ReviewChildren (Basel, Switzerland)2023
Push and Pull Factors: Contextualising Biological Maturation and Relative Age in Talent Development Systems.
Review in Children (Basel, Switzerland), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Effect of Bio-Banding On Talent Identification in Youth Soccer: A Systematic Review.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Longitudinal Development of Neuromuscular Performance and Multidirectional Speed in Youth Badminton Players: Evidence for Parallel Adaptation Trajectories.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The relative age effect among Malaysian university athletes: a cross-sectional survivorship analysis with exploratory AI-based movement screening.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Relative age effects and implications for sport performance in elite Chinese junior male basketball players.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Talent Identification: Time to Move Forward on Estimation of Potentials? Proposed Explanations and Promising Methods.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Review
- Selection biases in elite youth handball: early maturation compensates for younger relative age.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Insights on youth sports: Key issues.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Article
- Chilean National Sports Talent Detection System: Influence of Biological Age, Sex, and Geographic Area.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Article
- Gender Differences for the Relative Age Effect on Physical Skills and Emotional Intelligence in Child Volleyball and Soccer Athletes.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Article
- The relative age effect and its influence on athletic performance in Chinese junior female' tennis players.PloS one · 2024Article
- Article
- Looking beyond relative age to understand relative advantage and disadvantage in talent development.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- Prospective and Retrospective Analysis of the Sporting Success of Elite Spanish High and Long Jumpers.Journal of human kinetics · 2024Article
- The interaction of relative age with maturation and body size in female handball talent selection.PloS one · 2024Article
- International selection and competition in youth sport: pin the tail on the donkey or targeted intervention?Frontiers in sports and active living · 2023Article
- Article
- Mismatches in youth sports talent development.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2023Article
- The relative age effect among Chinese junior men's tennis players and its impact on sports performance.PloS one · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
In this conceptual paper, we contextualise ongoing attempts to manage challenge dynamics in talent systems in sport. Firstly, we review the broad literature base related to biological maturation, relative age, and the proposed interventions to mitigate effects. We suggest that the relative age effect may be a population level effect, indicative of deeper phenomena, rather than having a direct effect on challenge levels. In contrast, we suggest that biological maturation has a direct effect on challenge at the individual level. Therefore, our main critique of many existing approaches to the management of challenge is a lack of individual nuance and flexibility. We suggest the necessity for talent systems to adopt a more holistic approach, conceptualising biological maturation and relative age within a broader field of "push and pull factors" that impact challenge dynamics in talent development in sport. Finally, we provide practical guidance for talent systems in their approach to relative age and biological maturation, recognising that there is no "gold standard". Instead, there is a need to recognize the highly individual and contextual nature of these concepts, focusing on strategic coherence through talent systems for the management of selection and development processes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.