ABSTRACT In this study, we aimed to analyze the behavioral profile of volleyball coaches of youth categories from both the athletes’ and the coaches’ perspectives. One hundred ten athletes and 18 head coaches and assistant coaches who participated in the 2018 clubs’ Brazilian volleyball championship (Campeonato Brasileiro Interclubes de Voleibol) filled the athlete and coach version, respectively, of the Brazilian version of the Coach Behavior Scale for Sport. The reporting of the goal-setting dimension was not aligned between coaches and athletes (z = 17, p = 0.012, d = 0.78), while no differences were found for the other dimensions (physical training and planning, technical skills, mental preparation, personal rapport, and negative rapport). The mismatch between the perceptions of coaches and athletes for the goal-setting dimension may be related to an underestimation or overestimation by coaches or athletes of the team's potential and inadequate coach-athlete communication. Coaches should manage their behavior to clearly state for the athletes their personal and collective goals, avoiding frustration, and promoting more commitment with the set goals, increasing the team's chances of success.

RESUMO O efeito da idade relativa (EIR) refere-se à vantagem de atletas nascidos nos primeiros meses do período de seleção em relação a seus pares nascidos em meses posteriores no processo de seleção esportivo, que tende a favorecer atletas que encontram-se em estágio maturacional ou de desenvolvimento físico mais avançados que o de seus colegas mais jovens nascidos no mesmo ano. Esse favorecimento ocorre principalmente em esportes cuja característica física é determinante para se obter sucesso, como o voleibol, acarretando na exclusão ou abandono prematuro da modalidade por parte de talentos em potencial. O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar a presença do EIR no voleibol brasileiro de elite feminino e masculino, pela análise da distribuição do número de atletas rankeados para as Superligas masculina e feminina nascidos em cada trimestres do ano. Os resultados indicaram não haver EIR no voleibol feminino brasileiro de elite, enquanto no masculino há uma maior representação de atletas nascidos no primeiro trimestre em comparação àqueles nascidos nos 3º e 4º trimestres. Esses resultados apontam para a necessidade de se entender melhor as causas e consequências do EIR no voleibol masculino brasileiro, afim de evitar a exclusão ou abandono precoce do esporte de possíveis talentos, permitindo um maior desenvolvimento da modalidade no país.

ABSTRACT The relative age effect (RAE) refers to the advantage of the athletes born on the first months of the sport selection period compared to those born months later during such a selection process, which tends to favor athletes who are in a more developed maturational stage or those who have more advanced physical development compared to their younger counterparts born in the same year. This advantage occurs mainly in sport whose physical characteristics are determinant for obtaining success, such as volleyball, which leads to the premature exclusion or dropout of potential talents from sport. This study aims at assessing the RAE presence in Brazilian men’s and women’s elite volleyball by analysing the number of athletes who were born in each trimester of the year and had been ranked to the main national Super Leagues. The results showed no effect related to the RAE in Brazilian women’s elite volleyball, whereas there was a higher representation of male athletes born in the first trimester compared to the ones born on the 3rd and 4th trimesters. These results point to a need for better understanding the causes and consequences of RAE in Brazilian men’s volleyball in order to avoid premature exclusion or dropout of potential talents, thus, enabling an even greater development of this sport in the country.