The Matrescent Sisterhood phase: rethinking later matrescence through a mothers’ cachibol league

The concept of Matrescence frames motherhood as a psycho-social and embodied developmental process involving transformations in identity and relationships. Although scholarship recognizes matrescence as unfolding across the maternal life course, research has focused primarily on early motherhood, paying limited attention to later phases and the role of maternal communities in shaping them. Drawing on ethnographic research, this study examines Mamanet, a mothers’ amateur sports league in Israel, based on cachibol (Newcomb ball). Based on semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and thematic analysis, the study identifies a later phase in matrescence termed the Matrescent Sisterhood Phase, in which mothers rely on other mothers to establish and sustain boundaries beyond caregiving responsibilities and expectations of constant maternal availability.The findings show how participation in a mother-only league produces a space structured through shared norms, discourse, and practices. Within this setting, mothers collectively legitimize ‘Me-time’.