Sustainable Sport Development: The Influence of Competitive-Grouping and Relative Age on the Performance of Young Triathletes

Alberto Ferriz-Valero, Salvador García Martínez, Javier Olaya-Cuartero and Miguel García-Jaén
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Alberto Ferriz-Valero: Department of General and Specifics Didactics, University of Alicante; 03690 San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain
Salvador García Martínez: Department of General and Specifics Didactics, University of Alicante; 03690 San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain
Javier Olaya-Cuartero: Faculty of Health Sciences, Isabel I University, 09003 Burgos, Spain
Miguel García-Jaén: Department of General and Specifics Didactics, University of Alicante; 03690 San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-13

Abstract: Competitive-grouping by chronological age is a common organizational strategy in competition which may unintentionally promote relative age effects, for the benefit of older individuals within the same competitive-group, especially in young athletes. This work presents the aim of analyzing differences in young triathletes on their performance within each competitive group. A total of 1243 entries of both sexes, both children—13–14 years old—and cadets—15–17 years old—participated. Firstly, we identified the year in the competitive group and relative-age semester for all the triathletes who competed in a total of six seasons from 2013 to 2018. Secondly, the performance indicator was calculated in all the segments in a triathlon competition for all triathletes. The Kruskal-Wallis Test and U Mann Whitney Test was applied. It was observed that all cadet triathletes born in the first semester of the year (S1, born in January–June) were faster; for both boys and girls. Likewise, it was observed that older triathletes who competed within the same category were faster, but only in males and for both competitive groups: children ( p < 0.0083), and cadet ( p < 0.0033). In conclusion, families, coaches and sports political agencies need a greater knowledge and understanding of the effects of relative age and competitive grouping to understand the important role of age in the development of sports talent demonstrated in this study.

Keywords: triathlon; maturity; talent identification; youth; children; swim; cycle; run; performance indicator (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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