What does this research mean for the field?

In youth team sports, earlier biological maturation is associated with greater body size but does not significantly explain additional variance in lower-body explosive strength beyond chronological age, while selection bias favoring relatively older athletes intensifies around the pubertal window. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.CONFIRMATORY. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.SUPPORTS_CONSENSUS.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To examine the relative age effect across youth age categories and determine how biological maturity timing affects body size and lower-body explosive jump performance.

August 26, 2026SportsOpen Access

Relative Age and Maturity Timing in Youth Team Sports: Associations with Body Size and Vertical Jump Performance

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To examine the relative age effect across youth age categories and determine how biological maturity timing affects body size and lower-body explosive jump performance.
Categorized youth team invasion sport athletes into U14, U16, and U18 cohorts and evaluated birth quartile distributions.
Estimated biological maturity timing via age at peak height velocity (APHV) and assessed lower-body explosive power using vertical jump testing.
Performed regression analyses to quantify the influence of chronological age and APHV on anthropometric metrics and jump performance.
Relatively older athletes were significantly overrepresented in U16 and U18 age brackets, demonstrating increased selection bias around the pubertal window.
Earlier biological maturation (lower APHV) was significantly associated with greater body size after controlling for chronological age (p ≤ 0.01).
Maturity timing did not explain significant additional variance in vertical jump performance beyond chronological age.

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Implication

Observational study demonstrates that biological maturity timing predicts body size but not jumping performance in youth athletes, highlighting selection biases in sports development.

Cite This Study

França et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8e9b68451774b83f3b41cc https://doi.org/10.3390/sports14090365

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Implication

Observational study demonstrates that biological maturity timing predicts body size but not jumping performance in youth athletes, highlighting selection biases in sports development.

Relative Age and Maturity Timing in Youth Team Sports: Associations with Body Size and Vertical Jump Performance

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

Relative Age and Maturity Timing in Youth Team Sports: Associations with Body Size and Vertical Jump Performance

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

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