Perceived Time, Frequency, and Intensity of Engagement and Older Masters Athletes' Subjective Experiences

Abstract

Masters athletes are a unique group of older adults whose experiences may provide valuable insights into the role of sport for successful aging. The purpose of this study was to explore whether masters athletes' social and psychological experiences vary with their time, frequency, and perceived exertion in training and competition. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 men and women older masters athletes, aged 50–79 years (M = 66), who were active at the competitive level across a variety of sports (e.g., volleyball, curling, rowing, dragon boating, running, swimming, and basketball) at the time of the study. Results indicate that all participants experienced social and psychological benefits from engaging in masters sport. Only the high-frequency engagement subgroup (participating five to seven times per week in training and/or competition) reported social downsides, in terms of missing time with family and friends outside of masters sport. However, some participants described the positive family support (e.g., spouse who endorses sport participation) that overrides some of the social costs. These findings have implications for realizing positive experiences with minimal engagement in masters sport, yet an apparent threshold of participation beyond which negative social consequences may be experienced. This is an important consideration for the design and promotion of sport for older adults.

“Older, Faster, Stronger”: The Multiple Benefits of Masters Sport Participation

“…The current study provides a springboard for such further investigation. In addition, future research may explore the potentially multiple drawbacks or costs of masters sport participation, such as the financial expense (Horton et al, 2019;Son & Dionigi, 2020) or excessive training (Baker et al, 2010;Dionigi et al, 2012;Stevenson, 2002) and negative social consequences, such as less time for family, friends and social activities due to increased time spent in sport (Deck et al, 2021), and how they may vary by age and gender. This will enrich understanding of masters sport as a leisure aspect of the active aging discourse.…”

“…Masters athletes tend to be more privileged individuals, with higher education and socioeconomic levels, and primarily Caucasian (Gaymen et al, 2017). Such barriers to participation must also be understood and addressed (Appleby & Dieffenbach, 2016;Baker et al, 2010;Deck et al, 2021;Dionigi, 2016;Son & Dionigi, 2020;Stevenson, 2002). For example, the financial barriers of sport for those with a lower socioeconomic status (Dionigi & Gard, 2017;Gard et al, 2018), or the cultural stereotypes for both age and gender for older adult women, who faced lack of opportunities in sport during their youth and continue to face similar barriers at an older age (Horton et al, 2018) must be addressed.…”

“…Research to date on the experiences of masters athletes has also identified drawbacks or costs of participation. Although not the focus of this paper, it is notable that there is a range of potential negative consequences of masters sport participation (e.g., Deck et al, 2021;Son & Dionigi, 2020;Stevenson, 2002). Financial expense can be a factor as some sports have high costs for equipment or facility use, and a number of costs may be incurred with travelling for competition, potentially limiting participation more privileged individuals (Dionigi, 2016;Horton et al, 2018;Son & Dionigi, 2020).…”

“…Physical and psychological downsides such as injuries and burnout are also evident and may be more likely with excessive training (Baker et al, 2010;Horton et al, 2018). With excessive training there may also be social downsides to this aspect of active aging: an increased obsession or increased training load may leave less time for family, friends and social events (Appleby & Dieffenbach, 2016;Baker et al, 2010;Deck et al, 2021;Dionigi et al, 2012). In addition to some of these drawbacks for sport participants, researchers have also noted a number of barriers to participation in sport.…”

Body Composition of Master Swimmers before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study

“…For example, the minimum age required is 35 years old for both track and field competitions and in canoe/kayak rivalry [7,8]. Master athletes usually exercise more than 5 h per week, participating in approximately four training sessions [9]. Thus, Master athletes are characterized by much higher levels of maximal aerobic capacity and skeletal muscle metabolic fitness than their sedentary peers [10].…”