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Career Performance Trajectories in Track and Field Jumping Events from Youth to Senior Success: The Importance of Learning and Development

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  • Gennaro Boccia
  • Paolo Moisè
  • Alberto Franceschi
  • Francesco Trova
  • Davide Panero
  • Antonio La Torre
  • Alberto Rainoldi
  • Federico Schena
  • Marco Cardinale

Abstract

Introduction: The idea that early sport success can be detrimental for long-term sport performance is still under debate. Therefore, the aims of this study were to examine the career trajectories of Italian high and long jumpers to provide a better understanding of performance development in jumping events. Methods: The official long-jump and high-jump rankings of the Italian Track and Field Federation were collected from the age of 12 to career termination, for both genders from the year 1994 to 2014. Top-level athletes were identified as those with a percentile of their personal best performance between 97 and 100. Results: The age of entering competitions of top-level athletes was not different than the rest of the athletic population, whereas top-level athletes performed their personal best later than the rest of the athletes. Top-level athletes showed an overall higher rate of improvement in performance from the age of 13 to the age of 18 years when compared to all other individuals. Only 10–25% of the top-level adult athletes were top-level at the age of 16. Around 60% of the top-level young at the age of 16 did not maintain the same level of performance in adulthood. Female high-jump represented an exception from this trend since in this group most top-level young become top-level adult athletes. Conclusions: These findings suggest that performance before the age of 16 is not a good predictor of adult performance in long and high jump. The annual rate of improvements from 13 to 18 years should be included as a predictor of success rather than performance per se. Coaches should be careful about predicting future success based on performances obtained during youth in jumping events.

Suggested Citation

  • Gennaro Boccia & Paolo Moisè & Alberto Franceschi & Francesco Trova & Davide Panero & Antonio La Torre & Alberto Rainoldi & Federico Schena & Marco Cardinale, 2017. "Career Performance Trajectories in Track and Field Jumping Events from Youth to Senior Success: The Importance of Learning and Development," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0170744
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170744
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    Cited by:

    1. Erjane P. Magdato, 2021. "Sports Performance and Challenges of Student-Athletes in a Catholic School," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 22(1), pages 255-268, August.
    2. Griffin Jim E. & Hinoveanu Laurenţiu C. & Hopker James G., 2022. "Bayesian modelling of elite sporting performance with large databases," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 18(4), pages 253-268, December.
    3. Inmaculada Yustres & Jesús Santos del Cerro & Stelios Psycharakis & Fernando González-Mohíno & José María González-Ravé, 2021. "Swimming World Championships: Association between Success at the Junior and Senior Level for British Swimmers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-8, January.

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