Full Description
Named a 2023 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
In Sports and Aging a wide-ranging group of physically active people, including many scholar-athletes, fifty years and older, discuss sports in the context of aging and their own athletic experiences. This collection of personal accounts includes a spectrum of contributors across genders, social classes, and racial, ethnic, national, religious, and educational backgrounds to determine whether there are any common characteristics that can promote long, happy, healthy, and meaningful lifespans.
In this fresh look at the role of sports in the process of aging, contributors range from a ninety-six-year-old great-grandmother to a former Olympian. Many contributors have used education to better their lot in life or to find solace and meaning in the service of others. For all, sports or physical activity has enhanced their health and temperament and provided a sense of community.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Gerald R. Gems
1. A History of Aging
Gerald R. Gems
2. Life with a Purpose
Frances Gems
3. Looking Back
Tony Kaleth
4. It Was Not Easy!
Maha Ebeid
5. My Life of Physical Activity and Fitness
James R. Coates Jr.
6. Aging, Antiaging, and Infinite Youth in Taiwan
Chia-Ju Yen
7. A Matter of Perspective
Samuel O. Regalado
8. Dance until the Music Stops
Tansin Benn
9. Carpe Diem
Luciane Lauffer
10. Aging as an Adventure
M. Ann Hall
11. An Antiaging Sporting Life in an Aging Society
Kohei Kawashima
12. Going Strong
Gary Osmond
13. On a Meaningful Life with Sport as a Permanent Companion
Else Trangbæk
14. Making a Difference
Janice J. Crosswhite
15. Fit, Fun, Forever Young
Gertrud Pfister
Conclusion
Gerald R. Gems
Appendix: Aging Project Survey
Contributors
Index
