Sink or Swim? A survival analysis of sport dropout in Australian youth swimmers.

Objectives: To examine long-term participation and dropout rates in Australian youth swimming using survival analyses and to determine whether multiple individual, socio-demographic, and competition-related factors influenced dropout.

Design: Retrospective cohort study of registration and competitive performance data.

Methods: Part 1-Registration data from N = 17 161 female (n = 9400) and male (n = 7761) New South Wales (NSW) swimmers aged 10-15 years (inclusive).

Testing the application of corrective adjustment procedures for removal of relative age effects in female youth swimming.

The purpose of this study was (1) accurately estimate longitudinal relationships between decimal age (i.e., chronological and relative) and performance in Australian female 100 m (N = 765) and 200 m (N = 428) Breaststroke swimmers (10-18 years); and (2) determine whether corrective adjustment procedures could remove Relative Age Effects (RAEs) in an independent sample of age-matched 100 m (N = 2,491) and 200 m (N = 1,698) state/national level Breaststroke swimmers.