title: Relative Age Effect in Young Swiss Alpine Skiers From 2004 to 2011.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To verify whether relative age effects (RAEs) occur among young male and female Swiss Alpine skiers of different age groups and performance levels. In addition, the efficacy of normalizing performance in physical tests to height and body mass to attenuate RAEs eventually present was tested.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Swiss Ski Power Test consists of anthropometric measures and physical tests for coordination and speed, endurance, and strength and has been used since 2004 to evaluate 11- to 19-y-old Swiss competitive Alpine skiers. The authors analyzed the distribution of 6996 tests performed by 1438 male and 1031 female Alpine skiers between 2004 and 2011 according to the athletes' respective relative age quartiles. Differences in anthropometric measures and performance in physical tests according to quartile were assessed, and the possibility of attenuating eventual RAEs on performance by normalization of results to height and body mass was tested.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RAEs were found among all female and male age groups, with no differences between age groups. While performance level did not affect RAE for male skiers, it influenced RAE among female skiers. RAEs also influenced results in all physical tests except upper-limb strength. Normalization of results to body mass attenuated most RAEs identified.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Small RAEs are present among young Swiss competitive Alpine skiers and should be taken into account in training and selection settings to prevent the waste of possible future talents. When ranking junior athletes according to their performance in physical tests, normalization of results to body mass decreases the bias caused by RAEs.
authors.affiliation: Inst for Anatomy, University of Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Tatiane
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gorski
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rosser
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hoppeler
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vogt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012865:Skiing / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult