Abstract:
Relative age effects exist across sports and cultures (Cobley, Baker, Wattie, & McKenna, 2009), though a recent, unusual trend is females born in the second quartile of the selection year are most over-represented on elite teams. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the second-quartile phenomenon was the result of first-quartile female athletes registering to play male sport. Players included 29,924 female ice hockey players (ages 7-17 years). Relative age effects (the second quartile most over-represented) existed for the entire sample (χ2 [3, 29923] = 401.95, p < .001), those registered for female ice hockey (χ2 [3, 24984] = 369.90, p < .001) and those registered for male ice hockey (χ2 [3, 4938] = 37.88, p < .001). It appears the second-quartile phenomenon cannot be explained by athletes’ choice to play male sport. The discussion includes integration of results with previous literature, along with plausible explanations.
