Why How We Select Young Sporting Talent Is Probably All Wrong
The Real Science of Sport Podcast
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The Relative Age Effect and Biological Maturity in Sport
The relative age effect where in junior teams children born in January, February, March are overrepresented compared to October, November, December is already big enough. Now overlay a six-year spread onto that and then you've got a coach who's making his pick. What's he picking? Of course he's picking the biggest, the strongest, the fastest but at the age of 11, 12 that says nothing about future potential or what's happened in the past. That's the massive inefficiency in sport. The best athletes may never get a look in.
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