Does your birthday affect your sportiness?

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Fleecings of Comfort and Joy Jan 2016 10:21am, 2 Jan 2016 25,700 posts	0 Fleecings of Comfort and Joy Yup
sioux Jan 2016 10:30am, 2 Jan 2016 19,559 posts	0 sioux My son's school it was noticeable that the football/netball etc teams were largely the older kids. My son is sporty but end of July birthday. The first sport his 'sportiness' was spotted in was swimming which was independent from school and 'lanes' were organised in ability not school age. In primary school he got little oppertunity to be in school teams.
Sharkie Jan 2016 10:44am, 2 Jan 2016 8,158 posts	0 Sharkie Iagree with Fleecy about gender issues - which really kick in at puberty. I 'think' this particular research applies to boys? The Canadian study was about Hockey players, the Australian pro football yeah? Once a girl reaches puberty - which is partly dependent weight, being more 'developed' (bigger and with tits) is going to have to opposite effect ie a drawback rather than otherwise.
Cyclops Jan 2016 10:44am, 2 Jan 2016 2,097 posts	0 Cyclops I'm an August birthday but the main thing holding me back was my one-eyedness which stopped me being able to do any sports requiring balls and equipment - my school mostly played lacrosse and tennis!! I could do running and jumping sports quite well but the PE teachers weren't interested in me. Someone somewhere reckoned that 70% of people at university in the olden days were September to February birthdays - I made sure that my children were born in the first half of the school year. The younger ones find it hard in Reception and Year 1 to realise that they can't do things because they are younger not because they can't do it and are easily put off.
Autumnleaves Jan 2016 10:51am, 2 Jan 2016 7,645 posts	0 Autumnleaves We don't particularly bear this out - although I am an October Birthday Mr AL is May - and did far more competitive sport at school than I did; Leaflet is June - and far keener on sport than Twiglet - January. I do think being a June baby had a big impact on Leaflet in other ways though. (Is very impressed at Cyclops' family planning :))
Cyclops Jan 2016 10:55am, 2 Jan 2016 2,098 posts	0 Cyclops It gets worse, AL. My son started school part-time in January 2000; my daughter was born in the February. I was on maternity leave until the September when he started school full-time and she could go to the nursery he had left in the December...
Velociraptor Jan 2016 11:15am, 2 Jan 2016 33,229 posts	0 Velociraptor I haven't looked yet but anticipate that this will be a statistical phenomenon with no applicability to individuals. There are a million factors more important than birth month in determining who does sports and who can't or doesn't.
sioux Jan 2016 11:23am, 2 Jan 2016 19,564 posts	0 sioux V'rap. It's more about how being young in school yr affects the oppertunties given at school. In those early yrs there are big developmental/capability differences between eldest and youngest so the eldest get 'judged' as 'better' and selected to represent school/class more readily. By the time the age difference is less significant than the older ones are 'better' as have had more oppertunity and the 'younger' ones have accepted they not as good. Personally I think it applies more to team games. As I said G is sporty and individual things he was given more oppertunity to show his skill.
The Teaboy Jan 2016 11:43am, 2 Jan 2016 13,327 posts	0 The Teaboy Yes, this is significant if players are streamed during those crucial teenage years when early physical development gives an advantage over other kids. However, those players then often fail to develop proper skills because they use their physical advantages at that age and don't have to develop skill-based strategies in order to win. Physically smaller players may still succeed through skill but they may be marginalised and get fewer opportunities, thus hindering development. Sports are now becoming more enlightened and using physical maturation age groupings for sport IDing rather than birthday age groupings. Bounce has some ideas but the 10,000 hour rule as a strict guide is largely discredited. It really depends a lot more on how competitive something is to get into - a favela street kid will play far more than 10,000 hours football and less competitive spheres may require far fewer hours - it doesn't necessarily consider transferable skills either. Modern thinking on youth sport development now suggests that for most sports, a broad sporting base and late specialisation is a far more optimal route than focusing narrowly from earlier years - that route often leads to burnout and early success is not necessarily a predictor of later performance. Good series of articles here: sportsscientists.com
ChrisHB Jan 2016 11:58am, 2 Jan 2016 12,158 posts	0 ChrisHB I'm with PenW: November birthday, dreadful at sport until I left school and at least stopped resenting it.