• IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    Also discovered something crazy about birthdays when it comes to athletics and competitive sports.

    An athletes chance of success are based on what month they are born. Depending on the sport, region and organizations and systems involved … if an athlete is born earlier in the year and the rank they are placed in starts at the beginning of the year, they have a better chance because they will almost be a year older than the player born at the end of the year. In Junior leagues or youth divisions at 10 years of age to 18 … a year makes a huge difference in the players.

    I learned all of this from talking to a few individuals who went through provincial level hockey in Ontario.

    When it comes to the top level sports … what month you are born really matters.

    • OminousOrange@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      This matters in education too. Malcolm Gladwell did a bit of a study on it.

      Makes sense though. In anything that is segregated by year, the oldest in one cohort is going to have nearly a full year more development than the youngest.