{"id":6616,"date":"2017-11-12T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-12T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scienceforsport.com\/?p=6616"},"modified":"2025-03-17T13:25:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T13:25:45","slug":"bio-banding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scienceforsport.com\/bio-banding\/","title":{"rendered":"Bio-Banding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contents of Article<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Summary<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Why is maturation important for youth athletes?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. What is bio-banding?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Why is bio-banding important?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. How do you bio-band athletes?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Are there any issues with bio-banding?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Is future research needed with bio-banding?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Conclusions<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. References<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. About the Author<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cBio-banding is the process of grouping athletes based on attributes associated with growth and maturation<\/a>, rather than chronological age<\/a> (e.g. under-15s)” (1). Advocates of bio-banding believe that restricting the differences associated with maturity variance (e.g. size, strength, and skill) will result in greater equality in training and competition, and could potentially help the development of young athletes and reduce their risk of injury (2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Children of the same chronological age<\/a> vary considerably in biological maturation<\/a>, where we can see that some individuals reach maturity before or after their counterparts. Because the timing of individual maturation can have great implications for training, competition, and talent identification<\/a>, it is important to develop an effective method of assessing young athletes in which they are not subject to a maturity bias (1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Why is maturation important for youth athletes?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The search for talent <\/a>is widespread and prevalent in youth sports, where selection or exclusion in many sports follows a maturity-related grade, especially during puberty when youngsters reach peak height velocity<\/a>. If you wish to read more about how age and maturity influence talent selection, then you should read our article on the relative age effect<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The goal of many sporting institutions and clubs is to develop those who have the potential for success at elite levels of competition (3). In many cases, however, the effectiveness of talent identification<\/a> and development programmes often depends on the efficient allocation of available resources (human and economic) to the most talented youths (4). Unfortunately, in many sports, this maturity<\/a>-associated selection has contributed to promoting the relative age effect<\/a>. The relative age effect has been related to the participation and long-term achievement in sports, in part, as a result of the physical differences in athletes of the same chronological age<\/a> (e.g. height, size, and strength), as well as the selection practices in annual-based age-grouped cohorts (5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Maturation<\/a> is a well-documented predictor of player fitness, performance, and selection in many youth sports such as soccer, baseball, ice hockey, and tennis (5, 6, 7). Athletes who are more biologically mature have been found to perform better in strength, power, and skills tests (6, 7). Moreover, during soccer games, early-maturing boys cover greater distances at high speed and perform more high-intensity actions than less mature boys (9). These performances create a false environment where early-maturing athletes are more likely to be successful and are thus perceived by coaches and scouts as more talented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Consequently, early-maturing boys are more likely to be attracted toward, and selected, into sports where greater size, strength, and power are desirable attributes; for example, ice hockey, volleyball, soccer, Australian football, cricket, and rugby (4, 5). However, height differences among youth athletes are unnoticeable in late adolescence and early adulthood, therefore, the differences in performance become non-existent, or at least substantially reduced towards the end of adolescence (10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Despite large maturity-related differences in children at an identical chronological age<\/a> (e.g. 12 years old) (11), the standard and most accepted classification in youth sports settings remains by chronological age <\/a>(i.e. age based on the calendar date on which they were born) (12). While this may be for practical reasons, it is important to know that many factors are involved in successful athletic performance in youth sports. In this sense, the physical characteristics determined by growth and maturation are an important part of a complex matrix, where children and adolescents are influenced by physical, psychological, cultural, and social factors (13, 14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Key Terms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n