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.

Multidimensional and Longitudinal Approaches in Talent Identification and Development in Racket Sports: A Systematic Review.

Background: Better methods to support talent identification and development processes may contribute to more effective and efficient athlete development programs in racket sports. Both researchers and practitioners recommend multidimensional and longitudinal approaches to better understand the nature of talent (development). However, the added value of these 'innovative' approaches has not yet been clarified for racket sports.

Can perceptuo-motor skills outcomes predict future competition participation/drop-out and competition performance in youth table tennis players? A 9-year follow-up study.

Tools that provide a fair estimate of young table tennis players' potential and their chances to succeed will support making decisions whether to commit to an extensive development program and the accompanying lifestyle. Consequently, this study included two research questions (RQ) to evaluate the capability of the Dutch perceptuo-motor skills assessment to predict competition participation/drop-out (RQ1) and competition performance (RQ2) in young table tennis players (n = 39; 7-11 years) using a tracking period of 9 years. The perceptuo-motor skills assessment consists of eight tests assessing gross motor function (i.

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.

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.

A new method for measuring treadmill belt velocity fluctuations: effects of treadmill type, body mass and locomotion speed.

Treadmills are essential to the study of human and animal locomotion as well as for applied diagnostics in both sports and medicine. The quantification of relevant biomechanical and physiological variables requires a precise regulation of treadmill belt velocity (TBV). Here, we present a novel method for time-efficient tracking of TBV using standard 3D motion capture technology.

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.

Dorsal muscle fatigue increases thoracic spine curvature in all-out recreational ergometer rowing.

The purpose of this study was to investigate fatigue-related changes in spinal kinematics, kinetics, and muscle activity of back muscles during a 2000 m all-out ergometer rowing performance. We analyzed ten male subjects with experience in both rowing and CrossFit exercises. We applied a novel kinematic method to describe spine curvature, determined bending moments at the spine using inverse dynamics and collected EMG data.

Mental Rotation of Tactical Instruction Displays Affects Information Processing Demand and Execution Accuracy in Basketball.

Purpose: In sports games, coaches often use tactic boards to present tactical instructions during time-outs (e.g., 20 s to 60 s in basketball).