Analysis of relative ages in calls for regional teams for the Spanish Basketball Championship 2024.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to analyse the relative age of the participants in the CESA (Campeonato de España de Selecciones Autonómicas) of basketball 2024 to observe if there were differences in the number of players selected per quarter of birth at an overall level by sex and category. The subjects of the study were 1368 players (468 in Minisbaket, U-14 and U-16) who participated in the CESA 2024. The data collected on birth quarters, categories, and sex were extracted from the official magazines published by the Spanish Basketball Federation for the CESA 2024, including in the register the 17 autonomous communities and the 2 autonomous cities of Spain. The results indicate that: a) 5.03% of the total sample (n=616) were born in the first quarter of the year. b) the number of players called up in the 4th quarter in the Minibasket competition is 6.8% of the sample; c) the effect of relative age is incident in both sexes, with a greater predominance in the male; d) the participation is massive of participants born in the first semester of the year, mainly those born in January, February and March and hardly any players born in October, November and December are called up; e) the lowest call-up rates of players born in the 4th quarter of the year are found in the minibasket category; f) in both girls and boys, the number of players called up in the 4th quarter is below 11%, while in boys only 8.6% have been called up. The findings reported seem to indicate that players born in the last quarters of the year are less likely to be selected, which may reduce the retention of talent for later stages, where the influence of relative age loses weight in sporting performance.