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The relative age effect (RAE) describes the physical and cognitive (dis)advantages experienced by athletes based upon when their birthdate falls relative to a pre-established cut-off date. Despite RAEs being present in a number of sports, few studies have explored how relative age influences the positive youth development (PYD) of athletes. This study examined the mechanisms that facilitate and hinder athletes' acquisition of PYD outcomes and whether these are influenced by relative age. A secondary objective included determining how athletes employed these skills in other contexts. Twenty competitive female ice hockey players were interviewed (mage = 17. 2 years). Thematic analyses revealed that all athletes, regardless of their relative age, developed a range of PYD outcomes in the personal, physical, and social domains, and have applied these skills in a variety of contexts outside of sport. Across relative younger and older athletes, three interrelated themes emerged and served as the overarching mechanisms that facilitated or hindered athletes' development of PYD outcomes: the social features of the sport environment, the structure of female travel/rep ice hockey, and negative ice hockey experiences. Our findings have implications for creating sport environments that foster PYD. Keywords: positive youth development; relative age effect; female ice hockey; negative developmental experiences; qualitative research, Within sport, it is common practice for athletes to be categorized by chronological age (Baker et al., 2010; Musch & Grondin, 2001) to ensure fairness in competition, age-appropriate instruction, and [...]

The current investigation examined the impact of academic timing and the relative age effect (RAE) in men's and women's intercollegiate basketball. Academic timing is particularly important in the context of intercollegiate sport, and has received very little attention since Glamser and Marciani (1992) introduced the topic in this journal more than two decades ago. When a student's actual athletic eligibility year is consistent with her or his anticipated athletic eligibility year (based on year of birth), she or he is classified as 'on-time.' Those whose actual athletic eligibility years coincide with a younger age cohort are categorized as 'delayed.' The birthdates of 475 female and 429 male National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 basketball players were collected from the rosters of top-ranked teams and identified as either on-time or delayed based on their birth date and eligibility status. Chi-square goodness of fits tests ([X.sup.2]) were used to compare the distribution of birthdates for the female and male student-athletes with that expected within the United States across each quartile. The analyses revealed that on-time student-athletes were more commonly born in the early months of the selection year whereas delayed student-athletes were more likely to be born in the latter months. Our results suggest that on-time student-athletes born late in the selection year are disadvantaged and that delaying entrance to university may be an option for equalizing the playing field and/or gaining an advantage., Children are traditionally placed into age cohorts as an organizational strategy within educational and sport systems. This categorization is an attempt to ensure equal opportunity and fairness, yet evidence suggests [...]