The Relationship Between Relative Age and Tournament Success for 11-Year-Old Male Wrestlers in Turkey

Year 2023, Volume: 34 Issue: 2, 81 - 87, 05.09.2023

Yahya Yıldırım , Murat Deniz

https://doi.org/10.17644/sbd.1194387

Abstract

Children born in the first months of the same year are physically more advantageous than those born in the last months, and this advantage decreases as the athletes gets older. Athletes born in the last months of the year and unsuccessful may leave their careers at a young age. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between tournament success and birth months in 11-year-old Freestyle and Greco-Roman style wrestlers. It was hypothesized that wrestlers born in the first months of the year would be more successful than those born in the last months. Tournament ranking and birth date information of 327 wrestlers who participated in the Turkey 11-Year-Old Male Freestyle and Greco-Roman Style Wrestling Tournament were used. In order to examine the relationship between athlete success and birth months, Chi-Square analysis was performed by grouping birth months into four quarters of the year. It was observed that the success rankings of both Freestyle and Greco-Roman style wrestlers decreased from the first quarter to the last quarter of the year (Freestyle: χ2 = 42.749, df = 3, p = .000; Greco-Roman style: χ2 = 25.627, df = 3, p = .000). It is thought that birth months should be given importance when grouping at young ages, especially in sports branches such as wrestling, where physical contact is high.

Keywords

Wrestling, month of birth, Freestyle, Greco-Roman style

Türkiye’deki 11 Yaş Erkek Güreşçilerde Bağıl Yaş ile Turnuva Başarısı Arasındaki İlişki

Abstract

Aynı yılın ilk aylarında doğan çocuklar, son aylarda doğanlara göre fiziksel olarak daha avantajlıdır ve sporcuların yaşı büyüdükçe bu avantaj azalmaktadır. Yılın son aylarında doğan ve başarısız kabul edilen sporcular, kariyerlerini genç yaşta bırakabilmektedir. Çalışmanın amacı 11 yaş serbest stil ve grekoromen stil güreşçilerde turnuva başarısı ile doğum ayları arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemektir. Yılın ilk aylarında doğan güreşçilerin son aylarda doğanlara göre daha başarılı olacağı varsayılmıştır. 11 Yaş Erkekler Serbest ve Grekoromen Güreş Türkiye Şampiyonasına katılan 327 güreşçinin müsabaka sıralaması ve doğum tarihi bilgileri kullanılmıştır. Sporcu başarısı ile doğum ayları arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemek için doğum ayları yılın dört çeyreğine gruplanarak Ki-Kare analizi yapılmıştır. Yılın ilk çeyreğinden son çeyreğine her iki stilde de güreşçilerin başarı sıralamasının düştüğü gözlemlenmiştir (Serbest stil: χ2 = 42.749, df = 3, p = .000; Greko-Romen stil: χ2 = 25.627, df = 3, p = .000). Özellikle güreş gibi fiziksel temasın yüksek olduğu spor dallarında, küçük yaşlarda gruplama yapılırken sadece yıllara göre değil, doğum aylarını da dikkate alarak (örneğin yılın ilk ve son 6 ayı) gruplanması gerektiği düşünülmektedir.

Keywords

Güreş, doğum ayı, Serbest stil, Greko-Romen stili

References

• 1. Abbott A., Button C., Pepping G.J., and Collins D. (2005). Unnatural selection: talent identification and development in sport. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, 9(1), 61-88.
• 2. Albuquerque, M., Costa, V. T., Faria, L. O., Lopes, M. C., Lage, G. M., Sledziewski, D., Szmuchrowski, L. A., and Franchini, E. (2014). Weight categories do not prevent athletes from Relative Age Effect: an analysis of Olympic Games wrestlers. Archives of Budo, 10(1), 127-132.
• 3. Albuquerque, M., Lage, G. M., Costa, V. T., Ferreira, R. M., Penna, E. M., Moraes, L. C. A., and Malloy-Diniz, L. F. (2012). Relative age effect in Olympic taekwondo athletes. Perceptual & Motor Skills, 114(2), 1-8.
• 4. Albuquerque, M., Tavares, V., Lage, G. M., de Paula, J. J., Costa, I. T., and Malloy-Diniz, L. F. (2013). Relative age effect in Olympic judo athletes: a weight category analysis. Science & Sports, 28(3), 59-61.
• 5. Augste, C. and Lames, M. (2011). The relative age effect and success in German elite U-17 soccer teams. Journal of Sports Sciences, 29(9), 983-987.
• 6. Barnsley, R. H., Thompson, A. H., and Barnsley, P. E. (1985). Hockey success and birthdate: The RAE. Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, 51, 23–28.
• 7. Baxter-Jones, A. D. (1995). Growth and development of young athletes. Should competition levels be age related?. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 20(2), 59–64.
• 8. Brustio, P. R., Kearney, P. E., Lupo, C., Ungureanu, A. N., Mulasso, A., Rainoldi, A., and Boccia, G. (2019). Relative age influences performance of world-class track and field athletes even in the adulthood. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 1395.
• 9. Cumming, S.P., Lloyd R.S., Oliver, J.L., Eisenmann, J.C., and Malina, R.M. (2017). Bio-banding in sport: applications to competition, talent identification, and strength and conditioning of youth athletes. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 39(2), 34-47.
• 10. Delorme, N., Boiche, J., and Raspaud, M. (2010). Relative age effect in female sport: a diachronic examination of soccer players. Scand J Med Sci Sports, 20(3), 509-515.
• 11. Delorme, N. (2014). Do weight categories prevent athletes from relative age effect? Journal of Sports Sciences, 32(1), 16-21.
• 12. DeMeis, J., and Stearns, E. (1992). Relationship of school entrance age to academic and social performance. Journal of Educational Research, 86, 21- 27.
• 13. Ferriz-Valero, A., Sellés-Pérez, S., García-Jaén, M., and Cejuela, R. (2020). Efecto de la edad relativa para el desarrollo del talento en jóvenes triatletas [Relative age effect for talents’ development in young triathletes]. Retos, 37, 27-32.
• 14. Fukuda, D. H., Kelly, J. D., Albuquerque, M. R., Stout, J. R., and Hoffman, J. R. (2017). Relative age effects despite weight categories in elite junior male wrestlers. Sport Sciences for Health, 13, 99-106.
• 15. Genc, H. (2020). 10-14 Yaş arası kız çocukların atletik performanslarının bağıl yaş etkisine göre karşılaştırılması. Sportive, 3(1), 1-15.
• 16. Grondin, S., Deshaies, P., and Nault, L. P. (1984). Trimestres de naissance et participation au hockey et au volleyball. La Revue Que ́becoise de l’Activite ́ Physique, 2, 97–103.
• 17. Hancock D.J., Adler A.L., and Cote J. (2013). A proposed theoretical model to explain relative age effects in sport. European Journal of Sport Science, 13(6), 630-637.
• 18. Helsen, W. F., Van Winckel, J., and Williams, A. M. (2005). The relative age effect in youth soccer across Europe. Journal of Sports Sciences, 23(6), 629-636.
• 19. Lames, M., Augste, C., Dreckmann, C., Görsdorf, K., and Schimanski, M. (2008). Der ‘‘Relative Age Effect’’ (RAE): neue Hausaufgaben für den Sport. Leistungssport, 38(6), 4-9.
• 20. Latyshev, M., Tropin, Y., Podrigalo, L., and Boychenko, N. (2022). Analysis of the relative age effect in elite wrestlers. Ido movement for culture. Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology, 22(3), 28-32.
• 21. Musch, J., and Grondin, S. (2001). Unequal competition as an impediment to personal development: A review of the relative age effect in sport. Developmental Review, 21(2), 147–167.
• 22. Nakata, H., and Sakamoto, K. (2011) Relative age effect in japanese male athletes. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 113(2), 570-574.
• 23. Romann, M., Rossler, R., Javet, M., and Faude, O. (2018). Relative age effects in Swiss talent development–a nationwide analysis of all sports. Journal of Sports Sciences, 36(17), 2025-2031.
• 24. Tomczak, M., Bręczewski, G., Sokolowski, M., Kaiser, A., and Czerniak, U. (2013). Personality traits and stress coping styles in the Polish National Cadet Wrestling Team. Archives of Budo, 9(3), 161-168.
• 25. Vincent, J., and Glamser, F. D. (2006) Gender differences in the relative age effect among US Olympic Development Program youth soccer players. Journal of Sports Sciences, 24(4), 405-413.
• 26. Wattie, N., Schorer, J., and Baker, J. (2015). The relative age effect in sport: A developmental systems model. Sports Medicine, 45(1), 83–94.