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

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.