Early Superstars

It is probably not hard to identify the “superstars” of any youth team. You all know
them – maybe it’s even your child – and you all know what most of their parents
are thinking, “My child is the next Michael Jordan (or Mia Hamm, or whoever).”
Before you get too far along in this thinking, I hate to be the one to inform you that
even though you are positive your child is the best 3-yr. old free throw shooter this
side of the Mississippi – so what if he’s got all the trophies to back it up – it means
very little about what his chances are of making it into the NBA.

In reality, all early superstardom usually means is that your child has matured faster
than his friends. Look at the real Michael Jordan. Was he considered the best
player on his team when he was 5? Probably not. He couldn’t even make his high
school basketball team! Performance success is due to a variety of characteristics
including abilities, attitudes, body type, cultural background, emotional makeup,
fitness level, learning style, maturational level, motivational level, previous social
experience, prior movement experience (1) and personality (2). Each of these
factors are extremely important, with ability being one of the most important, but
because there is such a wide variety of factors influencing performance, it is virtually
impossible to make an early prediction about a child’s future success in sports. That’
s not to say that the early superstars don’t ever go on to be successful athletes at a
later stage, such as high school. It just doesn’t happen that often, only about 25%
of the time (3).

To help you better understand the situation, here is a quick lesson on motor
learning. If you have ever observed your child and his or her teammates, you
probably have seen kids of all different shapes, sizes and abilities, all in the same age
group. You may wonder why there is such a difference between children of the
same age. First of all, we all grow and mature according to our biological clock, not
the date on the calendar. We will discuss more about this later. Second, we are all
thought to be born with a predetermined set of abilities, and success in a sport
requires a high ability level in a set of sport-specific tasks. It should also be
mentioned that just having the abilities isn’t enough. It requires practice to turn
those abilities into skills. Without the practice, the abilities are just capabilities,
something we are capable of doing but have not yet accomplished. The interesting
thing about sports is that the abilities required for someone to be successful at the
beginner stage are different from the abilities required at the expert level. It is
impossible to predict whether or not a person will have those expert level abilities a
few years down the road (1). This is why cutting players from teams at the youth
level does not make sense. It is also why it is important for every player to try out
every position. You never exactly know what a person’s strengths will be until he or
she has at least gone through puberty.

Maturation is another important issue to discuss. Motor learning specialists Schmidt
and Wrisberg (1) say, “Bigger, stronger children who mature at an earlier age have
an advantage when it comes to the performance of a number of physical skills . . .
As a result, observers may assume that these children have a wider range of motor
abilities than do kids who are smaller, weaker, or physically immature” (p.42).
Research has supported this statement, showing that the month in which a child is
born, as it relates to the cut off date for the age group, can have an effect on the
child’s success in some sports. This is termed the relative age effect (RAE).

A variety of studies have shown that the RAE exists in soccer, hockey, baseball,
college football, cricket and tennis. It has been shown that up to 81% of the
players had a birthday in the first half of the year (4). A recent study examining the
US soccer Olympic Development Program (ODP) found that in one group of boys,
70% had a birthday in the first six months of the year (5). It is hypothesized that
the RAE is due to the physical and psychological advantage that the older player
has in addition to the opportunity to have gained more sport-specific experience
(4). Glamser and Vincent (5) explain why this is so critical:
In the initial stages of the selection of young athletes, a 6 to 12 month
developmental advantage can be decisive. Slightly older participants tend to
possess physical and psychological advantages that make their selection more
likely. Once young players are selected for elite sport participation, they are taught
the correct skills and techniques, while being socialized into appropriate attitudes for
later success by capable coaches. This specialized socialization process is not
experienced by players not selected for elite teams. The absence of this early
experience puts younger players who were not initially selected at risk of non-
selection at subsequent player evaluations. Over time, this disadvantage builds. (p.
2)

The way the current youth sports system in the US is structured, it serves to
further enhance the differences between the early maturers and the late bloomers.
On a typical sports team there will be children 11 months apart in age or more
eligible to participate, but many teams only want the best players. Travel teams are
recruiting younger and younger participants, taking only the ones who are the best
– presumably the late maturers. Team rosters are many times too large to give all
adequate playing time, so the late bloomers may be left on the bench. Some teams
use cuts to narrow down their roster, and according to research, the younger
players are more likely to get cut (4). All this can add up to potentially a very
negative youth sports experience for the kid who just wants a chance to play, have
fun, and develop his skills. Unfortunately, that child will most likely get fed up with
the negative feedback and drop out of sports all together.

To solve this problem most likely means modifying the way teams are formed.
Some suggestions include: form teams based on biological age, not chronological
age; narrow the age range; rotate the cutoff date; employ age quotas; and create
a variety of teams based on different standards (4).

References

(1) Schmidt, R. A., & Wrisberg, C. A. (2000). Motor Learning and Performance: A
Problem-Based Learning Approach (2nd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

(2) Cox, R. H. (2002). Sport Psychology: Concepts and Applications (5th ed.).
Boston: McGraw Hill.

(3) Pangrazi, R. P. (2001). Dynamic Physical Education for Elementary School
Children (13th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

(4) Musch, J. & Grondin, S. (2001). Unequal competition as an impediment to
personal development: A review of the relative age effect in sport. Developmental
Review, 21, 147-167. Retrieved January 17, 2006 from Science Direct database.

(5) Glamser, F. D. & Vincent, J. (Mar 2004). The relative age effect among elite
American youth soccer players. Journal of Sport Behavior, 27, 31-38. Retrieved
January 17, 2006 from Academic Search Premier database.