With the announcement of the New South Wales Origin squad, it got me thinking about representative sport and those picked to play for their country, state, region … whatever it may be.
In particular, my mind was taken back to a book called Outliers, written by Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell.
Gladwell’s book delves into what makes people successful, and one area he explores in sport is relative age theory.
In short, Gladwell assessed Canadian representative hockey teams and found that players born in early months of the year are overrepresented in those sides.
Most sports have a cut off as January 1 for their age groups, so a kid born on the first day of the year and last day are typically grouped into the same bracket.
Obviously, one full year – particularly for kids – can be a huge advantage, both in terms of maturity and physicality.
Taking it back to the NSW side, I found that in the 17 named, 10 were born in the first six months, and five of those were born in January or February.
Only 16% of people are born in the first two months, but they make up 30% of the Blues side, and it rings true throughout representative sport.
It makes sense too, imagine being a 12-year-old and missing out on representative selection because you’re a bit smaller than another kid who could be some 11 months older, that in itself could mean you slip through the cracks, or turn away from the sport.
So that got me thinking, what if, no matter the sport, every four years, that entry date is shifted back six months.
That gives every kid a chance to shine in the older half of the competition at some stage.
An example of this is my son, he loves rugby league, but being born in late December means he’s often far closer to the kids in the below age group.
While it doesn’t worry him, it makes you wonder if he’d look at the sport differently if he was born just a fortnight later.
Equally, I have a daughter born in February at the other end of the scale, and she often plays sport with girls who are well younger than her.
Penrith is represented in Parliament by local boy Stuart Ayres, as a sport tragic and Panthers fan, surely he sees this as an idea that should be explored.
This wouldn’t just help kids stand out at grassroots level, but it could genuinely help us identify future first-graders and pro athletes that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks.