Chaos Caused by Different Cutoff Dates: Relative Age Effects and Redshirting in Collegiate Volleyball in the United States

Redman, Grace and Pierce, Scott and Kelly, Adam L. (2025) Chaos Caused by Different Cutoff Dates: Relative Age Effects and Redshirting in Collegiate Volleyball in the United States. Sports, 13 (2). p. 53. ISSN 2075-4663

Preview

Text sports-13-00053.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB)

Abstract

Relative Age Effects (RAEs) are a phenomenon in athletics related to an over-representation of individuals born closer to an arbitrary cutoff date. Such effects have been shown in many different countries, levels of play, and contexts, although they are yet to be studied in volleyball within the United States, which is the second most popular high school girls’ sport and the fastest growing high school and college sport for males. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine RAEs in college volleyball. Publicly available data were collected from the websites of women’s Division I program (n = 1253) and men’s Division I/II (n = 164). Chi-squared goodness of fit tests were used to compare birth rate distributions. Data accounted for gender, school and club cutoff dates, athletic timing, and redshirt status. Results showed RAEs were strongest in women on-time school group. Interestingly, reverse effects were observed (i.e., an overrepresentation of relatively younger athletes) for delayed school volleyball players, but this expected trend was not observed in the redshirt group. On-time women’s club group showed academic timing was a significant contributor towards RAEs, whilst these effects were strongest for the on-time school group in men.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.3390/sports13020053
Dates:	Date Event 3 February 2025 Accepted 11 February 2025 Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords:	collegiate sport, RAE, NCAA, athletic timing, university sports club, school, training age
Subjects:	CAH03 - biological and sport sciences > CAH03-02 - sport and exercise sciences > CAH03-02-01 - sport and exercise sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences > College of Life Sciences
Depositing User:	Gemma Tonks
Date Deposited:	15 Jul 2025 14:18
Last Modified:	15 Jul 2025 14:18
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16521

Actions (login required)

View Item