Perspectives on Older Adults in Physical Activity and Sports

Older Canadian adults are showing increasing interest in physical activity participation as evidenced by the appearance of masters’ levels in sport clubs and the proliferation of seniors programs in a wide variety of settings. Thousands of seniors are participating in Seniors’ Games competitions across Canada, and in this late‐life pursuit of excellence, they seek quality instructional help and supervision. There has been increasing demand for instructors for the older age groups. Surprisingly, little attention has been paid to instructional issues by the various professional groups most likely to be involved with seniors. This paper addresses the problems and challenges facing prospective leaders and educators of the older adult in physical training and acknowledges the pitfalls of exercise leaders who are inexperienced in dealing with aging adults. Citing real‐life experiences and observations across a number of high‐performance and vigorous exercise settings, this article illuminates some of the difficulties facing both physical educators and older adults and confirms the idea that educational gerontology is often a matter of mutual learning. Overall, a problem of everyone underestimating the potential for learning in the later years, particularly with respect to physical learning, is likely to reinforce stereotypes of frailty as a natural outcome of aging processes.