The article explains that sport can help aging people both accept and resist the aging process. This means that while older adults may recognize physical changes and limits, staying active through sport allows them to feel strong, capable, and independent. According to Dionigi, participating in sport helps older adults maintain a sense of control over their bodies and identities. Even if performance declines, being involved in sport offers a way to stay engaged, feel purposeful, and push back against stereotypes that aging equals weakness or withdrawal. Sport provides a space to celebrate what the body can still do, rather than focus only on what it can no longer do. It can also offer connection, motivation, and a sense of routine or achievement. In this way, sport becomes a way to embrace aging realistically while resisting some of its negative social meanings.

I think age discrimination is common because society fears aging and sees it as something negative. Older people are often viewed as slow out of touch or a burden especially in a culture that values youth speed and productivity. That makes it easier for people to ignore older adults or treat them as less important. Part of me feels like it is ironic because older generations helped create the systems we live in but those same systems now leave them behind. I also think a lot of older people especially conservatives tend to call younger generations soft or sissys. They dismiss real struggles like mental health sexual assault or poverty by saying things like just toughen up or just do not get abused. That attitude is harmful and shows a lack of understanding of the challenges younger people face. So when those same people grow old and feel excluded it becomes complicated. They built a world that now makes them feel pushed aside. Still this does not excuse how society treats aging as a problem instead of seeing it as a natural and valuable stage of life that deserves respect and care. By no means am I discrediting their experience’s, but I think this being the highest reported form of prejudice is somewhat like a mirror, the ‘messed up’ world that younger generations have spent their entire lives fighting, only to be told that we are being dramatic or “it’s not that bad” is finally staring the older generations in the face and they are finally realizing they aren’t the exception.

The Nike and This Girl Can ads show inclusion in different ways. The Nike ad focuses on athletes and includes a diverse range of people in terms of race gender sexuality and ability. It features someone skateboarding through pride-colored smoke and shows strong representation of disability. However it does not include older people and focuses mainly on high performance and sport at an elite level. The This Girl Can ad is centered on women and shows people of different ages body types and abilities. It includes older women and feels more casual and relatable. The focus is not just on sport but on movement in everyday life. It shows dancing swimming jogging and more in a way that feels welcoming to all women not just athletes. Which ad is more inclusive depends on who you ask. Some may say Nike because it represents multiple identities across sport. Others may say This Girl Can because it focuses on real women and makes space for different experiences including aging. While both are inclusive in their own ways the This Girl Can ad represents age more clearly and makes movement feel open to all.

Pickleball has become a hugely popular sport trend among older adults and can be seen as a clear example of what Elizabeth Pike describes in her article. In “Assessing the sociology of sport: On age and ability,” Pike explains how aging populations are increasingly engaging in physical activity as a way to resist stereotypes of decline while also accepting the physical changes that come with aging. Pickleball fits this perfectly. It is low-impact, social, and easy to learn, making it ideal for people in the third age who want to stay active and socially connected without the pressure of intense competition. Pike also points out that older people often face cultural barriers to sport, like fear of embarrassment or lack of suitable environments. Pickleball, with its casual community feel and low physical demand, helps reduce those barriers. It promotes physical competence and social belonging, which supports Pike’s idea that sport helps people both accept and resist the aging process. While not always taken seriously in mainstream sport culture, the rise of pickleball shows a shift in how sport is defined and who it includes. It challenges old ideas that aging means decline and instead shows aging as an active and valuable stage of life.