Bio-banding: A Bibliographical List of Published Papers, 2017-2025
As I have done in the past (e.g., 20 Review Papers from 2024 on Children and Exercise, Throwing a Baseball: 35 Scientific Review Paper, Updating the Youth Physical Development Model: 20 key papers and a summary of the evidence), again here, I am providing a bibliographic list. The topic – bio-banding.
What is Bio-banding?
For those not familiar, bio-banding is a concept and practical tool of grouping individuals for training and/or competition by maturity status instead of chronological age. We have all seen U13 or middle-school sports, where early maturing boys (in most instances) dominate over the smaller, weaker, and slower later maturing boys. Bio-banding offers an approach to ‘even the playing field’ for practices and competitions, and also individualize strength and conditioning training based on maturity and biological age rather than chronological age or grade in school.
Methodological note: This list was produced from a Pubmed search using the keyword ‘biobanding’ which yielded 39 papers. A few papers were excluded since although they focused on the growth and maturation of youth athletes and mentioned bio-banding in the paper, they did not include biobanding as part of the main research study design.
Access to articles: To locate the article, either use the PUBMED search link provided above or simply copy-and-paste the specific paper into a search engine browser (Google). Some articles are open access and available for free; others are behind a paywall. If interested in the article, you can also contact the corresponding author.
Getting Started: SCJ Review Article in 2017
The current “bio-banding movement” kicked off with a paper published in 2017 in the Strength and Conditioning Journal. For historical context, it should be noted that bio-banding, as it is called today, is not a new concept and was written about in the early part of the 20th century related to manual labour work, school and sport. In addition, Professor Adam Baxter-Jones wrote about the idea in a 1995 paper in the journal Sports Medicine with the subtitle ‘Should competition levels be age related?’.
I was, and am, grateful to be a co-author and part of this group of pediatric exercise scientists. The main cog in this ‘renaissance of bio-banding’ (which was the original title!) is my good friend and colleague, Dr. Sean Cumming, who continues to lead or influence many of the efforts listed herein — and also our academic mentor Professor Bob Malina.
The First Peer-Reviewed Paper (2018): Premier League academy soccer players’ experiences of competing in a tournament bio-banded for biological maturation
The first peer-reviewed paper on the topic investigated Premier League academy players’ experiences in a bio-banded tournament. Sixty-six boys aged 11-14 years and between 85–90% of predicted adult stature participated in a 3-game tournament. Sixteen of the 66 players participated in focus groups and all of them described their experience as positive and recommended the Premier League integrate bio-banding into the existing games programme. More specifically, early maturing players described the bio-banded games more physically challenging, and found that they had to adapt their style of play placing a greater emphasis on technique and tactics. Late maturing players considered the games to be less physically challenging, yet appreciated the having more opportunity to use, develop and demonstrate their technical, physical, and psychological competencies.
Bio-banding in Soccer: Leading the Way
Since the publication of these initial papers (and lectures, presentations and podcasts by my colleague Professor Sean Cumming) much more practical work and implementation and research publication has come from soccer. The original research papers covering The Effect of Bio-Banded Game Formats on Physiological, Physical, Technical, and Tactical Parameters have recently been synthesized and published as a systematic review with another narrative review discussing the Past, Present and Future of biobanding in soccer.
The Effect of Bio-Banded Game Formats on Physiological, Physical, Technical, and Tactical Parameters in Youth Soccer-A Systematic Review, Pediatric Exercise Science 2025
Bio-banding in soccer: past, present, and future, Annals of Human Biology 2022
Differences in physical and technical performance characteristics between 11v11 chronological and bio-banded soccer match-play format in youth soccer, J Sci Med Sport 2025
Does team size affect Scottish male academy soccer player technical, locomotor and psychosocial outcomes during age and maturity bio-banded small-sided games? J Sports Sci 2025
Bio-banding influences talent experts’ ratings of psycho-social behaviours during 11 v 11 soccer match-play, J Sports Sci 2025
Does biologically categorised training alter the perceived exertion and neuromuscular movement profile of academy soccer players compared to traditional age-group categorisation? Eur J Sport Sci, 2023
Effect of bio-banding on physiological and technical-tactical key performance indicators in youth elite soccer, Eur J Sport Sci 2022
The effect of bio-banding on technical and tactical indicators of talent identification in academy soccer players, Sci Med Footb 2022
The effect of bio-banding on academy soccer player passing networks: Implications of relative pitch size, PLoS One 2021
The effect of bio-banding on the anthropometric, physical fitness and functional movement characteristics of academy soccer players, PLoS One 2021
The effect of bio-banding on physical and psychological indicators of talent identification in academy soccer players, Sci Med Footb 2021
Bio-banding in junior soccer players: a pilot study, BMC Res Notes 2020
Effects of Bio-Banding upon Physical and Technical Performance during Soccer Competition: A Preliminary Analysis, Sports (Basel) 2019
Bio-banding in academy football: player’s perceptions of a maturity matched tournament, Ann Hum Biol 2019
Other Sports
However, interests, practical implementation and research has also been published in the sports of rugby, ice hockey, judo and handball (see category headings below).
Rugby
‘I feel more comfortable in contact with similar-sized players’: male youth rugby union players’ perceptions of bio-banded training, Ann Hum Biol 2025
Ice Hockey
Bio-banding in male under-15 and -16 ice hockey teams: A pilot study on players’ and coaches’ experiences, J Sports Sci 2025
A pilot study on bio-banding in male youth ice hockey: Players’ perceptions and coaches’ selection preferences, PLoS One 2024
Judo
Bio-Banding in Judo: The Mediation Role of Anthropometric Variables on the Maturation Effect, Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020
Handball
Bio-Banding in Handball: Academy Players’ Perceptions Based on Maturity Status and Gender, Int J Sports Med 2023
Rating of Perceived Exertion and Training Load
Although many perhaps relate biobanding to talent ID and competition, it has plays a role in training load management and two studies have focused on this aspect (see below).
Examination of differential ratings of perceived exertion (dRPE) during bio-banded small-sided games, PLoS One 2022
Effects of biobanding on training loads and technical performance of young football players, PLoS One 2025
Knowledge and Perceptions of Bio-banding
‘Measuring’ methodological artefacts - thinking critically about surveys via knowledge of ‘biobanding’, Sci Med Footb 2025
Soccer academy practitioners’ perceptions and application of bio-banding, PLoS One 2023
Delivery of Educational Sessions (i.e. Sport Psychology)
The psychology of bio-banding: a Vygotskian perspective, Ann Hum Biol 2020
Review Articles
Since the initial paper in 2017, about 4 additional reviews have been published providing an overview of the concept.
Is Biobanding the Future of Youth Sport Participation? Pediatr Exerc Sci 2024
Bio-banding in soccer: past, present, and future, Ann Hum Biol 2022
Bio-Banding in Youth Sports: Background, Concept, and Application, Sports Med 2019
Biobanding: A New Paradigm for Youth Sports and Training, Pediatrics 2018
🚨 Breaking News
World’s biggest bio-banding festival takes place across Club Academy Scotland
Video here
Need an app to calculate and monitor growth and maturity and help with creating biobanded groups? Check out this resource guide on Growth and Maturity Apps
Want to take a deep dive into growth and maturation of young athletes? See these related resources from IronMan Performance