The impact on athletes based on grouping methods according to the date of birth within the constituent year, known as the relative effect of age (RAE), is a factor that can influence the achievement ...of sports success. Many studies have examined the magnitude of this phenomenon in sport; however, the relationship between the RAE and performance in team sports competition has not been accurately evaluated so far. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review on the influence of the RAE on competition performance in team sports through analysis of published peer-reviewed articles from 2000 to 2019.
According to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis systematic search guidelines, 19 studies were identified of the 2,093 that were found in the systematic searching process carried out in four databases: Sport Discus, PubMed, Web of Knowledge, and Scopus. The sample of the study was composed by 77,329 players, of which 92.08% were male and 7.92% were female, whereas the recorded performance measurements were 87,556. The relation between relative age effects and competition performance was registered according to constraints-based theoretical model: individual constraints (sample characteristics) and task constraints (sport context). Moreover, study quality analysis, Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology, was carried out.
The short-term individual (10.20%) and collective (18.09%) performance was influenced by the RAE, whereas the long-term individual performance (49.71%) was affected by the RAE reverse. However, in 16.99% of the measurements, no relationship was found between the RAE and competition performance. In the analysis by subcategory, the influence of the RAE was higher in men, in adulthood (senior category), in invasion games, and in national contexts.
The findings clearly demonstrated that the RAE has a great influence on the performance in team sport. Possible implications for policy and practice should be discussed in order to prevent unequal practice based on biased models that prioritize the athlete's current performance and therefore obviate their maturational development. The heterogeneity and variability of the identified results require a relativization of the findings of this study.
The present study investigates whether the Big Five personality traits are different among diverse sports populations. A sample of 881 male athletes and non-athletes completed a self-report ...questionnaire measuring their personality traits. The Exploratory Structure Equation Modeling (ESEM) approach is adopted to test measurement invariance and mean differences among groups. The results indicate that athletes who had experienced the most success in their sport scored higher than non-athletes in each personality dimension of the Big Five, with the exception of openness, while less successful athletes scored higher than non-athletes only in extraversion and agreeableness. The more successful athletes showed higher agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability than the less successful athletes. Individual-sport athletes were found to be more energetic and open than team-sport athletes. The current findings help clarify the relationships between personality traits, sports participation and athletic success.
•Big Five are associated with participation and success in sports.•Energy and agreeableness are related to sport participation.•Consciousness and emotional stability are associated with sport success.•Individual-sport athletes are more energetic and open than team-sport athletes.•ESEM has been used to test for factor invariance and mean differences.
This article investigates why the small Middle Eastern country Qatar is investing so heavily in the sport sector. The country is hosting prestigious sporting events such as the Asian Games, the ...handball and the football World Cup, promotes elite sport success by local and naturalized athletes and invests in famous sport clubs abroad. The article analyses how sport is used as a domestic policy tool, for example to develop a healthy society and to attract white-collar expats from abroad. Sport is also used as a foreign policy tool to build relations with as many countries and people in the world as possible to gain soft power and for national security reasons.
As far as we know, genetics in sports is a rapidly growing science field, due to new technologies and the cost decrease of such investigations. Onwards, genetic predispositions, besides the relations ...between the biological and chronological age play one of the main roles in talent identification processes. Utilization of such analyses in practice is unfortunately insignificant, perhaps because of the complexity of the genome and genotype-phenotype interrelations. Therefore, the aim of this investigation is to collect all relevant data about gene research in taekwondo. The authors tracked appropriate articles through three databases: Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar. A number of n=11 appropriate articles were found. Results suggest there is evidence that several genes may highly impact taekwondo performance, including ACE I/D, ACTN3, IGF-1, while the GABPb1, HSP90AA1 & HSP90AB1 and mtDNA haplogroups M, N9 and J have the moderate overall impact. Still, there are challenges in genetic testing of young athletes, of methodological and ethical nature, which should be avoided with a professional staff and correct approach towards such testings. Significant scores of listed genes shed a light towards the clarification of possible genetic impact on taekwondo success. Accordingly, the authors have established precise guidelines for future examination of genetics in taekwondo. This work presents the current knowledge about genetic examinations regarding taekwondo.
Abstract
The biggest question of professional sports is how to compete successfully in the global economic framework, simultaneously in terms of the sport and in economic terms. As a result, in ...addition to indicators measuring sports-related effectiveness, the need for an economic analysis of sport has also emerged. Most academic research into the economic aspects of sports are related to the analysis of North American major league sports, as well as to European football. Water polo is also a spectator team sport, yet its economic analysis is almost entirely missing. In this article, we present an economic analysis of the operation of five men’s water polo teams – the top four teams in terms of the sports results and one from the mid-range – competing in the highest-level national championship in Hungary. Our aim is to determine, on the basis of the analysis of the data, the relationship between effectiveness in sports and the economic background of the teams.
It can undoubtedly be concluded that, in addition to appropriate professional decisions, it is the economic situation of a club that has a clear impact on their effectiveness; in other words, up to a certain point, the more disposable funds and wider range of assets a sports company has, the more effectively it can prepare and the better results it will have in the various domestic and international championships and tournaments. CIT (corporate income tax benefits, “TAO” in Hungarian) support is fundamentally important in the field of youth sports development. While professional sports in Hungary are built on the development of junior players, there is still no clear link between the successfulness of the adult and the junior teams. The first-division teams of the clubs providing the best junior players are frequently in the mid-range or occasionally among the weakest teams in the national championship.
Our research has shown that apart from the fact that some teams are extremely successful in the water polo championship, the outcome of many matches becomes quite predictable. Based on these, the uncertainty of the outcome is compromised, and the championship becomes less exciting and also loses some of its audience.
Nowadays game-related statistics in the sports industry are demanded by coaches, players, managers, journalists, supporters, fans, video games developers, betting markets and academics. However, the ...employment of game-related statistics to analyse performance in football (soccer) has inherent problems given it is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon. This study analyses the importance of a large number of possible determinants of sport performance in the ‘Big Five’ European football leagues during the period 2012/13–2014/15. To this end, Bayesian model averaging techniques and relative importance metrics are employed. The results obtained point to the existence of a set of robust determinants in sport performance. This set of drivers comprises (i) assists, (ii) shots conceded, (iii) saves made by the goalkeeper, (iv) the number of precise passes with respect to the total number of passes, and (v) shots on target. The results of the study support the idea that offensive actions are more relevant than defensive ones. In addition, we find the existence of some performance indicators that have usually been ignored by previous analyses, such as saves made by the goalkeeper and assists. These findings could help the decision-making process of the coaching, scouting and managerial units of football clubs. Finally, the modelling techniques employed in this context can be generalized to gain knowledge in other fields of knowledge to extract factors affecting complex problems from large data sets. This could be particularly interesting when previous research has not yet obtained a well-defined and robust set of factors explaining these complex problems.
•The “Big Five” European football leagues were analysed during three seasons.•Bayesian model averaging is employed to analyse the main sport performance' determinants.•The results point to the existence of a set of robust determinants in sport performance.•Defence indicators also are a key part of sport success in European football.
Performance in basketball is multifactorial. One of the modifying factors is the "Relative Age Effect-RAE". However, its impact depends on the sample characteristics and sport context. The purpose of ...this study was to examine the influence of the RAE on basketball competition performance by analysing peer-reviewed articles published until July 2020. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses systematic search guidelines, nine studies were identified in four databases: Sport Discus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Moreover, a study quality analysis using "Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology" guidelines was carried out. The results confirmed an impact of the RAE on competition performance in basketball (56% measurements) and a higher influence of the RAE on short-term collective performance (54% measurements). Statistical parameters were affected, especially in men and U14-U18 categories. No impact of the RAE reversal and no influence of the RAE on long-term collective performance were found. There was a higher impact of the RAE in men (71%), the U14-U18 categories (44%), and at the national level (40%) was identified. The RAE has a variable influence on basketball performance according to developmental constraints. Nevertheless, the findings should be considered based on the sport context due to the heterogeneity and variability of the identified results.
This systematic review aimed to examine the prevalence of the relative age effect (RAE) in swimming and its impact on competition performance according to different types of interacting constraints. ...A systematic literature search, following the PRISMA guidelines for preparing systematic reviews, was performed through four electronic databases, and nine studies met the inclusion criteria. The quality of the selected studies was evaluated using STROBE, and an average score of 16.2 points was obtained. In these studies, the prevalence of the RAE in swimming was observed in more than half (58.65%) of the participants analysed, and the effect of the RAE was more accentuated in young categories (decreased as age increased and was inverted in older ones) and in male swimmers (double that in female swimmers).The impact of the RAE on competitive performance appeared to be related to the strength demands of the event, as the performance in simultaneous strokes, in shorter events, and of swimmers in the postadolescence period seems to be more affected by the RAE. These results indicate that the RAE in competitive swimming relies on individual and environmental (the swimmer’s age group and gender) but also task (the competitive events) determinants or limitations. This should serve as a guide for a more effective design of selection and development procedures for young athletes.
The aims of the study were: (i) to describe the work integration after retirement in elite athletes, (ii) to compare the working integration of women and men, and Olympic and non-Olympic athletes, ...and (iii) to specify the factors that affect their employment status and current monthly income. A total of 476 former elite athletes were surveyed. Non-parametric statistics were applied to compare the differences between groups and a classification tree analysis was performed for the dependent variables. The former elite athlete’s unemployment rate was better than the general population. At the gender comparison, a wage gap appeared between women and men. At the comparison between Olympic and non-Olympic athletes, the link to first employment differed in both groups. In the prediction models, finishing higher education arose as a key factor of the working status and the monthly salary. Among those without higher education studies, planning arose as a factor determining their salary, while among those with high qualifications, gender was the key factor. This study supports the importance of a holistic view of athletic career development and it offers practical insights into the process of reaching first employment after retirement.
Research question: While national sporting governing bodies are encouraged to implement programmes which seek to enhance their international sporting success, comparative studies on elite sport ...policies have provided limited empirical evidence in support of the relationship between such programmes and the achievement of sporting outcomes. Following the SPLISS framework, this study examines the longitudinal impact of four programme-level factors - financial support, human resources, coaching provision and foundation phase activity - on the international success of women's national football teams.
Research methods: Data from 55 Union of European Football Associations' (UEFA) members were collected over a seven-year-period (2011-2017). The associations between programme-level factors and FIFA ranking points are verified through panel regression analyses. Controls for economic, talent pool, political, socio-cultural, climate and men's football legacy variables are included.
Results and Findings: The results reveal that highly specialised coaching provision has a significant and positive impact on international success in women's football, while our proxies for financial support, human resources and foundation phase activity have no notable explanatory power for the success of women's national teams. A country's economic development, talent pool, climate and men's football legacy are significant predictors of its women's football performance level.
Implications: This paper offers practical insights into the organisation and management of women's football in UEFA nations and contributes to the theoretical debate on comparative analysis of the sporting performance of countries. This article confirms that an exclusively quantitative approach does not permit definitive conclusions to be drawn on the complex relationship between elite sport policies and international sporting outcomes.
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