## 4 Discussion  
The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of the relative age effect and its influence on the performance of elite youth padel teams, with a focus on birth quartile distributions, year categories, and their correlation with team rankings in the European Junior Championships 2024. The results did not show evidence of this effect in the sample of padel players analyzed. As found by [PERSON] et al. [24] when they analyzed the birth quartile of professional padel players, our study shows that there is no relative effect of age in junior players at the 2024 European Championships either in the total number of players or when differentiating them by gender, country, or position in the ranking. These results could be related to the level of professionalization in padel. Although padel \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Boys**} & \\
**Variable** & **Position** & **Quartile** & **Category Year** \\ \hline Position & 1 & 0.188 * & 0.167 * \\ Quartile & & 1 & \(-\)0.071 \\ Category year & & & 1 \\ \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Girls**} & \\
**Variable** & **Position** & **Quartile** & **Category year** \\ \hline Position & 1 & 0.304 ** & 0.190 * \\ Quartile & & 1 & 0.043 \\ Category year & & & 1 \\ \hline \end{tabular} Note. * \(p\) < 0.05; **_p_ < 0.01.  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Correlation between the team position and the quartile and category year of the team players. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Boys**} & \\  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Rank 1–8**} & & & **Rank 9–16** & \\  & **n** & **\%** & **CSR** & **n** & **\%** & **CSR** \\ \hline Last year & 62 & 72.1  & 2.0 & 45 & 57.0  & \(-\)2.1 & 3 & 6.1  & 2.1 \\ Fourth last year & 1 & 1.4 & \(-\)0.3 & 1 & 2.0 & 0.3 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Note. r: number; % percentage; CSR: corrected standard residuals; CSR \(>\) 1.96; [FOOTNOTE:]Footnote : indicate significant differences in the Z tests for the comparison of column proportions from \(p\) < 0.05 adjusted according to Bonferroni.[ENDFOOTNOTE]  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Year category distribution between top- and bottom-ranked boys’ and girls’ teams. has not been considered a popular sport in the past, it has been acquiring international relevance in recent years. This fact may mean that there is not a talent acquisition process as developed as there is, for example, in soccer [28]. So, if padel continues to grow in popularity and significance within the sporting world, leading to more practitioners in various countries, we can expect that selection processes will be refined and players will be recruited at younger ages. This trend may facilitate the emergence of the relative age effect in this sport in the coming years. However, and in contrast to the results obtained, the literature in other sports such as basketball [29], handball [30], athletics [31], triathlon [32], volleyball [33], and tennis [34] has shown a positive effect when it comes to junior athletes. Likewise, this effect is also found in professional categories in sports such as soccer [35; 36], basketball [37], and handball [38]. A possible explanation for the non-existence of the relative effect of age in the present study could be found in the physical and anthropometric characteristics required for these sports. For example, in the talent recruitment process for basketball players, height, speed, and agility have been considered critical variables [39]. In the case of soccer, skeletal age and body composition have been relevant [40]. However, in padel, anthropometric variables such as height, weight, and body mass index do not seem to be as relevant as they are for other racquet sports such as tennis or badminton in junior categories [41; 42]. The best eight male teams (out of sixteen) were composed of a significantly higher proportion of players born in the first quartile compared to the worst eight teams. A similar trend was observed in girls, although the difference was not statistically significant.