York researchers are working with young footballers to explore how biological maturity influences youth sport development.
York St John University have collaborated with the Junior Premier League (JPL) to trial a concept called bio-banding in a competitive setting.
Bio-banding groups athletes based on their biological maturity rather than their age, helping to limit the physical disparities often seen in youth sports.
Early developers, who mature faster, can have advantages over those who grow and reach puberty later.
While bio-banding has been previously researched in male football, the team at York St John and JPL are adopting a more holistic approach.
This time, they are examining not only physical factors but also technical, tactical, and psychological aspects of player development.
Measuring maturity and performance
Around 150 players across 12 Junior Premier League teams gathered at the York St John Sports Campus on Haxby Road, York.
The players, ranging from U13s – U15s, were initially grouped by age before their heights and weights were measured to estimate their biological maturity.
Throughout the day, players were reorganised into bio-banded teams, which included players from different age groups but with similar physical maturity levels.
Each participant wore Playermaker devices on their feet, enabling researchers to track their movements, speeds, and distances covered during matches.
The matches were observed by talent recruitment experts, and players completed questionnaires about their experiences during the Discovery Day.
For many of the players, this was their first experience with bio-banding, providing an opportunity to see how different match formats affected their confidence, skill execution, and tactical decision making.
A pilot study with big potential
The event served as a pilot study, and the research team is currently analysing the data to report back to the JPL.
Plans are already in place for a similar event focusing on female players in the coming months, as researchers investigate whether the same trends apply to girls’ football as well as other sports.
Coaches and parents played a key role in the event, sharing valuable feedback on how bio-banding could influence youth development.
Steve Nichol, Youth Coach FC Halifax Town said, “I think it could be beneficial for players in various ways. One, looking at how we select and recruit players and two, how we support their development moving forwards as players as well.
“Obviously when you move to higher levels of football, you want good rationale behind decisions that you’re making. When you’re making decisions on such young people as well.”
Dan Wilson, Head of Youth at York City FC, added, “For the young players in terms of their development, a young player who might be struggling in their age group due to lower maturation.
“Actually, when they drop an age group, it might give them a major confidence boost. They might go from really scrambling to stay in the game and scrambling to cope to all of a sudden being one of the best players.
“The only thing that changed is being against kids of similar size, similar maturation. It opens up different technical, tactical considerations for those kids as well.”
Mike, a parent of a York City U15 player, commented, “We see a huge disparity in size and shape with our kids at 13, 14, 15. Anything that gives us better insight into that is a fantastic initiative. We can’t do enough for our kids, we can’t support them enough.”
Dr Jamie Salter, Senior Lecturer in Sport Science and Injury, said, “The Bio-Banding Discovery Day at YSJ was a great success. It allowed players to express themselves in new ways and demonstrated the potential of bio-banding to enhance talent development and reduce injury risk.
“We hope to see bio-banding reduce the bias towards early developers and provide fairer opportunities in sport and look forward to applying this concept to different sports and populations in the coming months.”
Encouraging bio-banding
The researchers at York St John aim to encourage more youth sports teams to measure the biological maturity of players, to ensure that talented players who reach puberty later aren’t left behind in a ‘survival of the fittest’ environment.
As part of this effort, Dr Salter and the team are developing a new app called MaturityMonitor.
The app allows coaches, parents, and teachers to easily estimate a player’s physical maturity, making bio-banding more accessible at both grassroots and elite levels.
Developed with academics from York St John’s Computer Science department, the app is currently available on the Apple Store, though still in beta testing.
The University’s Interdisciplinary sports performance and injury research (InSPIRe) group continues to refine the MaturityMonitor app ahead of its full release later this year.
For more information on the group, click here.