Gertrud PfisterUniversity of Copenhagen

Losses and gains –physical activities and sports in the

life course

Topics of my presentation

• Theoretical approaches, material and methods

• Context: • Ageing discourses and policies, Denmark as example

• Getting old – circumstances of life

• Engagement of older adults in sports and physical activities -current situation

• Sport ”careers” and sporting activities in later life – results of several research projects

• Discussion and conclusion

Theoretical approaches

• Healthism - a Foucauldean perspective on health politics and policies

• Youthism in the context of (self) marketingand the current health and beauty discourses

• Ageing as a process of the life course

• Life long socialisation processes with a focuson the active ”appropriation” of opportunitiesand environments

Material and insights– Long term ”observation” of 12 women – following

their changing sport/PA practices

– 20 interviews with older adults about their ”sport biographies” and the role of sport/PA in differentphases of their lives – Denmark

– Auto-ethnographic approaches to sport interventions (indoor hockey) with older women

– Interviews with participants in team activities in several physiological studies

– Activity center project –opportunities and challenges with regard to PA of older people

Seniors in Denmark and other countries–an increasing percentage of the population

• 1,3 million older individuals and the number is increasing

• Today 16 % of the Danish population are 65 +

• 25 % will be older than 65 in 2042

• This development brings challenges – but alsoopportunities

Changes and challenges of aging

• Opportunities, activities and images of seniors have changed in the last decades decisively – at least in Western countries

• Important: differentiation

– e.g. with regard to age, gender, social and ethnicbackgrounds

• 65 + the young seniors - maybe globetrotters, volunteersor care takers of their grandchildren

• Targets of the fitness market

• 75 + a period of transition

• 85 + ”deep old age” and deathcome close

Discourses• Ageism – stereotypes about older persons and

discriminations (e.g. forced retirement)

• Youthism – glorification of youth, marginalisation of old people and the expectation to ”work” and ”invest” in a youthful appearance

• Healthism – moral imperative to be healthy(and not a burden for the wellfare state)

Discourses and practices• An active life style as a signal of compliance and a pre-

condition of health

• Motto: retiring gracefully and active aging

• Numerous and various forms of propagation of “successful aging”, e.g. many campaigns, advertisements

• In Western countries: many opportunities to be physically active – sport clubs, fitness centres, “activity centres” of municipalities (more details later)

Important factors for ”successful aging“

• Health (mental and bodily health)

• Financial resources

• Social relations and support

• Resources help to cope with effects of aging

• Policies e.g. of municipalities, governments

• Seniors are not a homogenous group (gender, ethnicity, class)

• Different groups - different circumstances of life –different opportunities and challenges to be physically active

In addition: Environment, opportunities, politics and policies

The u-bend of life

Physical activities and sport – DK as example

• Situation – seniors (60+) are physically active

• According to a representative survey of the population62 % participate regularily in PA (issue of definition ??)

• Sport for all – e.g. hiking, gymnastics, strength training, cycling, swimming, jogging, golf, spinning, dance, aerobic/zumba etc.

• Gender differences

• Women: gymnastics, dance, yoga

• Men: cycling, jogging, golf … more competitiveactivities than women

• 70+ inactive women assume that they are too old to play sports

But: One is never too old to …

Seniors – Competitions and elite sport• Master Games Movement, Summer and Winter games on

European and world levels 2009 in Sydney, 2013 Torino world games - summer editions

• 30 000 participants, many on a sport for all level

• But: Performances of old athletes are incredible, e.g. shotput 4.48 m Ruth Frith W 100, pole vault 1.25 Johnnye ValienW 85; Olga Kotelko over 750 gold medalssee the list of records Marathon with 100

Sharing insights from projects !!!

• G. Pfister & M. Sørensen Ældre og fysisk aktivitet

• (seniors and physical activities)Muligheder for Idræt og motioni København. 2008

• download rapporten

• This mapping of sport opportunities showedthat older people have a large number of options in the capital of Denmark.

Health discourses and (lack of) compliance

• Results of an interview study with women who took part in a ”team games intervention”

• Participation in the intervention – ”inspired” by healthism

• All knew health recommendations and all had examples of negative effects of an inactive life style

• None of the women had previously managed to comply

• Knowledge does not necessarily lead to ”compliance” –there are numerous excuses for not being active

• Reason: Physical activities, mostly jogging or fitness, arenot experienced as rewarding per se

• One of the most important reasons for the participation in the intervention was the obligation !

Active Ageing –Exploring Sport Biographies

• It can be assumed that current sport related skills and practices depend on previous engagement in and experiences with sport and exercises– i.e. on sport biographies

• ”Sport biographies” can be explored via accompanying research or retrospectively

• Main focus is on the development of ”sporthabits” and the causes of engagingin sport of dropping out

Exploring sport biographies

• Several studies1. Interviews with 30 older adults (half of themwere physically active)

– Physical activity patterns

– Experiences with and memories about PE

• 2. ”Accompanying” women’s lives and sport activities with ”ethnographic” methods

• 3. Participant observation in a ”hockey intervention” with middle aged women and interviews

Sport socialisation and sporting memories of older adults in Denmark

• Aim of the project was

• to gain an in-depth insight into and an understanding of the factors and processes which support or prevent an active lifestyleof Danish adults- socialisation was a focus

• to explore the sport biographies of active and matched inactive men and women (55 to 65) of the Danish middle class.

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Methods

• Semi-structured interviews which includednarrative parts

• Time plan of a ”normal” week

• Time line of sporting activities in the life course

• Projective techniques – telling stories aboutpictures of their choice, e.g. a picture of a sunny meadow, a mountain, etc.

• Reflections about various sporting scenarios

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Interview Questions

• Levels of satisfaction with the body, self concepts, and current attitudes, evaluations and practices with regard to sport and PA.

• Current situation (among others, work, leisure activities, everyday life, health)

• “Sport biographies” and sport-related socialisation processes, the positive and negative experiences during sport and physical activities, “turning points” leading to inactivity

• Attitudes, opinions and experiences with PE

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Procedures• Qualitative content analysis

– Development of a system of categories

– Coding of the text with the help of atlas.ti

• Messages of the text are assigned to categories

• This allowed us to detect patterns

• Hermeneutical interpretation

• Comparison of the statements with other sources (e.g. curricula, reports, pictures etc.)

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Results – the sport active group

• Sport-biographies showed a red thread, mostly there was a main sport

• Engagement in this sport, e.g. football, swimming, tennis, started mostly early in life

• The ”main sport” was often accompanied by other activities, e.g. jogging, and/or ”holidaysports” such as skiing or hiking

• The choices of sport were gendered

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Experiences with/in PE

• 13 of the 15 sport active informants had positive attitudes to and memories about PE

• Two exceptions – from hate to love?– JB skipped two classes, was by far the youngest

student and could not keep up in sport – he hated it –four years in the US … he became a good and engaged sport student

– IS, short sighted, could not catch a ball, hated PE, later she became a teacher … She had goodinstructors, learnt to deal with her problems and started to like sport.

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The importance to be good in sport

• The example of JB and IS show that opinions aboutPE depended to large degree on skills and performance/success

• 6 of the sport active informants had been ”sport stars”

• 5 had been (very) good in some disciplines• 3 were at least ok • 2 did not provide exact information about their sport

skills• To be „good in PE“ was the beginning of a „sport

career“

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A short first conclusion

• PE provided positive experiences for the members of the ”active group”. They learnedskills, had fun and gained appreciation.

• There are clear correlations between sport skills, attitudes toward PE and life long sporting activities.

• It can be assumed that PEencourages good students to engage in sports/PA in later life.

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The inactive group• 9 of the 15 informants were never active, 2

dropped out after a longer period of activity

– A long time and addicted female handball playerbecause of injuries

– A man who loved sports in his youth because hededicated himself to bridge

• Some inactive informants did not play sport because of other interestssuch as music

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Inactivity and PE• Only 2 of the 15 members of this group liked

PE - the two above mentioned drop-outs.

• 11 did not like/hated PE, only one of themwas good in sports, the others were bad in sport in general or in someactivities/exercises, quite a few were bullied

• Some were afraid of balls, apparatus (woodenhorse), swimming, competitions and bullying!!

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Gendered memories

• Men and women remembered different sports.

• They reported differently about performances.

• Skills in sport seemed to have been more

important for boys/men than for girls/women.

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Quotes• Ball games were very hurtful, I was always

always selected last (man).

• My PE teacher was just crazy, a hystericalwomen. All she did was shout (woman).

• As a thick child you had a bad time, not only in the gym hall but also in the changing rooms(woman).

• In my class, there was always bullying, and PE was hell, here the teachers did not have a lotof control (man).

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More quotes

• I hated everything, I was afraid to get hit by a ball, and swimming in the cold water wastorture (woman).

• I felt always inferior, as a klutz – and I knew that the PE teacher thought this too – it was not enough for her that the students participated, she expected us to be good (woman).

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Importance of experiences in childhood and youth

• The statements of the interviewees indicatethat PE played an significant role in theirsporting biographies

• Experiences in PE encouraged or discouragedbeing physically active/playing sports

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Followingwomen’s (sporting) lives

• In 2000, I started a project by ”following” the ”sporting careers” of 12 women of my age group, some are friends, others aquaintances

• They were active in various sports when I startedthis ”project”, they enjoyed their activities and managed to continue in spite of variousproblems, e.g. illness

• After 10 years, I finished this ”project” and wrotean article about my and their experiences

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A follow up of the project

• Telephone talks with the project participants (nowbetween 60 and 70 years of age) showed:

• Three are more or less physically inactive; two of them go regularly for a walk.

• Reasons: The sport partners of 2 women stopped. XX had to give up basketball as her team dissolved, the former player gained a lot of weight

• Seven are still active, but some have changed their activities, e.g. took up golf instead of tennis.

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Participation in a floorball intervention

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• Middle aged women

• Floorball intervention in the context of a physiological project

• I was a participant observer

• Interviews

• Statements told a lot aboutcompliance and ”drop out”

Insights gained in the projectThe informants were ”targets” of healthism –widespread in DenmarkSeveral unsuccessful attempts to comply with the official activity recommendationsParticipation in the project provided the necessary”obligation” because the trainer and the team mates waited.In addition, team activities provided „flow“ and a sense of community.The women continued to play after the interventionhad ended.

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Main question

• Are there opportunities to play sport ?

• Yes and no – there are many sport programsbut they do not seem to attract people whoare not intrinsically interested and involved in sport

• The following examples provide insight intothe Danish sport policies.

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Programs - examples

• Numerous programs are available

– E.g. senior sport in clubs

– Sport during the day

– Programs in many municipalities

– Sport for seniors at cultural centers e.g. ”Zumba for seniors”

– Commercial provider (e.g. fitness studios)

– Specific activity centers for seniorsdetails later

A short summary

• Reports about the situation of old people are positive.

• Happiness surveys: an increase of happiness with age

• Motto: successful aging

• This is true especially for the age group before 80 and for women who are the “fitter sex”.

• After 80 changes are gradual, but adaptation processes are possible.

39Rosalia Hasenkampf 112 years

Center for ”Team sports and health”• Research about the opportunities of team

activities to engage people in PA

• Interventions with various groups of the population, also ageing men and middle agedwomen

Activity centers of the municipalities

• These centers offer people 65 + a large varietyof programs and activities, among them, physical activities, fitness and sports

• The centers are open for everybody

• The users have a say with regard to the program

• Center for team sportsoffers games

The program is excellent, but …• Large groups of old people cannot be

reached by these centers or other programs

• In particular, people with a low social status and/or a migrant background are not attracted by these and other opportunities or do not have the ”energy” to go there

• In particular, the fear of not fitting in or not being able to keep up may deter people

Conclusion• Older adults are not sitting beside their ovens,

many put on their training shoes and participate in various programs

• Individuals with a life long activity career willcontinue to be active, maybe in new environments and programs

• Groups which are not socialized into sport and had never adopted a sporting lifestyle face barriers which they may not be able to cross

Gogos play football for Mandela

Your research

– Impact on PE on older people’s participation in sport and physical activity – commitment, establishing life-long habits

– Importance of time and how it impacts on participation across the life-course, does ‘more time’ enable older adults to do more exercise

– How health messages are internalised or not –drawing on the research on middle- aged women.

• physical activity as a career and physical activity participation can be affected by life-course transitions.

• I am interested in how physical activity can become habitual, routine, and part of older people’s ‘everyday’ lives. There is another seminar in the series that will focus on masters athletes so I am keen that this seminar will focus on the ‘everyday’ or the ‘ordinary’.

•

Seniors – do not sit anymorebehind the oven (even in Africa)

They may run a marathon

They may play football – gogos for Mandela

They may get a hip operation

Fit, fun, forever young

Opportunities and challenges of seniors in sport and physical activities

Gertrud PfisterNEXS /CHS

Senior athletes – the men are 100

Noreen

• Context – importance of physical activity in health policy, importance of physical activity across the life course and particularly in later life – ‘active ageing’ etc.

• Your research– Impact on PE on older people’s participation in sport and

physical activity – commitment, establishing life-long habits

– Importance of time and how it impacts on participation across the life-course, does ‘more time’ enable older adults to do more exercise

– How health messages are internalised or not – drawing on the research on middle- aged women.

Context

• physical activity as a career and physical activity participation can be affected by life-course transitions.

• I am interested in how physical activity can become habitual, routine, and part of older people’s ‘everyday’ lives. There is another seminar in the series that will focus on masters athletes so I am keen that this seminar will focus on the ‘everyday’ or the ‘ordinary’.

•