Department for Health, University of Bath , Bath, UK.
Department of Sports Science and Medicine, Southampton Football Club , Southampton, UK.
J Sports Sci. 2020 Jun-Jun;38(11-12):1359-1367. doi: 10.1080/02640414.2019.1649524. Epub 2019 Jul 31.
This study examined the simultaneous effects of relative age and biological maturity status upon player selection in an English professional soccer academy. A total of 202 players from the U9 to U16 age groups, over an eight-year period (total of 566 observations), had their relative age (birth quarter) and biological maturity (categorised as late, on-time or early maturing based upon the Khamis-Roche method of percentage of predicted adult height at time of observation) recorded. Players born in the first birth quarter of the year (54.8%) were over-represented across all age groups. A selection bias towards players advanced in maturity status for chronological age emerged in U12 players and increased with age; 0% of players in the U15 and U16 age group were categorised as late maturing. A clear maturity selection bias for early maturing players was, however, only apparent when the least conservative criterion for estimating maturity status was applied (53.8% early and 1.9% late maturing in the U16 age group). Professional football academies need to recognise relative age and maturation as independent constructs that exist and operate independently. Thus, separate strategies should perhaps be designed to address the respective selection biases, to better identify, retain and develop players.
本研究考察了相对年龄和生物成熟度状态对英国职业足球学院球员选拔的同时影响。在八年的时间里（共 566 个观察），对来自 U9 到 U16 年龄组的 202 名球员的相对年龄（出生季度）和生物成熟度（根据 Khamis-Roche 方法，根据观察时预测成人身高的百分比将其归类为晚熟、正常或早熟）进行了记录。在所有年龄组中，出生在一年中第一个季度的球员（54.8%）的数量过多。在 U12 年龄段的球员中，出现了一种针对生理年龄成熟度较高的球员的选择偏差，并且随着年龄的增长而增加；在 U15 和 U16 年龄组中，没有球员被归类为晚熟。然而，只有当应用最不保守的估计成熟度状态的标准时，才会出现对早熟球员的明显成熟选择偏差（在 U16 年龄组中，53.8%的球员早熟，1.9%的球员晚熟）。职业足球学院需要认识到相对年龄和成熟度是独立的存在和独立运作的结构。因此，或许应该设计单独的策略来解决各自的选择偏差，以更好地识别、保留和发展球员。
