Motor Behavior

The relative age effect in attending in the highest level of sport and winning medals in Iranian taekwondo athletes

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph,D. In motor Behavior, Kharazmi University

2 I. R. Iran Taekwondo Federation

3 Raja

4 Ph. D Candidate of Motor Development, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
Relative age have been widely investigated in the context of youth sports in recent decades. The phenomenon of Relative Age Effect (RAE) deal with recognizing (dis)advantages of relative age in children and adolescents born in same colander year. The present study aimed to investigate effect of relative age in Iranian taekwondo athletes and examine the relationship between relative age and the success of taekwondo athletes regrading league appearance, appearance in national team and medal winning. The information of 1843 male and female taekwondo athletes who are active in taekwondo clubs, were collect and analyzed according to their gender. Athletes with a history of 10 years of activity between 2011 and 2021 years were included in the study. The RAE described, and the chi-square test used to examine the relationship between relative age and success variables. The results showed the RAE in Iranian men (p=0.02) and women (p=0.04) taekwondo athletes, and the relative age of men had a significant effect in their appearance in the league (p=0.02). This finding was not significant for women (p=0.46). In addition, the relative age effect on the success rate in winning medals (p=0.17) and the opportunities to appearance in the national teams (p=0.19) was not significant. Similar to youth sport in the world, the relative age effect in Iranian taekwondo athletes is also a problem, and it seems that the (dis)-advantage due to the time of birth in the same calendar year plays a significant role in the final success pathway of the athletes.

Keywords

Main Subjects

  1. Cobley S, Baker J, Wattie N, McKenna J. Annual age-grouping and athlete development. Sport Med. 2009;39 (3):235-56 . https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200939030-00005
  2. Wattie N, Tietjens M, Cobley S, Schorer J, Baker J, Kurz D. Relative age-related participation and dropout trends in German youth sports clubs. Eur J Sport Sci. 2014;14(SUPPL.1): S213-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2012.681806
  3. Romann M, Rössler R, Javet M, Faude O. Relative age effects in Swiss talent development–a nationwide analysis of all sports. J Sports Sci. 2018;36(17):2025-2031. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2018.1432964
  4. McCarthy N, Collins D, Court D. Start hard, finish better: further evidence for the reversal of the RAE advantage. J Sports Sci. 2016; 34(15):1461-5. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2015.1119297
  5. Malina RM, Rogol AD, Cumming SP, Coelho E Silva MJ, Figueiredo AJ. Biological maturation of youth athletes: assessment and implications. Br J Sports Med. 2015;49(13): 852-9 https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2015-094623
  6. Lloyd RS, Oliver JL, Faigenbaum AD, Myer GD, De Ste Croix MBA. Chronological age vs. biological maturation: implications for exercise programming in youth. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2014;28: 1454-64. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000000391
  7. Eisenmann JC, Till K, Baker J. Growth, maturation and youth sports: issues and practical solutions. Ann Hum Biol. 2020;47(4): 324-327. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460.2020.1764099
  8. Barnsley R, Thompson A, Barnsley P. Hockey success and birthdate: the relative age effect. J Can Assoc Heal Phys Educ Recreat. 1985;51(8): 23-28. https://doi.org/10.1177/101269029202700105
  9. Lupo C, Boccia G, Ungureanu AN, Frati R, Marocco R, Brustio PR. The beginning of senior career in team sport is affected by relative age effect. Front Psychol. 2019;10:1465. https://doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2019.01465
  10. Kearney PE, Hayes PR, Nevill A. Faster, higher, stronger, older: relative age effects are most influential during the youngest age grade of track and field athletics in the United Kingdom. J Sports Sci. 2018;36(20): 2282-2288. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2018.144909  
  11. Cobley S, Loffing F, Wattie N, Helsen W, Baker J. Developmental contexts , depth of competition and relative age effects in sport : a database analysis and a quasi- experiment. Psychol Test Assess Model. 2015;57(1):126-138.
  12. Dalen T, Ingvaldsen RP, Roaas TV, Pedersen AV, Steen I, Aune TK. The impact of physical growth and relative age effect on assessment in physical education. Eur J Sport Sci. 2017;17(4): 482-487. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2016.1268651
  13. Smith KL, Weir PL, Till K, Romann M, Cobley S. Relative age effects across and within female sport contexts: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine. 2018;48: 1451-1478. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-018-0890-8
  14. Cobley S, Baker J, Wattie N, McKenna J. Annual age-grouping and athlete development: A meta-analytical review of relative age effects in sport. Sports Medicine. 2009;39235-256.  https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200939030-00005
  15. Wattie N, Cobley S, Baker J. Towards a unified understanding of relative age effects. J Sports Sci. 2008;26(13): 1403-1409. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410802233034
  16. Wattie N, Schorer J, Baker J. The relative age effect in sport: a developmental systems model. Sports Medicine. 2015;45:883-94. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-014-0248-9
  17. Balyi, Istvan, Richard Way and CH. Long-term athlete development. Human Kinetics; 2013.
  18. Minsoo Jeon, Jiwun Yoon H-JY. The relative age effect of elite taekwondo athletes. Ann Appl Sport Sci. 2022;10(2):e998. http://dx.doi.org/10.52547/aassjournal.998    
  19. Steingröver C, Wattie N, Baker J, Helsen WF, Schorer J. Geographical variations in the interaction of relative age effects in youth and adult elite soccer. Front Psychol. 2017;8(MAR):e1-18. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00278
  20. Sedano S, Vaeyens R, Redondo JC. The Relative Age effect in Spanish female soccer players: Influence of the competitive level and a playing position. J Hum Kinet. 2015;46(1): 129–137. https://doi.org/10.1515%2Fhukin-2015-0041
  21. Ibáñez SJ, Mazo A, Nascimento J, García-Rubio J. The relative age effect in under-18 basketball: effects on performance according to playing position. PLoS One. 2018;13(7): https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200408
  22. Romann M, Cobley S. Relative age effects in athletic sprinting and corrective adjustments as a solution for their removal. PLoS One. 2015;10(4): e0122988. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122988
  23. Brustio PR, Kearney PE, Lupo C, Ungureanu AN, Mulasso A, Rainoldi A, et al. Relative age influences performance of world-class track and field athletes even in the adulthood. Front Psychol. 2019;10: https://doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2019.01395
  24. Abel EL, Kruger MM, Pandya K. A relative age effect in men’s but not women’s professional baseball: 1943-1954. Psychol Rep. 2011;109(1): 285-8. https://doi.org/10.2466/05.pr0.109.4.285-288
  25. Cobley S, Abbott S, Dogramaci S, Kable A, Salter J, Hintermann M, et al. Transient relative age effects across annual age groups in National level Australian Swimming. J Sci Med Sport. 2018;21(8): :839-845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2017.12.008
  26. Musch J, Grondin S. Unequal competition as an impediment to personal development: a review of the relative age effect in sport. Dev Rev. 2001;21(2): 147-167. https://doi.org/10.1006/drev.2000.0516
  27. Nakata H, Akido M, Naruse K, Fujiwara M. Relative age effect in physical fitness among elementary and junior high school students. Percept Mot Skills. 2017;124(5):900-911. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031512517722284
  28. Romann M, Fuchslocher J. The need to consider relative age effects in women’s talent development process. Percept Mot Skills. 2014;118(3): 651-662. https://doi.org/10.2466/30.10.pms.118k24w8
  29. Lemez S, Baker J, Horton S, Wattie N, Weir P. Examining the relationship between relative age, competition level, and dropout rates in male youth ice-hockey players. Scand J Med Sci Sport. 2014;24(6):935-942.  https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.12127
Motor Behavior
Volume 14, Issue 49
December 2022
Pages 165-186

  • Receive Date 29 August 2022
  • Revise Date 07 September 2022
  • Accept Date 15 November 2022

Home

Reviewers

Submit Manuscript

Publication Ethics

news

Journal Metrics

Contact Us