Bio Banding (developmental vs physical age)

[Hagios]

I'm sure everyone's heard about how children born early in the chronological year are more likely to become pros than those born later. This article is about "bio banding", or developing players based on their physical maturity rather than age. It is written about soccer academies but I thought it would be of interest more generally so I put it here. If that's a mistake, then feel free to move.

Imagine you have a small, late-developing kid who has tons of tricks and skills, but in his age group competition he's constantly fighting a bigger, more mature player. "Well," Hedges says, "if for the hundredth, two hundredth, thousandth time he's done a great bit of skill and the guy's just put his arm across him and not alowed him to get past him, what's that going to do to him mentally, over time? He's going to go, 'I'm not successful doing that, so I'm going to stop doing that. I'm just going to give the ball backwards and sideways and keep possession.' You almost drum out of them that technical ability they've got."

The system doesn't just shortchange late bloomers or those born late in the year, however. Players who go through puberty earlier than average can also wind up falling behind—it just happens later on in the process.

"What you see at the other end is, by 18, not all of the [early-maturing] players are making it through," says Hedges. "They're being caught up. They look really good young, because they are. They're miles ahead. They can be up to 20 percent more physically mature than their counterparts." But these players tend to neglect their technical development because they're used to dominating physically. When the rest of their age cohort catches up in physical maturity, Hedges says, "if you haven't given them the skills to deal with the other side of the game, then they don't look the player they looked at 13."

Interesting throughout.

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/how-the-premier-league-is-rethinking-age-in-youth-development