A Serial Examination of Academic Timing and Relative Age Effects Among U Sports Basketball Players

Authors

Abstract

The relative age effect (RAE) describes relative (dis)advantages experienced by athletes born earlier in the year compared to their younger counterparts due to organizational cut-off dates. Interuniversity sport offers a unique environment where student-athletes of varying absolute ages compete for positions on a single team. This context can influence the academic timing of student-athletes, which describes the difference in student-athletes’ current and projected athletic eligibilities, and the impact this has on their participation in interuniversity sport. The purpose of this serial investigation was to examine the influence of academic timing on RAEs in U Sports basketball. The results revealed that the RAE was stronger among ‘on-time’ student-athletes, with more student-athletes born in the first half of the year than the second throughout the time period considered in this study. U Sports administrators may want to consider the influence of academic timing on RAEs to inform future policy decisions.   

Author Biographies

Laura Chittle, University of Windsor - Windsor - Ontario - CANADA

Laura Chittle completed her PhD in the Department of Kinesiology and is currently completing a post-doctoral fellowship in the Faculty of Science at the University of Windsor, Canada. She has been funded by a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship, a Sport Canada Research Initiative Grant, and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Her previous work examined the moderating impact of academic timing on relative age effect patterns within intercollegiate sport, while her dissertation studies evaluatied the role that relative age has on athlete leadership development and positive youth experiences in sport.

Sean Horton, University of Windsor - Windsor - Ontario - CANADA

Sean Horton is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Windsor, Canada. Sean’s research interests lie primarily in the area of skill acquisition and expert performance, both in young people and as individuals age, along with various psychosocial components of sport and physical activity participation. His research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Jess C. Dixon, University of Windsor - Windsor - Ontario - CANADA

Jess C. Dixon is Head of the Department of Kinesiology and an Associate Professor of Sport Management at the University of Windsor, Canada. His primary research and scholarly interests are in the areas of strategic management in sport, executive leadership and human resource management in sport, and sport management pedagogy. He has also published extensively about relative age effects in sport over the past decade. His research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Sport Canada Research Initiative (SCRI), and the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM).

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Published

2021-07-08

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2021): PHEnex Journal

Section

Feature Articles / Articles de fond

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