Cheers! Check out the book (you can get it for free with the free trial on audible!)

Cheers! Check out the book (you can get it for free with the free trial on audible!)

Ha sorry - maybe you'll invest yourself (you can get it for free with the free trial on audible!)

We have a chapter on timing of birth, which is fascinating.

The relative age effect - basically kids older for their year are generally better (as are stronger etc) so get into the system and then get more training opportunities etc - is a powerful effect. This means September kids are way over-represented in youth sports, and generally in senior sports too.

But the really curious thing is the underdog effect. So if you're young for your selection year you actually have more chance of becoming a super-elite athlete and winning MVP awards etc. A good eg of the way these dynamics play out is England cricketers. You have far more chance of becoming a county player if you're old for your year. But 65% of England players with 50+ caps are born in the last six months.

There's loads of remedies which we discuss. NZ rugby group players together by weight, not biological age, which is a great remedy. I also like fluid age groups - so U-11 team includes only 10-year-olds (meaning that the August kid starts out youngest in the team, then gradually becomes the oldest as those born before him move up a year and he's joined by those younger than him) - and generally kids playing up more, taking the best kids and making them play in older age groups, exposing them to more struggle which is better for their skill development and the mental side of the game.