Relative age effect on Brazilian State Team volleyball championship
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v77.117784Keywords:
Athlete selection, talent identification, team sports, sport performance, youth categoryAbstract
Introduction: The relative age effect in sports indicates that athletes born in the first quarters of the year have advantages in selection processes when compared to athletes born in others quarters. Although data on the effect of relative age in volleyball already exists, little is known about the youth categories in elite Brazilian volleyball.
Objective: To analyze the relative age effect on the selection of athletes participating in the Brazilian State Team Volleyball Championships, under-16 and under-18 teams, in the first and special divisions, in the year 2024.
Methodology: Data from 960 athletes extracted from the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation website were analyzed. The χ² test of independence was used to verify the association between the birth quarter and the variables sex, division, category, podium, and position. The Odds Ratio was calculated, and the effect size was determined from the Cramer's V value.
Results: Athletes were more likely to be relatively older in the male sex category, the under-16 category and the special division when compared with the female sex category, the under-18 category and the first division, respectively. There was no association between the quarter of birth and podium or position.
Discussion: The relative age effect may be related to the late maturation of male athletes, lower chronological age of younger age groups, and more developed sports practice environments.
Conclusions: Relative age is a present and relevant factor in the recruitment of young athletes in Brazilian volleyball.
References
Campos, F. A. D., Campos, L. C. B., Miron, E. M., Morelli Junior, A., García-de-Alcaraz, A. (2025). The rela-tive age effect in the volleyball Olympic Games. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science, 12(3), 48-60. https://doi.org/10.46827/ejpe.v12i3.5860
Campos, F. A. D., Stanganelli, L. C. R., Rabelo, F. N., Campos, L. C. B., & Pellegrinotti, Í. L. (2016). The rela-tive age effect in male volleyball championships. International Journal of Sports Science, 6(3), 116–120. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.sports.20160603.08
Campos, F. A. D., Pellegrinotti, Í. L., Campos, L. C. B., Dias, T. M. R., & Gómez, M. Á. (2020). Relative age effect in the girls' volleyball U18 World Championship. Journal of Human Kinetics, 72, 195–202. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2019-0106
Castro, H. O., Aguiar, S. S., Figueiredo, L. S., Laporta, L., Costa, G. C. T., Afonso, J., Gomes, S. A., & Oliveira, V. (2022). Prevalence of the relative age effect in elite Brazilian volleyball: An analysis based on gender, the playing position, and performance indicators. Journal of Human Kinetics, 84, 148–157. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2022-0093
Cobley, S., Baker, J., Wattie, N., & McKenna, J. (2009). Annual age‑grouping and athlete development: A meta‑analytical review of relative age effects in sport. Sports Medicine, 39(3), 235–256. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200939030-00005
De Bosscher, V., De Knop, P., Van Bottenburg, M., & Shibli, S. (2006). A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Sports Policy Factors Leading to International Sporting Success. European Sport Ma-nagement Quarterly, 6(2), 185–215. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184740600955087
Dell’Antonio, E., Machado, J. M., Mendes, F. G., & Gonçalves, G. H. T. (2025). Road to Paris‑2024: The path of Brazilian volleyball athletes goes through the youth national teams. Journal of Human Kinetics, 97, 225–235. https://doi.org/10.5114/jhk/191099
Delorme, N., Chalabaev, A., & Raspaud, M. (2010). Relative age is associated with sport dropout. Scandi-navian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 20(5), 805–815. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2009.01060.x
Dos Santos, J. W., de Toledo Garcia, M., de Oliveira Castro, H., Savassi Figueiredo, L., de Oliveira, V., Tava-res Junior, A. C., & Venditti Junior, R. (2025). El efecto de la edad relativa en las ligas nacionales masculinas de fútbol sala de Brasil y España: el impacto de los jugadores extranjeros. Retos, 67, 1248-1257. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v67.109871
Gerdin, G., Hedberg, M., & Hageskog, C. A. (2018). Relative age effect in Swedish male and female tennis players born in 1998–2001. Sports, 6, 38. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports6020038
Jahandideh, A., Rohani, H., & Hemmat, S. (2021). Anthropometric profile of FIVB volleyball girls’ U18 World Championship. International Journal of Sport, Exercise and Health Research, 5(1), 23–27. https://doi.org/10.31254/sportmed.5107
Krawczyk, P., Dyjas, A., Szelag, A., & Cedro, M. (2023). Relative age effect of female and male handball players participating in the Olympics Games Tokyo 2020. Baltic Journal of Health and Physical Activity, 15(2), Article 7. https://doi.org/10.29359/BJHPA.15.2.07
Leonardi, T. J., Kunrath, C. A., Silva, I. F. D., Rucco, G. D. S., Aires, H., Berger, A. G., & Cardoso, M. F. S. (2022). The relative age effect on the selection of young athletes. Cuadernos de Psicología del Deporte, 22(3), 212–226. https://doi.org/10.6018/cpd.482241
Malina, R. M., Bouchard, C., & Bar‑Or, O. (2004). Growth, maturation, and physical activity (2nd ed). Human Kinetics.
Mangiafico, S. S. (2025). Summary and analysis of extension program evaluation in R (Version 1.23.2) [Manual online]. R Companion. https://rcompanion.org/documents/RHandbookProgramEvaluation.pdf
McCarthy, N., & Collins, D. (2014). Initial identification & selection bias versus talent confirmation. Journal of Sports Sciences, 32(17), 1604–1610. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2014.908322
Mota, E. H. M., Silva, D. C., Gonçalves, E., & Teoldo, I. (2022). Análise do efeito da idade relativa em copas do mundo de futebol sub‑17. Revista Brasileira de Futsal e Futebol, 14(57), 11–17.
Musch, J., & Grondin, S. (2001). Unequal competition as an impediment to personal development. Deve-lopmental Review, 21(2), 147–167. https://doi.org/10.1006/drev.2000.0516
Ntozis, C., Barzouka, K., Skouras, A. Z., Cherouveim, E., Papitsi, F., Apostolidis, N. & Tsolakis, C. (2024). Relative Age Effect for Different Playing Positions in Adolescent Female Volleyball Players. In-ternational Journal of Exercise Science, 17(4): 1553-1567.
Okazaki, F. H. A., Keller, B., Fontana, F. E., & Gallagher, J. D. (2011). The relative age effect among female Brazilian youth volleyball players. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 82(1), 135–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2011.10599730
Parma, J. O., & Penna, E. M. (2018). O efeito da idade relativa no voleibol brasileiro de elite. Journal of Physical Education, 29(1). https://doi.org/10.4025/jphyseduc.v29i1.2942
Rees, T., Hardy, L., Güllich, A., Abernethy, B., Côté, J., Woodman, T., Montgomery, H., Laing, S., & Warr, C. (2016). The Great British Medalists Project: A review of current knowledge on the develop-ment. Sports Medicine, 46(8), 1041–1058. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0476-2
Romann, M., & Cobley, S. (2015). Relative age effects in athletic sprinting. PLoS ONE, 10(4), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122988
Rubajczyk, K., & Rokita, A. (2020). The relative age effect and talent identification factors in youth vo-lleyball in Poland. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 1445. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01445
Smith, K., Weir, P., Till, K. A., Romann, M., & Cobley, S. (2018). Relative age effects across female sport contexts. Sports Medicine, 48(6), 1451–1478. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-018-0890-8
Sliwa, M., Buszta, M., & Sadowski, J. (2024). Relative age effect at men’s volleyball world champions-hips. Baltic Journal of Health and Physical Activity, 16(2), Article 9. https://doi.org/10.29359/BJHPA.16.2.09
Sliwa, M., Sadowski, J., & Buszta, M. (2021). Relative age effect and talent identification in youth volley-ball. Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism, 28(4), 21–25. https://doi.org/10.2478/pjst-2021-0022
Solon Junior, L. J. F., & Silva Neto, L. V. (2020). Influence of the relative age effect on height, motor per-formance. Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte, 26(3), 211–214. https://doi.org/10.1590/1517-869220202603200625
Tsoukos, A., Drikos, S., Brown, L. E., Sotiropoulos, K., Veligekas, P., & Bogdanis, G. C. (2019). Anthropo-metric and motor performance variables are decisive factors. Journal of Human Kinetics, 67, 163–173. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2019-0012
Vegara‑Ferri, J. M., García‑Mayor, J., Pérez, A. M., & Cabezos, H. (2019). Efecto de la edad relativa en los Campeonatos Mundiales de Baloncesto sub‑17, sub‑19 y Juegos Olímpicos de Brasil 2016. Jour-nal of Sport and Health Research, 11(1), 33–42.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Elisa Dell'Antonio, Jean Marlon Machado, Josemir Eduardo Cardoso de Oliveira
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine the right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine.
- Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (eg, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Is allowed and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as to a subpoena more Early and more of published work (See The Effect of Open Access) (in English).
This journal provides immediate open access to its content (BOAI, http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#openaccess) on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The authors may download the papers from the journal website, or will be provided with the PDF version of the article via e-mail.
