Sport and Physical Activity across the Lifespan: Critical Perspectives

367 Pages·2018·3.82 MB·English

by  Rylee A. Dionigi

S P O R T & P H Y S I C A L
A C T I V I T Y A C R O S S
T H E L I F E S P A N
Critical Perspectives
Edited by
RYLEE A. DIONIGI & MICHAEL GARD
Sport and Physical Activity across the Lifespan
Rylee A. Dionigi • Michael Gard
Editors
Sport and Physical
Activity across the
Lifespan
Critical Perspectives
Editors
Rylee A. Dionigi Michael Gard
Charles Sturt University University of Queensland
Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Australia
ISBN 978-1-137-48561-8 ISBN 978-1-137-48562-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48562-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017956725
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From Rylee: To my beautiful family; Claudio, Giordano, Lorena and
Ralphie.
From Michael: To Eimear Nora Enright; the past, the present, the future.
Foreword
It is widely acknowledged that, under specific circumstances, participa-
tion in sport and physical activity may have beneficial effects for physical
and mental health, and for community and individual development.
Unfortunately, the complexity implied in those ‘specific circumstances’
tends to be forgotten, and for the last half century policy makers have
been generalising the benefits and increasingly adding functionalist bag-
gage to the idea of participation.
As Michael Sam (2009) notes, ‘Governments now have high expecta-
tions from their involvement with sport, including the prospects that it
will generate economic growth, decrease health expenditures, promote
social integration and develop national identity’ (500). In their attempts
to increase sport and physical activity participation to realise those ben-
efits, governments have encountered a wicked problem. Sport and physi-
cal activity are difficult to define (ranging from full-time high-performance
to occasional recreational play and exercise), and even more difficult to
measure; reasons for non-participation are multi-causal, and the problem
is relentless.
As a consequence, attempts to increase participation in Canada and
other countries over the last 25 years have met with little success. Public
service announcements have raised awareness, but not changed any of the
circumstances underlying non-participation. Giving increased funds to
high-performance sport so that the success of athletes will ‘inspire’ others
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to participate appears to have had an opposite effect; the prescriptive and
health-related physical activity guidelines for various age groups have
been widely ignored, and attempts to use tax credits to increase participa-
tion have been a singular failure.
Dionigi and Gard have begun to address this issue directly in this
important new collection of critical research on participation in sport
and physical activity. They have brought together scholars from a number
of countries to consider participation in sport and physical activity at
various stages of the lifespan and all of the scholars have addressed the
multi-causal aspects of participation by recognising that age intersects
with other social categories (e.g., social class, gender, Indigeneity and
sexuality) and circumstances of life (e.g., disability, parenthood and preg-
nancy) to produce the conditions under which people feel able, or not, to
participate in sport and physical activity. The authors also note the influ-
ence of early twenty-first century structural circumstances in many soci-
eties, such as growing inequality, downloading of responsibility for health
to individuals and increasing privatisation/commercialisation of sport
and physical activity opportunities.
In these circumstances, it may be interpreted as rational to choose not
to participate, especially given the ways that sport (as a highly competi-
tive ranking system) and physical activity (as a morally superior form of
bodily comparison) are often presented and represented. This collection
of work should help to drive the debate, and to set a direction for future
research, policy and practice.
Toronto, Canada Peter Donnelly
31 May 2017
Reference
Sam, M. (2009). The public management of sport: Wicked problems, challenges
and dilemmas. Public Management Review, 11(4): 499–514.
Preface
Immerse yourself in an array of theoretical and methodologically
diverse perspectives on Sport for All and health-related policy trajec-
tories from contributors who reside in Australia, Canada, the United
States of America, the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. We aim
to stimulate and support the critical thinking needs of students in
exercise or sport science, sociology, psychology, ageing, leisure stud-
ies, physical activity and health promotion, and physical education-
related degrees (at the upper graduate or postgraduate levels). Our
book will also be of particular interest to scholars in the fields of soci-
ology of sport, sociology of ageing, physical education, exercise and
health psychology, and leisure studies. Other fields that would benefit
from this book include public policy studies, health and physical
activity promotion and governmentality studies, as well as critical
public health studies.
Researchers of sport and ageing across the countries listed above will
find this edited collection useful because it brings the latest research and
insights together, legitimising sport studies as it relates to age, life transi-
tions, life extension and other intersecting factors such as class, gender,
sexuality, disability, Indigeneity and family dynamics. Overall, it high-
lights the important contribution that social scientists can make to
knowledge on individual and cultural implications of promoting Sport
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for All across the lifespan. We encourage you to question the relevance of
sport in policy, critique the potential consequences of imposing sport and
physical activity participation across all age groups, and reflect on how
words and actions can impact individuals and societies.
Bathurst, NSW, Australia Rylee A. Dionigi
Brisbane, QLD, Australia Michael Gard
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to everyone involved in making this idea for a book
become a reality. We appreciate the ongoing understanding, patience and
support from the publishers and contributors throughout this process.
We would each like to offer our personal thanks.
Rylee A. Dionigi: Thank you to my family, extended family, neigh-
bours, colleagues and friends who have politely tolerated my obsession
with completing this book. I am especially grateful to Michael—my dear
mentor and friend—for his brilliance, wisdom, uniqueness, honesty,
strength and calmness. Thank you for agreeing to be my co-editor, teach-
ing me to think more critically, giving me the confidence to lead such a
book and above all, your friendship. Without you, I would not be where
I am today with my research and thinking. Thank you to Eimear as
well—you are amazing!
Thank you to my parents Ken and Jan Leslight, for your love, under-
standing and support, regardless of which unstoppable freight train I am
riding at the time, and to my sister Mardi and my brother Ian and their
beautiful families, for listening to me talk too much, for your empathy,
love, good times and support.
Without my family to love, feed, accept, humour and play with me,
there would be no book. To my incredible Lorena (Reni), even at 11-years-
old your insightfulness, sense of social justice and critical mind help to
keep me grounded. Not to mention, your musical, literary, artistic and
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