‘Successful Aging’

The population of people living past the ages of late 60s into late 70s has grown, and with this change, comes a demand to re-frame the vision of what aging ‘successfully’ means. “Successful aging”, is the dominant view of a standard of aging in which an older person remains “capable of engaging in sports and vigorous physical activities” (Pike, 2015). It is the encouragement of physical activity later in life, challenging and extending human limitations, however it is done successfully only after evading the “limiting and marginalizing stereotypes, and negative labelling of those who are unable or unwilling to meet exercise expectations” (Pike, 2015). This involves, as well, being lucky enough to have “access to economic and cultural capital” (Pike, 2015) to do so at older ages, taking in account opportunity, economically and socially, as many minority groups lack the care facilities to provide physical opportunities for the older population. “Successful aging”, despite limiting processes, helps negate fear in the process of growing older and overall can provide “an alternative to traditional perceptions of ageing as a period of frailty and decline” (Pike, 2015).

Pike, E. C. (2015). Assessing the sociology of sport: On age and ability. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 50(4–5), 570–574. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690214550009

Image Credit:

Top 5 Physical Activities and Sports for Seniors. (n.d.). Riddle Village. https://cdn-ilbfhjn.nitrocdn.com/ENMWmIsupJaXODfqWWZTIRASPRnzEFra/assets/images/optimized/rev-61f542f/www.riddlevillage.com/wp-content/uploads/sports-for-seniors.jpg

As we work through this section of the course, we are focused on redefining how the general public looks at old age and physical activity. I chose this photo because I believe that as a society, this reflects where we are at. We know that physical activity extends to the older populations, but we keep this attitude contained to areas of smaller capacities, or less-demanding sports like croquet, or shuffleboard, mall-walking, etc. I chose this photo to show the perceptions are shortsighted, and although many older people enjoy sports of lower caliber, and as well should, there should be changing attitudes towards accepting more challenging sports and activities for older populations, as many do keep up with regular activity all their lives and start to feel alienated from this process as they get older.

Image Credit:

Sports Grants to Encourage 30,000 Over 50’s. (n.d.). Sport for Business. https://sportforbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Older-Active-Sport.jpg

Parsey, L. (2021, September 2). “The sporty type”: Why are older women being locked out of sport? And why should we care? – ILCUK. ILCUK. https://ilcuk.org.uk/the-sporty-type/

Image Credit:

Eight Great Sports for Elderly People to Try. (n.d.). Taking Care Personal Alarms. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0307/4061/1203/files/elderly-couple-yoga-compressed_480x480.jpg?v=1684939543

Women are left out from a very early age.

I believe that age discrimination is of such a high stature in reported incidents due to the reasoning of how natural the process is, and how great of an age range is being excluded. To be involved in sport is a right of all people, as from the very beginning of childhood development it is used as a way to get healthy physically, mentally, and socially with peers and oneself, and there is no reason as to why this should not prevail throughout life. As well, especially in older populations, it is reasonable to encourage social participation through sport, as this population that is being excluded reaches to people as early as 30-40s, when the age-out process begins to occur in sport. This is as unreasonably short period of time for people to be involved in sporting organizations on the regular at it contributes to the community in a number of giving ways and promotes healthy social structures overall. Especially women are left out of this, and older women particularly, because “exercise is time consuming and women on average have less spare time” (Parsey, 2021). With many women being in a caregiving role, often in later life too, and grandparent time periods of life as well, “flexible working, paid carers’ leave, and free childcare provision are just some of the ways that women with caring responsibilities can be supported to have more free time for sport” (Pike, 2015).  These barriers have been, and still are, huge obstacles for women to even begin thinking of having sport activity as a regular part of one’s life, especially in later years. This is a brutally unfair reality for older women, and for black women and minority women as well. Overall, older people are perceived as incapable of keeping up with regular exercise, let alone vigorous activity, and to do so would be a threat to social values because it potentially puts their health at risk and does not keep them at home, docile, and preserving their energy at all costs. This keeps them away from engaging “in anti-ageing activities to reduce the impact of ageing on their own bodies, and on the economy and social services” (Pike, 2015).

As well, other prejudices that come into my own mind when it comes to particularly women and older women in sport, is that, not only does the media not focus on women’s sports, nor are women sporting organizations given anywhere near the same level as respect and funding as the mens, women rights still have to go quite a ways in regards to the non-sexualization of women in sport. The prevailing vision of women’s sports excludes older women as they are not regarded as having the popular image of sporting women’s bodies, and therefore are subconsciously unwanted in popular sport.

Works Cited

Parsey, L. (2021, September 2). “The sporty type”: Why are older women being locked out of sport? And why should we care? – ILCUK. ILCUK. https://ilcuk.org.uk/the-sporty-type/

Pike, E. C. (2015). Assessing the sociology of sport: On age and ability. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 50(4–5), 570–574. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690214550009

In regards to the feminization of sports, particularly for older women, this issue is complex. There is a serious lack of participation in sport as people age, with “less than 18 per cent of people aged 65–74 are taking sufficient exercise to meet recommended guidelines, declining to 6 per cent for those aged over 75” in the UK for example. Women are living longer than men, and women have been traditionally disregarded, while carrying an unseen load that brings women to a point of having little time for themselves. Women, often in caretaker roles, bring these roles well into grandparent age, and due to time and energy restrictions of these roles, they have not been made a priority in sports, and thus have been assumed as unable to participate. This is also due to hesitations to accept women’s strength, and over assumption especially in older age, that women are too frail and weak to participate. Through these “contrasting ideologies about what is natural and normal for older people”, older women face a duel barrier to participation, and it creates an unnatural interpretation of their participation. This type of thinking has created hesitancy in going out to the gym as an older woman, seeing a trend in “older people engag[ing] in sporting activities to appear younger and meet current societal expectations” (Pike, 2015). Being put in a box of believing and being told that “ageing is something to be delayed and/or avoided rather than celebrated” (Pike, 2015) creates a huge stress and barrier for older women and the feminization of sports. Realizing these tropes and the hurtful nature of it in causing damaging inflictions for older women in participating is the very first step in accepting a wider range of people exercising regularly, as the human body male or female does not end at the ages media has traditionally shown, and women are not frail things to be hidden away.

Pike, E. C. (2015). Assessing the sociology of sport: On age and ability. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 50(4–5), 570–574. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690214550009

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The Great Pickleball Debate of Peterborough

Is Ageism at Play?

1) Describe the problem as you understand it. Read this article for background and source two other media /social media pieces.

In Peterborough, Ontario, a wide green space that is Bonnerworth Park is currently under plans for reconstruction. This reconstruction has been met with great criticism from residents of Peterborough, who are against the plans for the addition of 16 pickleball courts, an expansion on the skatepark, and area paved over for a parking lot, with the demolition of two baseball diamonds, the existing tennis courts, and green space in Bonnerworth.

The main complaints seem to be that additional pickleball courts will create “unwanted noise and light pollution” (Davis & Lothian, 2024) and that the changes “will result in reduced greenspace and that some park users are being impacted” (Davis & Lothian, 2024). This is in reference to those who use the baseball and tennis courts, and those who use the green space for recreational purposes such as kite-flying, sun-lounging, and students studying as Peterborough is a university town with many student residents. There is also concern of general city health as green space works to absorb heat and light from sun, and clears air, while providing space for emotional regulation, all in which would be lost with the amount of paving planned. Most importantly, “residents have also argued there was a lack on consultation on the project” (Davis & Lothian, 2024).

According to accounts from Peterborough residents through interviews from local newspapers and news channels, including the Peterborough Currents, Kawartha Now, and Global News, locals seem to have caused quite a stir at council meetings discussing said plans, and have announced that “if efforts fall short, they may consider taking legal action” (Davis & Lothian, 2024). While vying for the most recent update on this matter, I was unable to open the video without a subscription to GlobalTV, however, upon reading the headline, “‘Save Bonnerworth’ group in Peterborough raises $27K for potential legal action against pickleball courts project” (Save Bonnerworth), it can be assumed that locals have done quite well in banding together to stop this project. This highlights the amount of division on the matter, while, as of early April, “more than 8,000 residents have signed a petition to express their opposition to the city’s plans for Bonnerworth Park” (Pearson, 2025).

Now although the “motion to expedite consultation with local residents with 45 days…was eventually voted down 8-3” (Davis & Lothian, 2024), upon further consideration, the council has now changed plans to create “14 instead of 16 pickleball courts (including two accessible courts), arranged in a different configuration and located further north than the facility fit plan. The court are surrounded by an acoustic sound barrier on the north, south, and west sides” (Head, 2024), as sound was a primary concern, being the noisy sport, it is. While although greenspace is a concern that reaches all, ageism could be a factor in the hesitancy of some residents to accept this change, using the noise as a conduit for complaint. People are always reluctant to change, and I believe the major shortfall of this project was not enough research and community consultation was done before the acceptance of the project as green space being crucial to break up the city life is bound to be a sore spot to change.

The concerns of such a change in landscape is one to note, but questions must be drawn as to why such hesitancy has come from a space that provides a new and exciting opportunity for sport. The reasoning could lie in the prominent age group that participates in the sport of Pickleball, and of the demographics of Peterborough holding subconscious prejudices towards older sports, as a huge portion of the demographics living in the area are of opposite age, many being younger studying in a university town. The outcry as shifted plans, as there is as well “an open lawn area, measuring 32 by 53 metres (105 by 174 feet) and located south of the pickleball courts, that was not included in the original facility fit plan” (Head, 2024), and overall in a city in which “21 percent of the city’s current infrastructure is in poor or very poor condition (Pearson, 2025), there does seem to be merit to question a 4.4 million dollar project that is primarily focused on one population demographic.

2) Leaving aside the clear issues with process and priorities, consider how the older pickleball athletes/advocates are represented in the media/social media discussions of the issue. Is ageism a factor in these representations? Where do you see a neoliberal agenda around aging at work in these stories?

Pickleball, as a whole, is a new phenomenon that is growing in popularity due to its ability to be a sport for all ages, bringing in groups of people that have not had the same opportunities to be active later in life. However, depictions of pickleball players are of lesser value, and the sport itself is a sub-section of other major sports, many perceive. Combine these feelings with the fact that it a sport prominently for older populations, a hesitancy that stems from a neoliberal agenda around aging. As Pike explains, this agenda is the promotion through societal structures that “older people should use time ‘productively’ and engage in anti-ageing activities to reduce the impact of ageing on their own bodies, and on the economy and social services” (Pike, 2015). Pike explains that traditional perceptions of growing older is of a “period of frailty and decline… what is natural and normal for older people” (Pike, 2015). Opposed to respect for elders like many nations, amidst globalization practices, there is an “over-riding sense of the challenges that ageing populations present and expected behaviours of this population” (Pike, 2015). Older populations do not often have their story told, as it is assumed too early on that their story is done, a fable perpetuated by the masses as “the majority of knowledge about older people and ageing is based on denigrating stereotypes or unchallenged myths that are widespread and well entrenched in western societies” (Dionigi, Horton & Baker, 2013). This puts the older population into a box in which if they continue in sport, they feel like “a hindrance to (and pitied by) the team; and ‘stepping aside’, the reluctant self in mid-life which portrayed a self who chooses to stop playing sport…to make way for younger athletes” (Dionigi, Horton & Baker, 2013). These assumptions are damaging on the older population who must come to terms with the aging process in a world that rejects it. It is assumed through this lens, and the lens of a neoliberal agenda that action towards inclusivity for older people in sports is not of the utmost priority, as that would cost time and money better allocated for the youthful populations, especially when it is assumed that old people are weak anyway. This brutally declines any potential for self-autonomy in health as one grows older, and these perceptions unfold in ways such as the great Pickleball debate of Peterborough, where older populations are alienated for being considered in this new initiative. Instead residents are questioning as to why so much money is going here, instead of other projects or budget cuts, for example, an “elimina[tion] of municipal funding for health benefits for people on social assistance”, “$1.6 million to replace about 3.8 km worth of aging sidewalk” or “$2 million to buy four new (non-electric) transit buses” (Pearson, 2025). While these projects are worthwhile, older populations are getting a space to be active, and the rejection seems to show how older people in sport do not seem to get the consideration and funding that is so rightfully deserved, raising concerns of subconscious ableism at work.

Works Cited

Davis, G., & Lothian, R. (2024, April 9). What’s all the racket? Residents oppose pickleball courts at park in Peterborough, Ont. Global News. https://globalnews.ca/news/10402091/whats-all-the-racket-residents-oppose-pickleball-courts-at-park-in-peterborough-ont/

Dionigi, R. A., Horton, S., & Baker, J. (2013). Negotiations of the ageing process: older adults’ stories of sports participation. Sport, Education and Society., 18(3), 370–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2011.589832

Head, B. (2024, August 8). New draft plan for Peterborough’s Bonnerworth Park redevelopment has fewer pickleball courts, less parking, more greenspace | kawarthaNOW. kawarthaNOW. https://kawarthanow.com/2024/08/08/new-draft-plan-for-peterboroughs-bonnerworth-park-redevelopment-has-fewer-pickleball-courts-less-parking-more-greenspace/

Pearson, W. (2025, January 20). How else could we spend our pickleball money? A guide to Peterborough’s 2025 capital budget. Peterborough Currents. https://peterboroughcurrents.ca/analysis/how-else-could-we-spend-our-pickleball-money/

Pike, E. C. (2015). Assessing the sociology of sport: On age and ability. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 50(4–5), 570–574. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690214550009

‘Save Bonnerworth’ group in Peterborough raises $27K for potential legal action against pickleball courts project. (n.d.). Global News. https://globalnews.ca/video/10801653/save-bonnerworth-group-raises-over-27k-for-potential-legal-action-against-pickleball-courts-project