The Road to the Hoop: Relative Age Effects and Game-Related Performance in Youth Basketball.

Relative Age Effects (RAEs) have been widely reported trends in basketball participation, but research on the relationship between RAEs and competitive performance has been contradictory. We aimed to determine the magnitude of RAEs in elite youth basketball players and to analyze RAEs on key performance indicators (KPIs). We recorded and analyzed the incidence of early birthdates and the KPIs of 2487 youth basketball players (aged 16-19 years).

Six months of different exercise type in sedentary primary schoolchildren: impact on physical fitness and saliva microbiota composition.

Introduction: Lifestyle influences microbiota composition. We previously reported a healthier microbiota composition in saliva from active schoolchildren compared to sedentary. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of 6 months of different exercise types on physical fitness and saliva microbiota composition in 8-11-years-old sedentary schoolchildren.

Career trajectories, transition rates, and birthdate distributions: the rocky road from youth to senior level in men's European football.

This study aimed to assess youth-to-senior transition rates, quantify the magnitude of relative age effect (RAEs), and evaluate how RAEs affect these transitions in 9,527 men's national football players of England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Regardless of national team, only -15%, 25%, and 40% of U17, U19, and U21 players successfully transitioned to the senior team, respectively, whilst -14%-24% progressed to senior level without being selected during youth. Data suggested a skewed birthdate distribution favouring relatively older players at U17, U19, and U21 levels across all countries, whereas RAEs were also present in England, Italy, and Spain at senior level.

Upper-Limb Muscle Fatigability in Para-Athletes Quantified as the Rate of Force Development in Rapid Contractions of Submaximal Amplitude.

This study aimed to compare neuromuscular fatigability of the elbow flexors and extensors between athletes with amputation (AMP) and athletes with spinal cord injury (SCI) for maximum voluntary force (MVF) and rate of force development (RFD). We recruited 20 para-athletes among those participating at two training camps (2022) for Italian Paralympic veterans. Ten athletes with SCI (two with tetraplegia and eight with paraplegia) were compared to 10 athletes with amputation (above the knee, N = 3; below the knee, N = 6; forearm, N = 1).

Mitigating against relative age effects in youth Track & Field: Validating corrective adjustment procedures across multiple events.

Objectives: With the aim to better identify talented Track & Field performance development, this study estimated the relationships between chronological (decimal) age with 60-m sprint, high jump, triple jump, and pole vault performance. Then, to mitigate against expected Relative Age Effects (RAEs), Corrective Adjustment Procedures (CAPs) were applied to an independent sample.

Design: Mixed-longitudinal design examining public data between 2005 and 2019.

Performance pathways in elite middle- and long-distance track and field athletes: The influence of a successful youth.

Objectives: There is limited information on the performance progression of athletics endurance athletes from junior-to-senior status and the determinants of success in adulthood. This study aimed to quantify the youth-to-senior transition rate, the likelihood of success and the relationship between youth and senior performance amongst world-class athletes competing in middle- and long-distance disciplines.

Design: Retrospective design examining public data between 2000 and 2019.

Birth Advantages in Male Italian Soccer: How They Influence Players Youth Career and Their Future Career Status.

Soccer organizations generally adopt deterministic models within their talent pathways. In this framework, early ability and results are emphasized, leading to selection biases, such as birth advantages (i.e.

Disentangling Gender and Relative Age Effects in Women's and Girls' Rugby Union.

Relative age effects (RAEs) within sports refer to the overrepresentation of athletes born earlier in the selection year and the underrepresentation of those born later in the selection year. Research examining RAEs in women's and girls' rugby union remains limited in comparison to the male literature, whilst the impacts of RAEs on the youth-senior transition are yet to be explored in a female sport context. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine RAEs during entry into the women's and girls' premiership and international rugby union pathways in England, as well as to compare them to their respective senior cohort ( = 1367): (a) U18 England Rugby Centre of Excellence Player ( = 325) vs.

Early parathyroid hormone (PTH) level as a predictor of post-surgical hypoparathyroidism.

Introduction: Post-operative hypocalcemia and postoperative persistent hypoparathyroidism remain the most common complications after thyroidectomy. Many approaches have been developed to prevent them, but actually, a common protocol is not yet individuated.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the results of a prospectively collected database.

Decreased neural drive affects the early rate of force development after repeated burst-like isometric contractions.

The neural drive to the muscle is the primary determinant of the rate of force development (RFD) in the first 50 ms of a rapid contraction. It is still unproven if repetitive rapid contractions specifically impair the net neural drive to the muscles. To isolate the fatiguing effect of contraction rapidity, 17 male adult volunteers performed 100 burst-like (i.

Impact of active lifestyle on the primary school children saliva microbiota composition.

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of Active or Sedentary lifestyle on saliva microbiota composition in Italian schoolchildren.

Methods: Male (114) and female children (8-10 years) belonging to five primary schools in the neighborhoods of Turin were classified as active (A) or sedentary (S) based on PAQ-C-It questionnaire. PCR amplification of salivary DNA targeted the hypervariable V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA bacterial genes.

Relative age effect reversal on the junior-to-senior transition in world-class athletics.

The relative age effect (RAE) is a selection bias resulting from the interaction between the selected dates and birthdates. Nevertheless, the impact of birthdate on the junior-to-senior transition in international track and field is unclear. This study aimed to quantify the RAE's magnitude and test if birthdate affects the junior-to-senior transition rate.

Junior to senior transition pathway in Italian Football: The rocky road to the top is not determined by youth national team's selections.

Football is a popular sport, but little is known about the youth-to-senior transition rates in elite players, particularly in large and successful countries. This study aims to investigate the youth-to-senior transition rate in the Italian national football team, both prospectively and retrospectively, and to explore if Relative Age Effects (RAEs) affect this transition. Data from 885 players selected in youth and senior Italian national teams between 2000 and 2021 were included in the study.

Two Is Better than One: Successful World-Class Sprinters Compete in Two Disciplines.

We aimed to quantify the prevalence of track and field sprinters competing at a world-class level in more than one discipline, and we describe the career characteristics of single- and double-discipline athletes in terms of peak performance and the age of peak performance. The career performance of athletes ranked in the top 200 positions of the World Athletics database in the 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m were analyzed, i.e.

Youth-to-senior transition in women's and girls' football: Towards a better understanding of relative age effects and gender-specific considerations.

This study aimed to evaluate youth-to-senior transition and the relative age effect in Italian female football national teams. Birthdate data of 774 female players selected for Under 17 (N = 416), 19 (N = 265) and National Senior team (N = 93) were analysed. The youth-to-senior transition rate was determined by the number of youth players competing in the Senior National team (and vice versa), whilst birth quarter (Q) distributions with a chi-square goodness-of-fit test.

The Most Active Child Is Not Always the Fittest: Physical Activity and Fitness Are Weakly Correlated.

The present cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the impact of physical activity level (PA) on physical fitness by controlling for individual characteristics in Italian children. A total of 329 children (girls = 155, 42.6%; from five primary schools, 17 classes) aged 8-10 filled out the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) to assess their PA level and performed anthropometric measurements (body mass, height, and BMI) and physical tests for measuring sprint (20 m sprint), cardiorespiratory fitness (shuttle-run test), balance (single-leg stance), handgrip strength (handgrip), lower-limb power (standing long-jump), peak force (countermovement jump), and low-back flexibility (sit-and-reach) skills.

The Influence of Contextual Factors on the Relative Age Effect in Male International Rugby Union: The Impact of Sociocultural Influences and Playing Position.

The purpose of this study is not only to establish whether the relative age effect (RAE) exists in male international rugby union players, but also to investigate the impact of sociocultural influences (i.e., northern and southern hemispheres) and playing position (i.

Commentary: Comment and reflection about Mental health outcomes of the Daily Mile in elementary school children: a single-arm pilot study. The implementation of the Daily Mile in the school context.

In 'Mental health outcomes of the Daily Mile in elementary school children: a single-arm pilot study', Arkesteyn et al. (Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 2022) discussed and investigated the effect of a classroom activity break, named The Daily Mile, on pupils' self-esteem, self-perception competence, and mental health. Starting from the interesting and novel results of Arkesteyn et al.

Indoor Mobility, Frailty, and Disability in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Mediation Model.

The general population, but especially older adults, were forced or encouraged to stay home during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, indoor mobility (IM, the number of steps performed daily at home) may be informative about the general health status of older adults. The present study aimed at evaluating the relationship between IM, frailty (loss of functional reserve including both physical and psychosocial domains), and disability (loss of autonomy measured as activities of daily life, ADLs) in a sample of community-dwelling Italian older adults.

Changes in anthropometric and fitness profile of Italian regional academy rugby union players.

In rugby union, physical characteristics may partially contribute to long-term career progression, especially during adolescence. Therefore, the primary purpose of the study was to evaluate Italian regional rugby union academy players' (i.e.

Don't Throw the Baby Out With the Bathwater: Talent in Swimming Sprinting Events Might Be Hidden at Early Age.

Purpose: This study aimed to describe the career performance progression of elite early- and later-success international swimmers competing in sprint events (ie, 50 and 100 m).

Methods: The career performance trajectories of 6003 swimmers (50.9% females; 58,760 unique records) competing in the 4 swimming strokes were evaluated.

Strength Asymmetries Are Muscle-Specific and Metric-Dependent.

We investigated if dominance affected upper limbs muscle function, and we calculated the level of agreement in asymmetry direction across various muscle-function metrics of two heterologous muscle groups. We recorded elbow flexors and extensors isometric strength of the dominant and non-dominant limb of 55 healthy adults. Participants performed a series of explosive contractions of maximal and submaximal amplitudes to record three metrics of muscle performance: maximal voluntary force (MVF), rate of force development (RFDpeak), and RFD-Scaling Factor (RFD-SF).

Padel Match Analysis: Notational and Time-Motion Analysis during Official Italian Sub-Elite Competitions.

Although performance analysis in padel represents a useful process to gain references about players' technical and tactical behavior, most of the research was conducted in elite compared to the sub-elite competitions. Therefore, this study aimed to describe sub-elite competitions in order to enhance scientific knowledge for sub-elite athletes and technical staff. 4287 shots were analyzed within five areas (time-motion analysis, shots characteristics, errors, serve and points won).

Corrective Adjustment Procedures as a strategy to remove Relative Age Effects: Validation across male and female age-group long jumping.

Objectives: To validate the application of Corrective Adjustment Procedures for removing Relative Age Effects in youth athletic contexts, this study estimated the longitudinal relationships between decimal age (chronological and relative) and performance in male and female long jumpers. Using trendlines, Corrective Adjustment Procedures were applied, and Relative Age Effect distributions associated with performance attainment were re-examined.

Design: Retrospective longitudinal design examining competitive long-jump data between 2005 and 2019.

The Cut-Off Value for Classifying Active Italian Children Using the Corresponding National Version of the Physical Activity Questionnaire.

The present study aimed to determine a cut-off value following the filling in of a questionnaire (PAQ-C-It) to identify active Italian children. One-hundred-twenty-nine primary school children (5 Piedmont schools; 47.3% female; mean age = 10 ± 1 years) wore an accelerometer (Actigraph wGT3X-BT) to objectively quantify individual moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during one week.