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Towlson C, MacMaster C, Gonçalves B, Sampaio J, Toner J, MacFarlane N, Barrett S, Hamilton A, Jack R, Hunter F, Myers T, Abt G. The effect of bio-banding on physical and psychological indicators of talent identification in academy soccer players. SCI MED FOOTBALL 2022; 5:280-292. [PMID: 35077307 DOI: 10.1080/24733938.2020.1862419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of bio-banding on indicators of talent identification in academy soccer players. Seventy-two 11 to 14-year-old soccer players were bio-banded using percentage of estimated adult stature attainment (week 1), maturity-offset (week 2) or a mixed-maturity method (week 3). Players contested five maturity (mis)matched small-sided games with physical and psychological determinants measured. Data were analysed using a series of Bayesian hierarchical models, fitted with different response distributions and different random and fixed effect structures. Few between-maturity differences existed for physical measures. Pre-peak height velocity (PHV) and post-PHV players differed in PlayerLoadTM (anterior-posterior and medial-lateral) having effect sizes above our criterion value. Estimated adult stature attainment explained more of the variance in eight of the physical variables and showed the greatest individual differences between maturity groups across all psychological variables. Pre-PHV and post-PHV players differed in positive attitude, confidence, competitiveness, total psychological score (effect sizes = 0.43-0.69), and session rating of perceived exertion. The maturity-offset method outperformed the estimated adult stature attainment method in all psychological variables. Maturity-matched bio-banding had limited effect on physical variables across all players while enhancing a number of psychological variables considered key for talent identification in pre-PHV players.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Calum MacMaster
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, UK.,Hull City AFC, Hull, UK
| | - Bruno Gonçalves
- Departamento de Desporto e Saúde, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal.,Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC), Universidade de Évora, Portugal.,Portugal Football School, Portuguese Football Federation, Oeiras, Portugal
| | - Jaime Sampaio
- Centro de Investigação de Desporto, Saúde e Desenvolvimento Humano, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
| | - John Toner
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, UK
| | | | | | | | - Rory Jack
- Hamilton Academical Football Club, Hamilton, UK
| | | | - Tony Myers
- Faculty of Arts, Society and Professional Studies, Newman University, Birmingham, UK
| | - Grant Abt
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, UK
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Towlson C, MacMaster C, Gonçalves B, Sampaio J, Toner J, MacFarlane N, Barrett S, Hamilton A, Jack R, Hunter F, Stringer A, Myers T, Abt G. The effect of bio-banding on technical and tactical indicators of talent identification in academy soccer players. SCI MED FOOTBALL 2021; 6:295-308. [DOI: 10.1080/24733938.2021.2013522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Towlson
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, Hull, UK
| | - Calum MacMaster
- Glasgow Rangers Football Club, Glasgow, UK
- University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Bruno Gonçalves
- Departamento de Desporto E Saúde, Escola de Saúde E Desenvolvimento Humano, Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal
- Comprehensive Health Research Centre (Chrc), Universidade de Évora, Portugal
- Portugal Football School, Portuguese Football Federation, Oeiras, Portugal
| | - Jaime Sampaio
- Centro de Investigação de Desporto, Saúde E Desenvolvimento Humano, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes E Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal
| | - John Toner
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, Hull, UK
| | | | | | | | - Rory Jack
- Hamilton Academical Football Club, Hamilton, UK
| | | | - Amy Stringer
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, Hull, UK
| | - Tony Myers
- Faculty of Arts, Society and Professional Studies, Newman University, Birmingham, UK
| | - Grant Abt
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, Hull, UK
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MacMaster C, Portas M, Parkin G, Cumming S, Wilcox C, Towlson C. The effect of bio-banding on the anthropometric, physical fitness and functional movement characteristics of academy soccer players. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0260136. [PMID: 34843528 PMCID: PMC8629286 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2021] [Accepted: 11/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The study examined if maturity status bio-banding reduces within-group variance in anthropometric, physical fitness and functional movement characteristics of 319, under-14 and under-15 players from 19 UK professional soccer academies. Bio-banding reduced the within-bio-banded group variance for anthropometric values, when compared to an aggregated chronological banded group (chronological: 5.1-16.7%CV; bio-banded: 3.0-17.3%CV). Differences between these bio-banded groups ranged from moderate to very large (ES = 0.97 to 2.88). Physical performance variance (chronological: 4.8-24.9%CV; bio-banded: 3.8-26.5%CV) was also reduced with bio-banding compared to chronological aged grouping. However, not to the same extent as anthropometric values with only 68.3% of values reduced across banding methods compared to 92.6% for anthropometric data. Differences between the bio-banded groups physical qualities ranged from trivial to very large (ES = 0.00 to 3.00). The number of functional movement metrics and %CV reduced by bio-banding was lowest within the 'circa-PHV' groups (11.1-44.4%). The proportion of players achieving the threshold value score of ≥ 14 for the FMS™ was highest within the 'post-PHV' group (50.0-53.7%). The use of maturity status bio-banding can create more homogenous groups which may encourage greater competitive equity. However, findings here support a bio-banding maturity effect hypothesis, whereby maturity status bio-banding has a heightened effect on controlling for characteristics which have a stronger association to biological growth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Calum MacMaster
- School of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Matt Portas
- The English Football Association, St Georges Park, Burton Upton Trent, Staffordshire, United Kingdom
- School of Health and Science, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
| | - Guy Parkin
- Pro Football Support, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
| | - Sean Cumming
- Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, Somerset, United Kingdom
| | - Chris Wilcox
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher Towlson
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
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Towlson C, MacMaster C, Parr J, Cumming S. One of these things is not like the other: Time to differentiate between relative age and biological maturity selection biases in soccer? SCI MED FOOTBALL 2021; 6:273-276. [DOI: 10.1080/24733938.2021.1946133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Chris Towlson
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, Hull, UK
| | - Calum MacMaster
- School of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Birmingham, UK
| | - James Parr
- Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - Sean Cumming
- Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK
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Helsen WF, Thomis M, Starkes JL, Vrijens S, Ooms G, MacMaster C, Towlson C. Leveling the Playing Field: A New Proposed Method to Address Relative Age- and Maturity-Related Bias in Soccer. Front Sports Act Living 2021; 3:635379. [PMID: 33748755 PMCID: PMC7969981 DOI: 10.3389/fspor.2021.635379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 01/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite various solutions proposed to solve the relative age effect (RAE), it is still a major problem confounding talent identification and selection processes. In the first phase, we sampled 302 under 7-21 academy soccer players from two Belgian professional soccer clubs to explore the potential of a new approach to solve the inequalities resulting from relative age- and maturity-related bias. This approach allocates players into four discrete quartile groups based on the midway point of their chronological and estimated developmental (ED) birth dates (calculated using the growth curves for stature of Belgian youth). With the use of chi square analyses, a RAE was found (p < 0.01) for the overall sample (Q1 = 41.4% vs. Q4 = 14.9%) that completely disappeared after reallocation (Q1 = 26.5%; Q2 = 21.9%; Q3 = 27.5%; Q4 = 24.2%). According to the new allocation method, the stature difference was reduced, on average, by 11.6 cm (from 24.0 ± 9.9 to 12.4 ± 3.4 cm, d = 1.57). Body mass difference between the two methods was 1.9 kg (20.1 ± 11.3-18.2 ± 13.1 kg, respectively, d = 0.15). The new method created a maximum chronological age difference of 1.9 vs. 0.8 years for the current method. With the use of this method, 47% of the players would be reallocated. Twenty-three percent would be moved up one age category, and 21% would be moved down. In the second phase, we also examined 80 UK academy soccer players to explore if reallocating players reduces the within-playing group variation of somatic and physical fitness characteristics. The percentage coefficient of variation (%CV) was reduced (0.2-10.1%) in 15 out of 20 metrics across U11-U16 age categories, with the U13 age category demonstrating the largest reductions (0.9-10.1%) in CV. The U12 and U13 age categories and associated reallocation groupings showed trivial to small (ES = 0.0-0.5) between-method differences and trivial to moderate (ES = 0.0-1.1) differences within the U14-U16 age categories. A reduction in RAE may lead to fewer dropouts and thus a larger player pool, which benefits, in turn, talent identification, selection, and development.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Martine Thomis
- KU Leuven, Department of Movement Sciences, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Janet L. Starkes
- Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Sander Vrijens
- KU Leuven, Department of Movement Sciences, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Gerrit Ooms
- KU Leuven, Department of Movement Sciences, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Calum MacMaster
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom
| | - Chris Towlson
- Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom
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