Relative Age Effect

[maize]

Can we talk about this? 

 

Anecdotally it seems to hold true for competitive Irish Dance, the kids I see qualifying for the World Championships have disproportionately January-March birthdays. Makes a lot of sense since a six year old with a January birthday competing against kids who don't turn six until December has a definite advantage. Since they do well in competition and can focus better in class they move up levels faster, get more higher level instruction and more teacher attention. Cumulative over the years that gives them a huge advantage.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_age_effect

[Ottakee]

Yep. Same thing with public school kids....often the kids turning 6 in Dec of K do much better than those that have just turned 5. At those ages 9-12 months makes a big difference.