Relative age effects (RAEs) in sport often exist when children are grouped into annual age-bands (Barnsley & Thompson, 1988). Recent female studies show different RAE patterns than male sports (Delorme et al., 2010; Weir et al., 2010). Thus, investigations into female RAEs that explain, rather than replicate, RAEs are warranted. One mechanism that might explain RAEs is physical maturity (Musch & Grondin, 2001). Our purpose was to examine if RAEs were tempered in a pre-pubescent sample (4 to 12 years) where physical maturity differences attributed to puberty are lessened. We used multiple chi-squares to analyze registration data for 39,204 female youth ice hockey players and found RAEs with the highest over-representations in the second quartile. We offer explanations for the results and for why physical maturity differences might not temper RAEs.
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