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How to Compare Relative Age Effect in Different Sports? A New Methodological Approach-Example of Youth Olympic Games
Drazen Cular1,2,3, Matej Babic1,4, Darko Katovic4
1Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Split, N. Tesle 6, 21000 Split, Croatia.
Sports (Basel, Switzerland)
|August 28, 2024
Summary
The Relative Age Effect Overall Scale (RAEOS) is a new method to analyze the relative age effect in sports. This study confirmed the RAE
Area of Science:
- Sports Science
- Talent Identification
- Youth Sports Development
Background:
- The relative age effect (RAE) is a well-documented phenomenon in sports, where athletes born earlier in the selection year have a performance advantage.
- Existing methods for RAE analysis may lack universality across different sports and competition formats.
- A standardized approach is needed to accurately assess and compare RAE across diverse athletic populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and validate a novel methodological approach, the Relative Age Effect Overall Scale (RAEOS), for analyzing RAE.
- To investigate the presence and extent of RAE in four distinct sports at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG).
- To explore potential differences in RAE between team and individual sports.
Main Methods:
- Development of the RAEOS by classifying athletes into unified quartiles based on sport-specific birthdate ranges.
- Analysis of a sample of 1455 young athletes from basketball, handball, swimming, and taekwondo at the 2018 YOG.
- Application of non-parametric Chi-square tests to compare expected and observed frequencies of RAE in all participants and gold medalists.
Main Results:
- The RAE was confirmed in all four analyzed sports (basketball, handball, swimming, taekwondo) for both overall participants and gold medalists.
- Significant differences in RAE were observed between team (basketball, handball) and individual (swimming, taekwondo) sports.
- The RAEOS proved to be a simple, applicable tool for comparative RAE analysis across sports.
Conclusions:
- The RAEOS provides a robust framework for assessing RAE, enabling better comparisons across different sports and competition structures.
- Findings highlight the need for sports organizations to refine talent identification and competition systems to mitigate RAE.
- Reducing the influence of RAE is crucial for ensuring fairer competition and optimizing the development of young athletes.
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