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The Relative Age Effect in Sport: A Developmental Systems Model

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Abstract

The policies that dictate the participation structure of many youth sport systems involve the use of a set selection date (e.g. 31 December), which invariably produces relative age differences between those within the selection year (e.g. 1 January to 31 December). Those born early in the selection year (e.g. January) are relatively older—by as much as 12 months minus 1 day—than those born later in the selection year (e.g. December). Research in the area of sport has identified a number of significant developmental effects associated with such relative age differences. However, a theoretical framework that describes the breadth and complexity of relative age effects (RAEs) in sport does not exist in the literature. This paper reviews and summarizes the existing literature on relative age in sport, and proposes a constraints-based developmental systems model for RAEs in sport.

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Acknowledgments

Support for the writing of this manuscript was provided by a doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and a Sport Participation Research Initiative Supplement from Sport Canada to the first author, as well as a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to the second and last authors. These funders had no role in this work and the opinions expressed represent the views of authors. Nick Wattie, Jörg Schorer and Joseph Baker have no potential conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, ON, L1H 7K4, Canada

    Nick Wattie

  2. Institute of Sport Science, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

    Jörg Schorer

  3. School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Joseph Baker

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  1. Nick Wattie
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  2. Jörg Schorer
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  3. Joseph Baker
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Correspondence to Nick Wattie.

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Wattie, N., Schorer, J. & Baker, J. The Relative Age Effect in Sport: A Developmental Systems Model. Sports Med 45, 83–94 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-014-0248-9

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