Maturity-related developmental inequalities in age-group swimming: The testing of 'Mat-CAPs' for their removal.

To (1) examine the association between maturity timing and performance-based selection levels in (N=708) Australian male 100-m Freestyle swimmers (12-17 years); (2) identify the relationship between maturation status and 100-m Freestyle performance; and (3) determine whether Maturation-based Corrective Adjustment Procedures (Mat-CAPs) could remove maturation-related differences in swimming performance. In Part 1, maturity timing category distributions ('Early', 'Early Normative', 'Late Normative' and 'Late') for 'All', 'Top 50%' and '25%' of raw swimming times were examined within and across age-groups. In Part 2, multiple regression analyses quantified the relationship between maturity offset (YPHV) and swimming performance. In Part 3, sample-based maturity timing category distributions were examined based on raw and correctively adjusted swim times for 12-17 year old age-groups. Based on raw swim times, a high prevalence of 'Early-maturing' swimmers, with large effect sizes was identified (e.g., 14 years 'All' - χ Removing the influence of maturation-related developmental differences could help improve youth swimmer participation experiences and improve the accuracy of identifying genuinely skilled age-group swimmers.

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