While relatively older players get the benefit in the youth stages, younger players ’blossom’ later in the higher levels of sport, finds the study.
If you are born earlier in the sporting year there is a good chance the elite sports selection process will be biased in your favour. According to a study published today in the online science journal PLOS ONE , National Hockey League (NHL) draftees born between July and December were on average much more likely to go on to have successful top level playing careers and compared to those born in the first three months of the sporting year who were initially more favoured by the sports' system. The study titled 'Born at the wrong time: selection bias in the NHL draft' showed, however, while relatively older players get the benefit in the early youth stages of sport, the relatively younger players 'blossom' later in higher level aspects of the sport with sports statistics revealing they have more productive careers. A team of researchers, including co-author Steve Cobley from the University of Sydney's Faculty of Health Science , analysed the selection process for Canadian ice hockey players, looking specifically at players' performance and the game's age cut-off day of 1 January. "There's no doubt that drafting professional athletes is an inexact science," says study director Associate Robert Deaner from Grand Valley State University in the USA. "Plenty of sure-fire first-round picks fizzle, while some late-round picks unexpectedly become stars. But our results show that, at least since 1980, NHL teams have been consistently fooled by players' birthdays or something associated with them.
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