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DammitAnthony t1_iymlpig wrote

This should not be done by calendar month but rather relative to school year start depending on their country. A September child in a September school year is relatively the same age as a January child in a January school year.

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pinkshirtbadman t1_iymo0ok wrote

It depends too much on the organization to really be able to split it up for every case.

In the US age /birthday cutoffs vary place to place, but Aug-sept is most common for school classes meaning you are right a child born in September is 10-11 months older than some of their peers in the same class which can be a significant advantage particularly in early years.

Kids' sports (and also many other non sport related extra-circular activities not directly sanctioned by the school) tend to be broken down either by grade, in which case the ~Fall-Late Summer range is most relevant, or by age regardless of grade, in which case Jan-Dec will be the range that matters.

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DammitAnthony t1_iympt7r wrote

Interesting article breaking down just North American sport leagues.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290649143_Does_Relative_Age_Affect_Career_Length_in_North_American_Professional_Sports/download

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pinkshirtbadman t1_iymqxfw wrote

It's interesting, and it kind of works to break it down this way. I didn't fully articulate what my concern is in my other comment, my question is how do you account for situations in which the same person in the same activity would be on opposite ends of the age gap depending on where they play.

A child born late in the year would have the most advantage in school sports, even say just PE class all the way up to the varsity team in high school, but that same individual (particularly as a younger child) would be on the bottom end of the age gap advantage in a city sponsored league that uses the calendar year

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Jumpshot1370 t1_iyoh5od wrote

In America, at least in my school system in California, the cutoff is in November. So a person born December 2003 - November 2004 would have graduated high school in 2022, someone born December 2004 - November 2005 will graduate high school in 2023, etc. There are some exceptions on the older side, children who started school a little bit late.

At my high school, which I graduated from in 2022, there is a student who was born in October 2005 and is currently a junior. Another student born in November 2005 is currently a senior. There are a few similar cases in other classes.

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