Easter is a great time to bonk......

No I haven't gone mad..research shows if you want your kid to succeed at football in Australia or indeed any other sport this weekend could be the one.

The next and newest Australian National teams are about to be picked. Australia Under 13 girls and Under 14 for boys! With the girls heading to Vietnam and the boys to Malaysia in the coming months, both historic sides will be picked from the week long tournaments which take place in Canberra this weekend.......

But what has this got to do with bonking?



Scholars of the game, who have studied national teams across the globe of ALL ages, found that most players were born in the first half of the year.

In Australia's case all players play in age ranges that start at the beginning of any given calender year.

For example take my daughter. She's ten.

In her class, year 5 at school, she goes quite well and today was her Cross-Country Carnival.

It's a small group say 25 girls but twenty of her class mates were born in 1998 so she doesn't run against them. Some of them are eight months older than her. So given she's only been running for about 5 years, eight months is a lot of extra development in terms of lung, and muscle capacity.

But my daughter is born in January 1999. Thank the Lord and no it wasn't planned! So she gets to run with the five or so kids who were born in 1999 from her class and another 20 or so from the younger class. School Class years start April/May in Australia, but sport rep teams run from Jan/Dec.

So when compared to a kid who is born in November 1999 she has 11 months..or nearly a full year of additional development. In a physical sense this is huge....genetics aside.

So come to football.

A player born in January has a much better chance of getting into a Rep side than a player born in December.

It's simple isn't it.

Two players of similar ability. The one who is older will have more time to develop therefore is more likely to get chosen in the Grade A Club side and likewise the Youngest Representative sides.

So what you might say.

But as we all know these kids benefit from the best coaches at Club and State Level. You'd expect their skills and physique to improve at a faster rate than the younger kids who missed out....and when the next selection camp comes the following year given they've had an extra years quality training...they'll probably get picked again..and again.

At any age, 11, 14, 17 or 20 a player born in January will have almost a full years further development in terms of physique, motor skills and practice therefore it is no surprise to see the national rep sides of ALL countries full of players born in the first six months of any year.

So if your kid is born from August-December forget your Aussie sport and make sure they study at school or failing that try for another kid...this weekend.

For the record my daughter won her race today!

And of course there are always exceptions...just not as many as you might think.