Understanding the Development of Elite Parasport Athletes Using a Constraint-Led Approach: Considerations for Coaches and Practitioners

For the past half-century, the Paralympic Games has continued to grow, evident through increased participation, media recognition, and rising research focus in Para sport. While the competitive pool of athletes has increased, athlete development models have stayed relatively the same. Currently, coaches rely mainly on experiential knowledge, informal communication with colleagues, and theory transferred from able-bodied contexts as main resources to support development for themselves and their athletes. The purpose of this paper was to introduce Newell’s constraint-led model and its multidimensional spectrum and practical scope to address the complexities of athlete development. The model consists of three overarching constraint categories (i.e., individual, task, and environment) along with proposed additional sub-categories to capture nuances associated in Para sport in order to provide additional context to coaches regarding athlete development. Utilizing this theoretical framework, we present a holistic approach for coaches and practitioners to consider while addressing athletes’ short- and long-term developmental plans. This approach highlights the interactions among factors from a wide range of categories that indirectly and directly impact one another and ultimately influence athletes’ developmental processes. It is important to consider the dynamic interaction of constraints over various timescales during development and identify underlying issues to improve athlete experience and maximize developmental opportunities. Coaches and practitioners can use the proposed framework as a guide to key factors to consider for their cohort of athletes. This approach provides a context-specific approach that considers unique factors associated with athletes and their environment.

Getting to First Base: Developmental Trajectories of Major League Baseball Players

The road to professional baseball illustrates the complexity, variability and non-linearity of athlete development, as players may be drafted from various high school, 2 year, or 4 year programs and then placed into extensive minor league systems. The purpose of this study was to identify the different pathways to Major League Baseball (MLB) and explore their influence on career success. Performance and developmental data of 2,291 American-born MLB players who debuted between 1990 and 2010 were collected using baseball-reference.com. Three performance indicators, career games played (GP), age of debut, and wins above replacement (WAR; player's total contributions in wins), were coupled with high school, post-secondary, and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) data. Analyses revealed 17 descriptively different pathways to MLB, which were grouped into three main streams based on the last institution attended before entrance into professional baseball. Overall, 63% of the athletes started their career directly after attending a 4 year higher education institution, 23% after high school, and 14% directly after attending a 2 year institution. Interestingly, 78% of the athletes did not sign or were not selected as high school draft picks. Position players drafted or signed from high school debuted in MLB younger (M = 23.99) and averaged significantly more MiLB GP (M = 909.13) than those drafted or signed from a 2 year (M = 25.67 and 834.41 GP) or 4 year institution (M = 25.95 and 752.33 GP). Pitchers signed or drafted from high school also debuted in MLB younger and played more MiLB games, as well as played in more MLB games than players from a 2 year or 4 year institution, F(8, 3,082) = 31.96, p ≤ 0.001. No significant differences of WAR were noted in position players or pitchers. Perhaps pitchers who are drafted from high school are afforded more opportunities to succeed, which may be indicative of sunk cost effects. This is conceivable as these players had the highest average GP but did not accrue a higher WAR. Future research may benefit from the consideration of post-secondary and/or high school statistics in combination with draft selection data, which may have important implications for improving talent identification accuracy.

Understanding High Achievement: The Case for Eminence

The development of the field of sport expertise over the past 20 years has been remarkable, and our understanding of the varying factors affecting athlete development and motor skill acquisition has expanded considerably. Recently, there has been a push toward more sophisticated research designs to continue the advancement of our understanding of sport expertise. Even in a population of performers at the highest levels of performance and competition (e.g., participants in professional sports or those who compete at Olympic Games), there are those with obvious superiority compared to others in the cohort, such as those who win “most valuable player” awards or who are elected to the Hall of Fame. This paper builds a case that athletes who reach this level of achievement possess a more advanced level of skill than those at the elite or expert stage and we refer to this stage of development as “eminence.” This paper explores the notion of eminence and provides converging forms of evidence for the division between expertise and eminence. Moreover, it explores the implications of this division for the further examination of skill acquisition across the lifespan.

The end game: Mortality outcomes in North American professional athletes

Comprehensive investigations into the mortality outcomes of elite athletes can assist in decoding risk factors for premature mortality and provide avenues for exploring human health through engagement in sport. As such, the purpose of this study was to comprehensively examine lifespan trends of athletes from the 4 major sports in North America: Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and National Hockey League (NHL). We hypothesized that proportional death rates would be similar across the 4 sports, when standardizing the data by debut years. Overall, 17 523 of 50 515 (34.7%) athletes were deceased as of the respective data collection cutoff date for their sport, with MLB players having the highest risk of imminent mortality. Professional basketball players generally had the highest relative proportion of death when standardizing data by debut year, although NHL and NFL players who debuted after 2005 had the highest proportion of death. In addition, a 1-year increase in career length significantly decreased the risk of death (HR: 0.982, 95% CI: 0.978-0.985), even after adjusting for sport type (HR: 0.977, 95% CI: 0.974-0.980). Meaningful significance should be considered given the historical and unique nature of the sample. Nevertheless, investigating risk of death differences through different occupational and biological variables can help highlight aversive trends to lifespan that permeate throughout high-performance athlete populations.

Vital statistics and early death predictors of North American professional basketball players: A historical examination

While empirical evidence suggests that elite athletes have superior lifespan outcomes relative to the general population, less is known regarding their causes of death. The purpose of this study was to critically examine the mortality outcomes of deceased National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association players. Death data were collected from publicly available sources until 11 December 2015, and causes of death were categorized using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD). Mortality was measured through: i) cause-specific crude death rates (CDR), ii) estimates of death rates per athlete-year (AY), and iii) binary and multinomial regression analyses. We identified 514 causes of death from 787 deceased players (M = 68.1 y ± 16.0) from 16 different ICD groups, 432 of which were from natural causes. Findings showed similar leading causes of death and CDRs to sex- and race-matched controls, higher death rate differences per AY within time-dependent variables (i.e., birth decade, race, and height), and a higher likelihood of dying below the median age of death for black and taller players, although this was highly confounded by birth decade. More complete knowledge of mortality outcomes would provide broad public health applications and disarm harmful stereotypes of elite athlete health.

Do "big guys" really die younger? An examination of height and lifespan in former professional basketball players

While factors such as genetics may mediate the relationship between height and mortality, evidence suggests that larger body size may be an important risk indicator of reduced lifespan longevity in particular. This study critically examined this relationship in professional basketball players. We examined living and deceased players who have played in the National Basketball Association (debut between 1946-2010) and/or the American Basketball Association (1967-1976) using descriptive and Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. The cut-off date for death data collection was December 11, 2015. Overall, 3,901 living and deceased players were identified and had a mean height of 197.78 cm (± 9.29, Range: 160.02-231.14), and of those, 787 former players were identified as deceased with a mean height of 193.88 cm (± 8.83, Range: 167.6-228.6). Descriptive findings indicated that the tallest players (top 5%) died younger than the shortest players (bottom 5%) in all but one birth decade (1941-1950). Similarly, survival analyses showed a significant relationship between height and lifespan longevity when both dichotomizing [χ2 (1) = 13.04, p < .05] and trichotomizing [χ2 (2) = 18.05, p < .05] the predictor variable height per birth decade, where taller players had a significantly higher mortality risk compared to shorter players through median (HR: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.13-1.50, p < .05) and trichotomized tertile split (HR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.18-1.68, p <. 05; tallest 33.3% compared to shortest 33.3%) analyses. The uniqueness of examining the height-longevity hypothesis in this relatively homogeneous sub-population should be considered when interpreting these results. Further understanding of the potential risks of early mortality can help generate discourse regarding potential at-risk cohorts of the athlete population.

Training and development of Canadian wheelchair basketball players

Considering the growth in research, examining the development of mainstream sport athletes over the past two decades, studies examining development of athletes with disabilities have been surprisingly limited. While similarities in developmental trajectories between the two cohorts may exist regarding factors such as the value of practice, which tend to be universal regardless of context, disability-related issues (e.g. whether the disability was congenital or acquired) may influence the course of development, affecting variables such as starting age, training and developmental milestones. Fifty-two male and female athletes training with the Wheelchair Basketball Canada National Academy provided detailed training histories. Athletes illustrated similar developmental patterns (e.g. milestones, training adjustments) as they progressed through their sporting career. However, athletes with congenital disabilities started participation in wheelchair basketball and unorganised practice at significantly younger ages (t₄₉ = -4.35, p < .001, d  = 1.32; t₄₉ = -3.49, p < .001, d  = 1.03, respectively). While athletes with congenital disabilities continued to reach a majority of the sporting milestones at younger ages, athletes with acquired disabilities were able to reach late career milestones (e.g. national debuts) at similar ages. Athletes' disability severity did not influence their progress through the developmental milestones and time devoted to training throughout their sporting career. Future work may consider examining developmental trajectories and training histories of athletes in various parasports to extend our understanding of their development and skill acquisition.

Does Early Career Achievement Lead to Earlier Death? Assessment of the Precocity-Longevity Effect in Professional Basketball Players

Objectives

To examine the precocity-longevity (P-L) effect in North American professional basketball players who debuted between 1946 and 1979, and to determine whether playing position and decade of play influenced the relationship between age of career achievements and life span.

Methods

A total of 1852 players were evaluated from a recognized sports archive (i.e., http://sports-reference.com), which provided information on date of birth, death, and career debut, playing position, and indicators of achievement (i.e., All-Star team and/or All-League team selection). Athletes were categorized as above or below the median age of professional debut and median age of selection to first All-Star team and/or All-League team. Analyses of deceased players (n = 598) were comprised of bivariate correlations between age of achievement (age of debut, age of first All-Star game, and age of first All-League team selection) and age of death, and t-tests to compare the average age of death of early and late achievers (p < 0.05). Survival analyses, using the entire sample (living and deceased players), compared the life spans between those who debuted above and below the median age of achievement for each indicator of achievement.

Results

Only the correlation between age of professional debut and age of death (r = 0.33, p < 0.001), age of first All-Star game and age of death (r = 0.29, p < 0.05), and the t-test comparing the average death age of early (66.4 years) and later (69.3 years) debut age groups (p = 0.01) reached statistical significance. However, survival analyses demonstrated a trend for lower risk of death for early achievers, with one exception (i.e., age of debut); this trend was not statistically significant.

Conclusion

Results did not support the P-L hypothesis, suggesting that sample characteristics (i.e., physical fitness of high performance athletes), and measurement methodologies, may influence support for the proposed hypothesis in sport. However, future research would benefit form larger sample sizes and cause of death data.

Physical Load Affects Perceptual-Cognitive Performance of Skilled Athletes: a Systematic Review

Background

Many researchers have considered the impact of physical exercise on perceptual-cognitive performance. There have also been a substantial number of studies that have examined how perceptual-cognitive skills differ between elite athletes and non-athletes. However, the knowledge on how physical exercise interacts with perceptual-cognitive skill is limited.

This systematic review aims to provide detailed information on how athletes’ perceptual-cognitive performance is influenced by acute physical exercise load and whether these effects differ between elite athletes and lesser skilled groups.

Methods

A systematic review was conducted using different combinations of the keywords physical load, acute, exercise, perception, cognition, perceptual, cognitive, sport, and athlete with the PubMed and SportDiscus databases. Additional articles were found through screening the references of these papers.

Articles had to (a) be full journal articles written in English, (b) include an athlete sample, (c) examine acute effects of physical exercise, and (d) measure a perceptual-cognitive task as the dependent variable.

Results

Twenty-six articles matched the inclusion criteria. Results suggested the impact of acute physical exercise on perceptual-cognitive performances of athletes depends on the specificity of the induced exercise and perceptual-cognitive task. Additionally, speed and accuracy were influenced differently by physical exercise. Furthermore, skilled athletes seem to be more positively influenced by acute physical exercise than novices.

Conclusion

Since many factors influence perceptual-cognitive expertise, future research should be highly precise (e.g., regarding the definition of variables, the intensity of the physical exercise) and specific (e.g., regarding the tasks used, the type of the physical exercise).

Relative Age Effects in Women's Rugby Union From Developmental Leagues to World Cup Tournaments

Annual age cohort groupings promote relative age effects (RAEs), which often, inadvertently, create participation and attainment biases between relatively older and younger players within the same age cohort. In a globally evolving sport, women's rugby team selection practices may potentially bypass qualified players as a result of maturational differences.

PURPOSE

Our study examined the prevalence of RAEs in women's rugby union.

METHOD

Player data (age range = 4-21+ years) were gathered from the 2006 and 2010 Rugby World Cups (n = 498) and from Canadian (n = 1,497) and New Zealand (NZ; n = 13,899) developmental rugby leagues.

RESULTS

Although no evidence of an RAE was found in the World Cup samples, chi-square analyses identified some typical and atypical patterns of RAEs at the developmental levels (w ≥ .3). Younger developmental groups displayed a typical RAE patterning with a greater representation of older players (Canadian 13-year-olds, w = .58; NZ 4-year-olds, w = .35), whereas older developmental groups displayed an atypical RAE patterning with a greater representation of younger players (Canadian 19-year-olds, w = .58; NZ 17-year-olds, w = .32). Further, a traditional RAE emerged in the Canadian 11- to 15-year-old age group, χ2(3) = 10.92, p < .05, w = .30.

CONCLUSION

The lack of homogeneity of traditional RAEs across the sample questions the existence of a single, clear RAE in women's rugby. Some evidence of participation inequalities at the developmental levels suggests that further RAE research in more varied sociocultural contexts may be necessary.

Do Elite Athletes Live Longer? A Systematic Review of Mortality and Longevity in Elite Athletes

Background

Understanding of an athlete’s lifespan is limited with a much more sophisticated knowledge of their competitive careers and little knowledge of post-career outcomes. In this review, we consider the relationship between participation at elite levels of sport and mortality risk relative to other athletes and age- and sex-matched controls from the general population. Our objective was to identify, collate, and disseminate a comprehensive list of risk factors associated with longevity and trends and causes of mortality among elite athletes.

Methods

English language articles were searched using the Web of Science database. Keywords athletes, death, elite, “high performance” life expect*, longevity, mortality, players, professional, and sport were used to locate research articles. Seventeen additional articles were retrieved from reference lists found in these papers and a general web search. The inclusion criteria were the following: (1) publication year 1980 or later; (2) the study examined elite-level athletes; and (3) outcome data measured mortality/longevity trends and/or causes.

Results

Fifty-four peer-reviewed publications and three articles from online sources met the criteria for inclusion. Baseball, football, soccer, basketball, and cycling had the most reported data on elite athletes’ lifespan longevities. A variety of mechanisms have attempted to explain mortality risk (e.g., handedness, playing position, achievement, etc.). Considerable support was found for superior longevity outcomes for elite athletes, particularly those in endurance and mixed sports.

Conclusions

Future research into the mechanisms that may affect mortality risk is important for a better understanding of life expectancies in both eminent and non-eminent populations. Participation in elite sport is generally favorable to lifespan longevity.

Key Points

A majority of studies included in this review reported superior lifespan longevity outcomes for elite athletes compared to age- and sex-matched controls from the general population and other athletes.

Several mechanisms within and between sports may have powerful effects on the overall lifespan longevities of players (e.g., type of sport, playing position, race, and energy system).

Future research on mortality in elite athletes would benefit from more comprehensive statistical measures and reliable databases to determine potential mechanisms that may influence mortality trends and causes in both athlete and non-athlete samples.

Early death in active professional athletes: Trends and causes

The objective of the study was to examine mortality trends and causes of death among professional athletes from the four major sports in North America who died during their playing careers. 205 deceased athletes who were registered as active when they died from the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Baseball (MLB) were examined. Results were compared with the Canadian and U.S. general population. The leading causes of death in players reflected the leading causes of death in the Canadian and U.S. general population (i.e., car accidents). Descriptively, NFL and NBA players had a higher likelihood of dying in a car accident (OR 1.75, 95% CI: 0.91-3.36) compared with NHL and MLB players. In addition, NFL and NBA players had a significantly higher likelihood of dying from a cardiac-related illness (OR 4.44, 95% CI: 1.59-12.43). Mortality trends were disproportionate to team size. Overall, death in active athletes is low. Out of 53 400 athletes who have historically played in the four leagues, only 205 died while active (0.38%). Future examinations into the trends and causes of mortality in elite athlete populations will create a better understanding of health-related risks in elite sport.

Examining the relationship between relative age, competition level, and dropout rates in male youth ice-hockey players

The relative age effect suggests that athletes born in the first two quartiles of a given selection year experience a selection advantage and therefore a greater opportunity for success. We describe two studies examining the relationship between relative age, competition level, and dropout rates of Ontario Minor Hockey Association male ice-hockey players from ages 10 to 15 years (n = 14 325). In Study 1, dropout was highest among players born in quartiles three and four [χ(2) (3) = 16.32, P < 0.05; w = 0.06], while Study 2 found dropped out players to have less movement between competition levels compared to retained players. This study confirms a relationship between relative age and dropout from ice-hockey and adds further depth to our understanding of this persistent phenomenon.