Background: Globally, the dropout rate among young athletes, which is influenced by a range of complex and interconnected factors, tends to rise significantly when adolescence starts.
Objective: The present retrospective cohort study aimed to explore the characteristics and extent of dropout in youth sports in Hungary.
Methods: We analysed the status of 409 athletes who participated in the summer editions of the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) between 2009 and 2019, assessing their athletic status 5 years later. Specifically, we examined the associations between dropout rates and factors such as gender, types of sport and relative age quartiles.
Results: Our findings reveal that dropout rates were higher in individual sports compared to team sports. Additionally, within individual sports, athletes born in the second age quartile had a slightly higher dropout rate, while those born in the third quartile experienced a slightly lower rate compared to the other quartiles.
Conclusion: These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the factors influencing dropout in youth sports.
Keywords: EYOF; RAE; dropout; junior-to-senior transition; youth sport.
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