Retrospective Analyses of Stability and Variability in Relative Age Effects of Handball Talents Over Seventeen Years.

In the last thirty years research on relative age effects (RAEs) has exploded in numbers. However, the stability and variability of these effects have hardly been investigated. The three aims of this retrospective study were first to investigate the stability and variability of RAEs over 17 years, second to compare these effects for young female and male athletes, and third to compare these effects between selected and non-selected athletes relative to variability estimates from 17 years prior to assess possible changes in athlete development trends.

An investigation on main effects and interactions of relative age effects and playing position in female elite football in Germany.

Athlete age-grouping and age-banding has been shown to impact sport participation and athlete development. The current study examined the impact of within-year (WYEs) and between-year effects (BYEs), and their interactions with playing position, on female participation in elite German football. The sample of 1,378 German first-league players revealed expected participation inequities within-year with relatively older players being over-represented and younger players being under-represented.

Sensory Stimulation of the Triceps Surae Muscle Complex Modulates Spinal Reflex Responses-A Comparison between Tapotement Massage and Repetitive Peripheral Magnetic Stimulation (rPMS).

Background: The reduction of muscular hypertonia is important in the treatment of various diseases or rehabilitation. This study aims to test the efficacy of a 5 Hz mechanical muscle stimulation (tapotement massage) in comparison to a 5 Hz repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation (rPMS) on the neuromuscular reflex response.

Methods: In a randomized control trial, 15 healthy volunteers were administered with either 5 Hz rPMS, tapotement massage, or rPMS sham stimulation.

An unexpected shift in constant year effects in female elite handball.

One of the most convincing studies about the importance of the cutoff date in relative age effects was when Helsen et al. (2000) showed that a shift in the date directly resulted in a change of birth month distributions in soccer. Over the past four decades, the role of the birth year has also been associated with relative age effects (as reflected in constant year effects).

Expert goalkeepers' and coaches' views on anticipation and cue utilisation facing backcourt throws in handball goalkeeping.

Introduction: Handball goalkeepers have to act under severe spatio-temporal pressure in both standardised (e.g., 7 m penalty) and non-standardised situations (e.

Lateral preference in complex combat situations: Prevalence and relationship with general measures of hand and foot preference.

Laterality is considered relevant to performance in combat sports with particular emphasis being placed on fighters' handedness and combat stance. Such approach, however, may fall too short to understand the role of laterality in sports where fighters are allowed to use their hands and feet standing and on the ground. Here, we referred to grappling sports (i) to estimate lateral preferences in selected combat situations and (ii) to test for an association between those preferences and common measures of hand and foot preference.

How is the Topic of Intersex Athletes in Elite Sports Positioned in Academic Literature Between January 2000 and July 2022? A Systematic Review.

Background: Within the topic of intersex athletes in elite sports, science has become a decisive factor in decision- and policy-making. However, in the academic literature approaches to this topic vary. An overview of these approaches is proposed to provide better insight into relevant aspects and underlying values and may serve as a starting point on the path toward a solid solution of the question of categorization of intersex athletes in elite sporting competition.

Predictive Value of Technical Throwing Skills on Nomination Status in Youth and Long-Term Career Attainment in Handball.

Background: Research on talent in sports aims to identify predictors of future performance. This study retrospectively investigated 1) relationships between young handball field players' technical throwing skills and (a) their potential nomination to youth national teams and (b) their long-term career attainment 10 years later, and 2) associations between nomination status and career attainment.

Results: Results from retrospectively predicting nomination status and career attainment using logistic regression analyses show that technical throwing skills were partly able to explain players' nomination status (Nagelkerke R: females 9.

Varying Degrees of Perception-Action Coupling and Anticipation in Handball Goalkeeping.

Anticipation in sports is commonly investigated using perception-action uncoupled methods, thus raising questions regarding transferability of findings to the field. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of different degrees of perception-action coupling on anticipation in handball goalkeeping. Advanced, intermediate and novice handball goalkeepers watched videos of throws on the goal and were asked to anticipate throw direction via key press (perception-action artificial condition) and via natural movement response (perception-action simulated condition).

Developing a tool to assess technical skills in talented youth table tennis players-a multi-method approach combining professional and scientific literature and coaches' perspectives.

Background: The assessment of technical skills as part of a multidimensional approach for talent identification and development in sports seems promising, especially in a technique-based sport like table tennis. However, current instruments mostly focus on a single element of technical skills, mainly use quantitative outcomes, and/or are not developed for talent purposes. Practice would benefit from a new instrument using a more ecologically valid approach.

Handedness and Relative Age in International Elite Interactive Individual Sports Revisited.

Relative age effects (RAE) describe the unintended side effect of annual age grouping such that athletes born close to a specific cutoff date are more likely to be associated with attaining higher performance status than athletes born later. One factor suggested to override the RAE is handedness. Given the left-handers' rarity and their proposed performance advantage in interactive sports, left-handedness may be associated with a lower likelihood of suffering from selection inequalities like RAE in those sports compared with right-handedness.

Looking to Learn Better - Training of Perception-Specific Focus of Attention Influences Quiet Eye Duration but Not Throwing Accuracy in Darts.

Investigations of the association of focus of attention and quiet eye duration have shown mixed results. It is possible that when focusing on visuo-motor learning a more sensitive category system of instructions might be useful. The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction of focus of attention and quiet eye duration in darts.

On the Influence of Action Preference on Female Players' Gaze Behavior During Defense of Volleyball Attacks.

Knowledge of an opponent's action preference may affect visual anticipation of their action outcome. Specifically, if an opponent acts according to their purported preference, anticipation may be facilitated. Conversely, if an opponent does not act according to their purported preference, anticipation may be unaffected or even harmed.

The Relationship Between Cognition and Sensorimotor Behavior in an F1 Driving Simulation: An Explorative Study.

Sensorimotor control simultaneously engages multiple cognitive processes, like decision making, intention, processing, and the integration of multisensory signals. The reciprocal relationship of cognition and sensorimotor learning is well documented. However, little is known if the status of cognitive skills relates to immediate sensorimotor performance of performing a novel skill.

Predictive value of coaches' early technical and tactical notational analyses on long-term success of female handball players.

Despite the importance of technique and tactics for athlete performance, there has been surprisingly little research on the value of these skills in talent identification and development. This study investigated the relationship between coaches' early notational analyses of female youth handball players and the long-term success of these athletes. Participants included sixty-eight female handball players involved in a talent selection camp in Germany when they were between 12 and 14 years of age (mean = 14.

Assessing Technical Skills in Talented Youth Athletes: A Systematic Review.

Background: Talent identification and development (TID) programs aim to identify players with the greatest potential for long-term success. Previous research suggests that the assessment of sport-specific technical skills is valuable for discriminating between more and less skilled individuals and/or for predicting future performance.

Objective: This review aims to provide an overview on both the instruments used to assess sport-specific technical skills and their discriminatory, explanatory and/or predictive findings in the context of TID.

Are performance trajectories associated with relative age in French top 100 youth table tennis players? - A longitudinal approach.

Although relative age effects in sports have been studied worldwide, the underlying mechanisms are still under debate. This study adds to the existing knowledge by providing a further exploration of the association between relative age and the performance trajectories over four years in youth players of an individual skill/technique based sport: table tennis. Data of 1000 French male and female youth top 100 players across five ages (U14, U15, U16, U17 and U18) were collected from the ranking lists over a four-year period.

Physical Load and Referees' Decision-Making in Sports Games: A Scoping Review.

Referees in sports games have a high level of responsibility as they have to make correct and appropriate decisions at any point during a match. Regarding referees' decision-making (RDM) as a perceptual-cognitive process, evidence suggests that physical load might reduce cognitive performance and thus might reduce RDM performance as well. In consideration of increasing game dynamics, referees have to cope with high physical load, but they have to make correct and appropriate decisions further on.

Relative age effects in Elite Chinese soccer players: Implications of the 'one-child' policy.

The relative age effect (RAE) refers to the asymmetrical distribution of birthdates in a cohort found in many achievement domains, particularly in sports with many participants like soccer. Given the uniqueness of the one-child policy in China, this study examined the existence of the RAE in elite Chinese male and female soccer players generally and relative to their playing position on the field. Results showed a clear and obvious RAE for all age groups (U20 male, U18 male, adult female and U18 female) with the observed birthdate distributions for each age group significantly different from expected distributions (p<0.

Extending Research on Deception in Sport - Combining Perception and Kinematic Approaches.

The spatio-temporal demands of many high performance sport contexts require a strategic interplay between anticipation from early kinematic cues and the appropriate movement strategy. Despite the importance of the interaction between observer and deceiver in these contexts, this dyad is usually considered separately (i.e.

Understanding High Achievement: The Case for Eminence.

The development of the field of sport expertise over the past 20 years has been remarkable, and our understanding of the varying factors affecting athlete development and motor skill acquisition has expanded considerably. Recently, there has been a push toward more sophisticated research designs to continue the advancement of our understanding of sport expertise. Even in a population of performers at the highest levels of performance and competition (e.

Heterogeneity in Community Size Effects: Exploring Variations in the Production of National Hockey League Draftees Between Canadian Cities.

Previous research has explored 'community size effects' in a multitude of sporting and regional contexts and has shown that athletes are more likely to originate from small-medium population size categories, and less likely to originate from very small or large ones. However, it is not clear whether the production of athletes is homogenous within population size categories. Place of birth data were collected for all Canadian born hockey players drafted into the National Hockey League (NHL) from 2000-2014 from British Columbia ( = 192), Alberta ( = 218), Saskatchewan and Manitoba ( = 216), Ontario ( = 561), Quebec ( = 241), and the Atlantic Provinces ( = 74).

An Augmented Perceptual-Cognitive Intervention Using a Pattern Recall Paradigm With Junior Soccer Players.

In sport, perceptual skill training software is intended to assist tactical training in the field. The aim of this field study was to test whether "laboratory-based" pattern recall training would augment tactical skill training performed on the field. Twenty-six soccer players between 14 and 16 years of age from a single team participated in this study and were divided into three groups.

Population density and proximity to junior developmental teams affect the development of National Hockey League draftees.

Inconsistencies in community size effects found between and within countries (Baker et al Eur J Sport Sci. 2009;9:329-339; Bruner et al J Sports Sci. 2011;29:1337-1344; Wattie et al J Sports Sci.

- Even Loud Music Does Not Facilitate Strenuous Ergometer Exercise.

Music listening is wide-spread in amateur sports. Ergometer exercise is one such activity which is often performed with loud music. We investigated the effects of electronic music at different intensity levels on ergometer performance (physical performance, force on the pedal, pedaling frequency), perceived fatigue and heart rate in healthy adults.