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Gender Differences In The Relative Age Effect Among Us Olympic Development Program Youth Soccer Players, John Vincent, Francis D. Glamser

Faculty Publications

A large body of research has shown that a disproportionate number of elite youth male soccer players competing in age-segmented competition are born early in the selection year. The advantage of being born early in a cohort has been termed the "relative age effect''. Although there has been an exponential growth in women's soccer, few studies have examined the relative age effect in female youth soccer. This study compared the relative age effect of 1344 female and male youth soccer players considered by the US Olympic Development Program (ODP), in 2001, to be the most talented soccer players born in …