The relative age effect among female Brazilian youth volleyball players.

摘要

In sports, the relative age effect (RAE) refers to performance disadvantages of children bom late in the competition year compared to those with birthdays soon after the cutoff date. This effect is derived from age grouping, a strategy commonly used in youth sport programs. The purpose of age grouping is to decrease possible cognitive, physical, and emotional differences among sport participants. In spite of the efforts to equate playing conditions, youth athletes bom early in the competitive age group are selected to be part of squads more often than late-bom athletes, even within the same 1-year category.Most RAE studies have been conducted on professional male athletes, including hockey (Boucher & Mu-timer, 1994), soccer (Helsen, Starkes, & Winckel, 1998), baseball (Grondin & Koren, 2000), and tennis (Edwards, 1994). Skewed distributions favoring athletes bom early in the selection year were also found in youth sports. Several studies investigating soccer (Helsen et al., 1998; Helsen, Winckel, & Williams, 2005; Glamser & Vincent, 2004), hockey (Bamsley & Thompson, 1988), and basketball (Delorme & Raspaud, 2008) demonstrated a strong RAE among young male athletes.