Player-labelling as a solution to overcome maturation selection biases in youth football.

Lüdin, Dennis; Donath, Lars; Cobley, Stephen; Mann, David; Romann, Michael (2022). Player-labelling as a solution to overcome maturation selection biases in youth football. Journal of Sports Sciences, 40(14), pp. 1641-1647. Taylor & Francis 10.1080/02640414.2022.2099077

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The fact that potentially skilled, but biologically later-maturing athletes are less likely to be selected into talent development programmes (TDP) can represent a failure of Talent Identification (TID) in sports. To overcome maturation selection biases, maturation independent TID should be established to include less mature, but talented athletes in TDP more frequently. Using a randomised parallel-group design, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of labelling under-11 (U11) Swiss male youth football players (n = 24, age = 11.0 ± 0.3 years) via maturation-ordered shirt numbers during rank assessment by talent scouts (n = 83, scout experience = 4.8 ± 2.4 years). Following observation of video recorded selection tournaments, player-labelling “informed” scouts were significantly more likely to rank less mature players higher on their player potential, t(81) = 2.57, p = .012, d = −0.6, 95% CI [−1.00, −0.13], than “uninformed” scouts. As altered rankings assisted less mature players, player-labelling may offer a practical and feasible strategy to improve TID by removing possible maturation selection biases. To address maturation selection biases and the potential positive impact of player-labelling more broadly, further research on both male and female athletes in various age categories and sports contexts is recommended.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	Swiss Federal Institute of Sports Magglingen SFISM > EHSM - Leistungssport > Trainingswissenschaft
Name:	Lüdin, Dennis; Donath, Lars; Cobley, Stephen; Mann, David and Romann, Michael0000-0003-4139-2955
ISSN:	0264-0414
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Language:	English
Submitter:	Sabina Wolfensberger
Date Deposited:	03 Jul 2023 15:23
Last Modified:	11 Jul 2023 11:45
Publisher DOI:	10.1080/02640414.2022.2099077
Related URLs:	Publication
PubMed ID:	35969578
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Maturation Selection bias Talent development Talent identification Youth soccer Trainingswissenschaft
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.19389
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/19389