TY - JOUR
T1 - “Gymnasts Are Like Wine, They Get Better With Age”
T2 - Becoming and Developing Adult Women’s Artistic Gymnasts
AU - Barker-Ruchti, Natalie
AU - Kerr, Roslyn
AU - Schubring, Astrid
AU - Cervin, Georgia
AU - Nunomura, Myrian
PY - 2017/7/3
Y1 - 2017/7/3
N2 - Women’s artistic gymnastics is commonly understood to require early entrance and intense training during childhood. Most gymnasts retire before reaching adulthood. In recent years, the gymnast population at the highest level has “aged.” In this article, we adopt a socio-pedagogical perspective to explore the training contexts, pubertal development, and associated learning 10 older elite gymnasts reported. We develop a cultural perspective of gymnast development and show that transitioning through puberty allowed the gymnasts to extend their careers. Support from their coaches and parents, self-reflective time, and genetic predispositions facilitated the transitioning. Through this, gymnasts gained control over self, body, relationships, and performance. In conclusion, we provide implications for gymnast development practice.
AB - Women’s artistic gymnastics is commonly understood to require early entrance and intense training during childhood. Most gymnasts retire before reaching adulthood. In recent years, the gymnast population at the highest level has “aged.” In this article, we adopt a socio-pedagogical perspective to explore the training contexts, pubertal development, and associated learning 10 older elite gymnasts reported. We develop a cultural perspective of gymnast development and show that transitioning through puberty allowed the gymnasts to extend their careers. Support from their coaches and parents, self-reflective time, and genetic predispositions facilitated the transitioning. Through this, gymnasts gained control over self, body, relationships, and performance. In conclusion, we provide implications for gymnast development practice.
KW - Athlete development
KW - cultural perspective of learning
KW - horizons for action
KW - horizons of learning
KW - puberty as career transition phase
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84992530604&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00336297.2016.1230504
DO - 10.1080/00336297.2016.1230504
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84992530604
SN - 0033-6297
VL - 69
SP - 348
EP - 365
JO - Quest
JF - Quest
IS - 3
ER -