sport contexts, and despite consistent recommendations from researchers and practitioners, little has been done to examine and employ potential solutions. In addition, although there are some hypothetical explanatory efforts, limited empirical studies are available to show the exact causes of relative age effects in youth sport. Such studies would offer value in helping us to create possible solutions for different sports and settings.
The 40th anniversary of the original studies on relative age effects in sport offers a timely opportunity to reflect on what has evolved in both research and practice. It also provides an impetus to look forward to ensure we are creating effective and efficient development pathways for all athletes. In order to realise these aims, it will be important for this research topic to capture methodologies that review the widespread literature across different sport settings, as well as implement theoretical frameworks to help better understand how relative age effects occur. Furthermore, in order to impact ‘real-life’ settings (i.e., not just on paper—but what is reflected in practice), we must design, implement, and evaluate different relative age solutions across all sporting environments. Since different sports are likely to require bespoke solutions (e.g., age and anthropometric bandings may be more suitable for team sports, whereas birthday-banding, corrective adjustments, and proficiency level-based competition may be more useful for racket, timed, and combat sports, respectively), it will be important to continue examining the mechanisms of relative age effects through multi-/inter-disciplinary perspectives (e.g., technical, tactical, physical, psychological, social) so targeted strategies can be developed.
Whilst we welcome submissions from a diverse range of research methodologies, potential contributions are expected to align with one of the following five areas:
1. Offer theoretically driven perspectives of relative age effects.
2. Examine multi-/inter-disciplinary characteristics that contribute towards relative age effects.
3. Design, implement, and/or evaluate relative age strategies and solutions.
4. Explore the direct (i.e., related to the athlete, e.g., maturational (dis)advantages) and indirect (i.e., related to the environment, e.g., coach perceptions that an athlete is more talented) effects of relative age to help explain how they occur.
5. Synthesise areas of relative age research in sport through reviews.
The current relative age research field has consistently reaffirmed some important realities. Most noteworthy, relative age effects are widespread throughout boys and girls sport and are having important implications on the identification, selection, and development of young athletes. This is having a direct impact on the long-term performance, participation, and personal development outcomes in sport, too. Moreover, relative age effects are often magnified in more ‘popular’ sports (i.e., basketball, football, rugby) and when competition level increases (i.e., progress into talent pathways). Whilst there is considerable research that has identified relative age effects across different sport contexts, and despite consistent recommendations from researchers and practitioners, little has been done to examine and employ potential solutions. In addition, although there are some hypothetical explanatory efforts, limited empirical studies are available to show the exact causes of relative age effects in youth sport. Such studies would offer value in helping us to create possible solutions for different sports and settings.
The 40th anniversary of the original studies on relative age effects in sport offers a timely opportunity to reflect on what has evolved in both research and practice. It also provides an impetus to look forward to ensure we are creating effective and efficient development pathways for all athletes. In order to realise these aims, it will be important for this research topic to capture methodologies that review the widespread literature across different sport settings, as well as implement theoretical frameworks to help better understand how relative age effects occur. Furthermore, in order to impact ‘real-life’ settings (i.e., not just on paper—but what is reflected in practice), we must design, implement, and evaluate different relative age solutions across all sporting environments. Since different sports are likely to require bespoke solutions (e.g., age and anthropometric bandings may be more suitable for team sports, whereas birthday-banding, corrective adjustments, and proficiency level-based competition may be more useful for racket, timed, and combat sports, respectively), it will be important to continue examining the mechanisms of relative age effects through multi-/inter-disciplinary perspectives (e.g., technical, tactical, physical, psychological, social) so targeted strategies can be developed.
Whilst we welcome submissions from a diverse range of research methodologies, potential contributions are expected to align with one of the following five areas:
1. Offer theoretically driven perspectives of relative age effects.
2. Examine multi-/inter-disciplinary characteristics that contribute towards relative age effects.
3. Design, implement, and/or evaluate relative age strategies and solutions.
4. Explore the direct (i.e., related to the athlete, e.g., maturational (dis)advantages) and indirect (i.e., related to the environment, e.g., coach perceptions that an athlete is more talented) effects of relative age to help explain how they occur.
5. Synthesise areas of relative age research in sport through reviews.
Keywords: Youth Development, Youth Sport, Group Banding, Age Cohort, Chronological Age, Relative Age Effects
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
