When it Comes to Athletic Greatness, Advantage Younger Siblings

Many older siblings thrive too, of course, but data and logic show a harder path.

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Does this dialogue sound familiar to anyone else?

Older Kid (Sometimes): You sold the clip. You were so slow on the court today, it looks like you just ate a triple cheeseburger. Your team is ass. Our team was so much better than yours at this age.

*Proceeds to break down how much better player by player*

Younger Kid (Sometimes): Shut up.

*Walks away, in tears, silently beelines to the nearest video game controller*

….

Older Kid (Other Times): You were cookin’ out there. Let’s go!!! You, Asher, and Ezra have the best vibes.

*Cheered way louder than any one else at the game*

Younger Kid (Other Times): Sui. Wanna play Madden when we get home?

Sibling rivalry is no joke, especially when the siblings play the same sport. In school, one kid may achieve a higher reading level than another at a certain age or thrive on some random standardized test. But academics come with many layers. One kid may possess a better memory, while their sibling finds deeper meaning in text. There’s a lane for everyone.

Sports are more quantitative. Which sibling scored more goals? Which kid’s team played in a higher tier? Who ran a faster mile at age 8? Which sibling has a higher free throw percentage?

You know what really doesn’t help these silly quibbles? Outside noise.

My kids, three years apart in age, have had multiple coaches who know them both mutter that the younger siblings are always better. (They then nonchalantly walk away while I have to deal with the emotional aftermath of such a bold statement.)

The first time I heard it, I didn’t give it much thought. I certainly don’t think of one of my kids as superior. They are both doing just fine among their respective age group. Nor do see that as an obvious trend in my circles. But curiosity eventually won and turns out there is actual data to support the notion of younger sibling superiority, at least when we’re talking elite athletes .

“Studies suggest that first-born children are motivated to learn while younger siblings are motivated to win,” wrote Olympic rower Annie Vernon in her book, Mind Games.

One study, a 2012 research paper from Joe Baker of the University of Toronto and Melissa Wilson of Swimming Australia, examined 229 athletes from Australia and Canada across 36 sports and three skill levels. The study found a significant birth order effect, with elite athletes far more likely to be later-born children compared to non-elite and pre-elite athletes.

Of course every family has a different dynamic, and kids can be wired a gazillion ways. Many athletes are only children. Many first-born kids go on to become world-class athletes. But there is something to be said for Serena and Venus Williams both evolving into elite tennis players but the younger Serena becoming the best to ever play to sport.

Or Dell Curry’s kids making it to the NBA but the younger Steph evolving into the league’s MVP twice and collecting four championships. His older brother,Seth, while no slouch, was undrafted and has floated around from the D league to the NBA, largely as a bench player.

These are just two of the endless examples of younger sibling superiority in the top flight sports landscape. When it comes to the rationale behind younger sibling superiority, interestingly enough, natural superior athleticisism is nowhere to be found. In fact, the older sibling is often the secret sauce.

Having an older sibling who plays sports can accelerate physical and psychological skills. A Premier League league study found that a key distinction between a group of 16-year-olds offered scholarships into their academies and those released was time spent on informal play. Each group had the same number of training hours but those offered scholarships were said to have double the informal play time (meaning casual play outside of their club environment). Sharing a sport with a sibling is the easiest path to informal play. Younger siblings often benefit from “playing up” with their older siblings, learning resilience and high-level tactical decision-making at a far more rapid pace than a child with no older sibling. Those children may have peers or parents to play with but it’s not the same dynamic.

There’s a level of toughness and drowning out the noise that comes from being the younger sibling. Whether it’s being berated by an older sibling, as noted in the embarrassing example from my kids above, or hearing the outside world heap praise on an older sibling while dismissing you, younger siblings are given an early shot at developing emotional regulation. What a skill to have mastered ahead of puberty when hormones turn everyone into a hot mess.

It’s no wonder that little siblings also take more risks when it comes to sports. A study in the journal, ‘Personality and Social Psychology Review’ analyzed performance data on 700 brothers who played Major League Baseball. The paper found that younger brothers were 10.6 times more likely to attempt the high-risk activity of base stealing and 3.2 times more likely to steal bases successfully. In addition, younger brothers were significantly superior to older brothers in overall batting success, including two measures associated with risk taking.

Then there’s the factor that doesn’t pop up in any journal. It may be the biggest. Younger siblings get to benefit from our mistakes as sports parents. It may be too late for an older kid who succumbed to the pressure of specialization to recapture the joy she once felt. But we can protect the younger sibling’s desire to be a multisport athlete. With our guidance, they can avoid subpar programs and coaches that we know are subpar because the older sibling had to serve as guinea pig. We have a much keener sense on how to help them balance sports and schoolwork. On a more acute level, we can guide the younger sibling on everything from proper post-game fuel to footwear. Perhaps everything was perfect for the older child but more often there was some trial and error with an older child’s sports journey. There’s resiliency to be had for both parent and child when blindly entering the youth sports sphere. But knowledge is power. So is having an older sibling who is your both your biggest rival and greatest mentor.