Date

8-6-2025

Department

School of Health Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences (PhD)

Chair

Eric Sobolewski

Keywords

maturation, athlete, selection bias, youth, ice hockey

Disciplines

Health and Physical Education | Sports Sciences

Abstract

Maturity status may influence the selection of elite youth ice hockey teams in the United States. Assessing biological maturity status could provide insight into the prevalence of maturation related selection biases. Thus, the purpose of this study was to establish normative maturity status ranges, determine if maturity or relative age effect selection biases existed, and compare levels of agreement between methods to predict maturity status for elite youth ice hockey players in the United States. Part one of this study assessed the biological maturity status and birth months for 126 athletes, ranging 9-16 years of age, from an elite youth ice hockey organization within the United States. Part two investigated the probability of being selected, or deselected, for a 11U AAA ice hockey team based on biological maturation and birth month. Part three compared commonly used somatic maturity methods, predicted adult height (%PAH) and maturity offset (MO), to determine the level of agreement between approaches. Results demonstrated that the greatest variability in maturity status occurred between 12 – 14 year olds, relative age effects (9U – 16U) were present with a bias towards athletes born in the first quartile of the year, no maturity or birth month bias was evident for the selection an 11U AAA ice hockey team, and there was a strong agreement level between %PAH and MO for classifying circa-PHV athletes. Further research is needed to investigate if maturity and relative age effect biases are present in other parts of the US for youth ice hockey.

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