Is Bio-Banding the Future of Youth Athletic Development

Let’s imagine a 12 year old out running everyone on the pitch, being more physical, taller, out playing all of his fellow peers not because of skill or ability but simply because he has entered puberty and his development into adolescent earlier. Is it really fair to pair him against an athlete how has not entered into that stage of development yet who is half his height and weight and doesn’t poses the physical prowess of his counterparts.

This is the dilemma we are faced that is ever frequently occurring in youth team sports. The traditional grouping of athletes by their chronological age is outdated, unsafe, and physiologically unbalanced. In response to these disparities a new and innovative way of banding players has been introduced with much success- Bio-Banding. This process involves grouping athlete’s by biological and physiological maturity instead of chronologically. Is this method the way forward? Does it create a fairer youth system or is it just another growing trend?.

This blog will critically anyalze the effect and impact bio-banding has on team sports examining its effect of athlete development, performance, physical development as well as tactical and talent identification. Investigating what the most prestigious clubs in the world do, investigating expert and researched opinions we will evaluate whether bio-banding is impactful and whether athletic youth development ultimately benefits both the athlete and the sport.

Chronological age banding is the most common and traditional way of banding used in youth sport. Commonly across the world we see young athlete’s banded by their age creating groups of U12, U14, U16 etc. whilst this system is incredibly easy to implement and organizationally efficient it is contextually flawed and offers little to no support to players during periods of increased growth or development.

We know through research that children of the same chronological age can differ up to five years in biological age (Malina et al., 2004. This variance in age is an aspect chronological banding doesn’t take into account or support. This variance is commonly referred to as the relative age effect ‘RAE’. This occurrence essentially makes players who have a higher level of physical development appear more skilful and this affect is seen evidently across youth team sports (Cobley et al., 2009). These youth athlete’s achieve early success often making a squad because of their physical attributes and more often than not the smaller less developed athletes are seen to not be good enough or lacking the physical attributes to be successful. These physical attributes are often mistaken for superior talent and as a result are unfairly advantaged.

The long-term detrimental effects can be seen throughout youth sport. Late developers who may have the same talent if not more are often unseen and their potential becomes untapped. As a result we see demotivated athletes who often drop out of sport which is a huge cause for concern in youth athletic development (Musch & Grondin, 2001). Chronological banding favours the early developers and discriminates and isolates the late ones leading to an unfair, disgruntled system. In a word where we want high levels of youth participation in sport chronological banding is slowly causing late developers to drop out and loose interest as coaches favour the taller, more physical ones.

Bio banding’s solution to these disparities offers to group athletes based of their own personal stage of biological maturation rate vs their chronological age.  This is most commonly measured by applying their peak height velocity ‘PHV’ which is the time during adolescence where growth is at its highest (Cumming et al., 2017).  By aligning players by category in the same height profile players who develop early it allows everyone to be competing from a level basis and there is no advantage to players who have developed early. This allows smaller, late developers to not be physically dominated or over powered and increasing tactical and technical development for all players.

The practical implication of these practices can be seen across major sporting institutions and organisations. The premier league in the United Kingdom has been a leading advocate of this cause. Huge sporting clubs such as Manchester United and Southampton F.C have done pilot programs of this system and trialled it with promising and positive results. Research conducted by Cumming et al highlighted that games in premier league academies that used bio banding in their games and trials found greater engagement from players, better balanced and coherent competitions and ultimately it allowed to coaches to access tactical and technical skills more efficiently without being subconsciously biased by physical attributes.

The benefits of bio banding are comprehensive, it creates a level playing field for all athletes, it promotes far better talent identification and the physical and physiological development is of a far greater level. Overall in youth sports all we want to do is create a fair and equal environments for athletes to excel. By omitting physical advantages given to early developers it creates the perfect constraints for athlete’s to excel. It leads to better skill development, higher degree of decision making as athlete’s have to use skill and technical proficiency to excel rather than out muscle their opponent. It forces athletes to be better at the sport their playing vs solely relying on how strong, tall or fast they are. Traditional and historical systems don’t always objectively identify talent for skill, its often biased by how big they are. How often do we hear coaches say “they have the size and the frame for that position” or “they are big and physical and can be a long ball target”. This isn’t skill this is size.

We as coaches need to promote long term development not short term dominance because we want to win an U14 competition to make ourselves look good as a coach by picking a physically dominating team. Bio banded games have proved to have higher player involvement and a created a more inclusive environment (Romann et al. 2020) Cumming et al found that bio banded games allowed coaches to select based off talent and gained new insights into players that they previously would not have noticed. Youth athletes who mature late have been shown to have lower self-esteem. This is particularly challenging for youth athletes as the main purpose of sport in a young age is enjoyment and to have high levels of participation. When athletes are on equal physical spectrum they are often to feel more confident and believe in their own ability against their peers. This is crucial  positive engagement and interaction within the sport which leads to a far greater positive psychological development (Abbott et al., 2019).

As coaches we cannot look at bio banding and chronological banding as one or the other. The best and most effective approach is often a blended hybrid approach. For example regular competitions could remain the same as ones historically done through chronological banding but for development, talent identification and scouting bio banding could be used to allow athletes the best chance for selection and to not allow any fall to through the cracks. This model is being used successfully in many elite academies and instead of viewing it as an exclusive, far-fetched model it would prove unwaveringly positive to see it being promoted at a lower league and grassroots level. In football it allows coaches and scouting teams to develop and create a more rounded holistic experience for the youth athletes which ultimately leads to creating far better players that are better equipped to problem solve and to develop both tactically and technically within peers of their own physical stature.

There is many limitations to the research that exists within bio banding as It is limited and restricted to football, however maturity and physical disparities occur in many other sports such as rugby, basketball, GAA, athletics to name just a few. New and early research in both rugby (Till et al., 2020) and in swimming have shown positive correlations to performance (Arede et al., 2019). These promising results not only highlight the importance of its widespread importance but also a major flaw in how we develop youth athletes.

With all that being said, bio banding is not a magic pill or a perfect fix. However it does address a deep rooted problem in youth development by offering a more well-rounded, inclusive and physiological supportive environment. There is of course many challenges and logistics that make this framework challenging to roll out but it is the best course of action for our athletes. We need to understand that by choosing big and strong athletes over less developed we are stealing futures from others.

If developed and integrated smartly working in tandem with traditional frameworks with unwavering support from councils and governing sporting bodies its success could be resounding. Bio banding has the tools and the power to redefine the youth athletic development world. As sport evolves and so does our understanding of it the question no longer is if it works or if It provides value. The question is now, how much are we willing to embrace this change. One that nurtures and values all talent regardless of when it blooms.