Rüeger Eva, Javet Marie, Born Dennis-Peter, Heyer Louis, Romann Michael
Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen SFISM, Magglingen, Switzerland.
Swiss Swimming Federation, Ittigen, Switzerland.
Front Physiol. 2023 Jan 25;14:1051208. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1051208. eCollection 2023.
Long-term sports participation and performance development are major issues in popular sports and talent development programs. This study aimed to provide longitudinal trends in youth female long jump performance development, participation, and relative age effects (RAEs), as longitudinal data for female athletes are missing. 51'894 season's best results of female long jump athletes ( = 16'189) were acquired from the Swiss Athletics online database and analyzed within a range of 6-22 years of age. To examine longitudinal performance development and RAEs, data from athletes who participated in at least three seasons were selected ( = 41'253) and analyzed. Performance development was analyzed using age groups (AGs) and exact chronological age (CA) at competition. Differences between performances of birth quarters were analyzed using 83% confidence intervals (CIs) and smallest worthwhile change. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CI were used to quantify RAEs. With the traditional classification into age groups (AG), performances of athletes born between January and March (Q1) were significantly better than those born between October and December (Q4) from U8 to U17. Using exact CA resulted in similar performances in Q1 and Q4 until the U20 age category. The peak of participation was reached in the U12 category, and then decreased until the U23 category with a substantial drop at U17. Significant RAEs were observed from U8 to U19 and at U22. RAEs continuously decreased from U8 (large effect) to U14 (small effect). The present results show that differences in performance arise from the comparison of athletes in AGs. Thus, going beyond AGs and using exact CA, Q4 athletes could benefit from a realistic performance comparison, which promotes fair performance evaluation, un-biased talent development, realistic feedback, and long-term participation.
长期参与体育运动和成绩发展是大众体育和人才培养项目中的重要问题。本研究旨在提供青年女子跳远成绩发展、参与情况和相对年龄效应（RAEs）的纵向趋势，因为目前缺少女性运动员的纵向数据。从瑞士田径在线数据库中获取了51894名女子跳远运动员（n = 16189）的赛季最佳成绩，并在6至22岁的年龄范围内进行分析。为了研究纵向成绩发展和RAEs，选取了至少参加三个赛季的运动员的数据（n = 41253）并进行分析。使用年龄组（AGs）和比赛时的精确实足年龄（CA）来分析成绩发展。使用83%置信区间（CIs）和最小有价值变化分析出生季度成绩之间的差异。使用95%CI的优势比（ORs）来量化RAEs。按照传统的年龄组分类（AG），1月至3月出生（第一季度，Q1）的运动员在U8至U17年龄段的成绩显著优于10月至12月出生（第四季度，Q4）的运动员。使用精确的CA，在U20年龄组之前，Q1和Q4的成绩相似。参与度在U12年龄组达到峰值，然后下降，直到U23年龄组，在U17时大幅下降。从U8到U19以及U22时观察到显著的RAEs。RAEs从U8（大效应）到U14（小效应）持续下降。目前的结果表明，成绩差异源于年龄组内运动员的比较。因此，超越年龄组并使用精确的CA，第四季度出生的运动员可以从现实的成绩比较中受益，这有助于促进公平的成绩评估、无偏见的人才培养、现实的反馈和长期参与。
