This semester I’m teaching a class at UVa, Lifespan Development. It’s a neat class, looking at how we grow and change across the lifespan. How do babies learn to move? How do we learn to focus? What is intelligence? How do our bodies change as we age? How would our lives be different if we grew up in a different culture? What factors contribute to longevity? Was I securely attached? Nature or nurture? We look at interesting topics each week such as physical development & health, motor & sensory development, cognitive development, emotions, identity, language, peers, parenting, attachment, schools, careers, you name it! And we look at the ways that biological, cognitive and socioemotional processes affect us and interact with each other.
Taking a lifespan approach involves looking at change over time, and believing that development continues throughout our lives. The lifespan perspective views development as lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, contextual, and as a process that involves growth, maintenance and loss, and as a co-construction of biology, cultural and individual factors. Each of us develops partly like everyone else, partly like some others, and partly like nobody else.
I think a lifespan perspective is also a great way to look at sports participation, so let’s take a look……
First of all, I hope it will be lifelong, and that we will all be physically active throughout our lives. Let’s encourage kids to try different sports, and find at least one sport that they really enjoy. As we age, it’s even more critical to be active and find ways to move. I believe there’s a sport for everybody, and every body type. Whether it’s an individual or team sport, indoor or outdoor, or activities such as yoga, biking, martial arts, hiking, rock climbing or dancing — find your joy in movement!
Sport participation is multidimensional, involving different dimensions such as the physical, social, and emotional. Physically, we learn new sport skills, and get better with our technique, motor skills & movement. Socially, we play and practice on teams or with partner, interacting with teammates and coaches. Emotionally, we experience the ups and downs of competition, “the joy of victory, and the agony of defeat” from ABC’s Wide World of Sports.
Sport participation is multidirectional, because as we learn and practice, there are times when we face challenges and struggle to get to the next level. Like life, sport growth is not always linear. There will be plateaus that we hit along the way, or times when the outcomes don’t match where we think we are, or we’re not seeing the rewards match the effort being put in. This is when we need to believe in plasticity, that we always have the capacity to change. Keep on working hard and sometimes, when you least expect it, is when our performance jumps forward to the next level.
Sport participation can be multidisciplinary, involving not only parents and coaches, but also physical therapists, trainers, nutritionists, sport psychologists, docs, and others. There are many aspects of sport, and a variety of professionals who are interested in supporting us in remaining healthy, active and happy doing it, for our whole lives.
Sport participation is contextual, in that we can view sport environments as developmental contexts. Whether playing sports on a team at school, after school, or in a community program, or adult league, sport provides a place where we can learn and grow. And we know that sports definitely involves growth, maintenance and loss. From Michael Jordan to Serena to weekend warriors, we know that as competitors we will encounter both wins and losses, highs and lows. Hopefully, sport will be a positive developmental context that teaches us important life lessons about how to compete, and win and lose in a healthy way.
And sport participation is a co-construction of biology, culture and emotional factors. For me, my sport participation was largely influenced by my culture through my family and started very young. Then, I discovered that playing sports made me feel good about myself and increased my self-esteem, while from early exposure to sport, my motor skills developed quickly. How do we start participating in sport? For some it’s biology, some kids who are tall are steered towards basketball, while some who are fast runners are encouraged to run track. For others, it’s social, because kids want to play with their friends! For others it’s health reasons, and wanting to be healthier. Whatever the reason, get your game on and remember the lifespan perspective applies to sport participation: sport participation is lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, contextual, involves gains & losses, and is biologically, culturally and socially constructed.
Play, learn, grow, life!
