Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

-Twigs- t1_iyqia5y wrote

Reply to comment by corrado33 in [OC] Birth months of FIFA World Cup players. The top three are January, February and March, possibly due to the "Relative age effect" by desfirsit

I don't really think it'd be correct to say it's 100% a question of maturity and nothing else. Things like genes, nutrition and health are examples of factors that could be playing a part. Loads of things contribute to a child even getting the chance to start playing a sport, which is a requirement for them to be good at it. To reduce all that down to differences in "maturity" is a bit simplistic in my mind.

1

corrado33 t1_iyrm080 wrote

Of course you are correct. I'm just saying that the MAIN factor in determining if someone will be good at sports is literally how physically mature/how big they are. (As a kid, "size" is pretty much determined by physical maturity (and to a lesser extent, the things you mentioned).

Some dirt poor, poorly fed kid who is 5'6" (due to maturing quilckly) is still going to destroy a rich, well fed kid who is 4'10" tall in any physical sport.

Genetics and what not will determine the final height of most people, but the speed at which one matures will determine how quickly they get there (and therefore, how much larger they are than their peers when they are young.)

And let's be honest here, MOST children who will be playing sports (in the US) are fed well enough not to affect development.

1