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How do older adults learn to tell a "new" story about, through, and with the body? We know that narratives are embodied, lived and central to the process of meaning-making--and as such, they do not lie in the waiting for telling, but are an active part of everyday interaction. Telling stories about ourselves to others is one way in which our identity may be performed, and is intricately connected to the social contexts within which it occurs. Narrative analysis, therefore, requires attention to stories told in both structured research settings as well as within everyday talk and interaction. Drawing upon data generated during a 14-month ethnography of a women's-only running group in the UK, we use the concepts of "big stories", "middle stories" and "small stories" as an analytical framework to demonstrate the dynamic nature of identity and narrativity in context [Bamberg, M. (2006). "Biographic-narrative research. 'quo vadis'? A critical review of 'big stories' from the perspective of "small stories". In K. Milnes, C. Horrocks, B. Roberts, & D. Robinson (Eds.), "Narrative, memory and knowledge: Representations, aesthetics and contexts" (pp. 63-79). Huddersfield: University of Huddersfield Press; Bell, N. J. (2009). "Making connections: Considering the dynamics of narrative stability from a relational approach." "Narrative Inquiry," 19(2), 280-305; Freeman, M. (2006). "Life 'on holiday'? In defense of big stories." "Narrative Inquiry," 16(1), 131-138; Georgakopoulou, A. (2006). "Thinking big with small stories in narrative and identity analysis." "Narrative Inquiry," 16(1), 122-130]. Alongside examples of stories in each dimension, we untangle the complexity of becoming active for mid- and later life participants. We discuss the analytical possibilities of taking a relational approach to narrative analysis, changing the focus from the (oft studied) structural properties of narrative to narration as a "process" [De Fina, A., & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008). "Analysing narratives as practices." "Qualitative Research," 8(3), 379-387; Sools, A. (2013). "Narrative health research: Exploring big and small stories as analytical tools." "Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness & Medicine," 17(1), 93-110]. In doing so, we explore the "hows" of identity change (or narrative identity creation)--offering insight into complex and shifting body-self relationships and their accompanying uncertainties, ruptures and discontinuities.

Drawing on life history data generated from interviews with young athletes at an English university, this paper explores the narrative maps provided to them by older team members and the ways in which these influence perceptions of self-ageing. Three possible selves associated with mid-life emerged from the analysis for detailed focus. These are the preferred self ("Almost past it"), the feared self ("Hanging on") and the reluctant self ("Stepping aside"). The implications of each of these selves for the ageing experience are considered. Finally, some suggestions are made as to how the narrative resources of young athletes might be expanded. (Contains 1 figure and 2 notes.)

Drawing upon interviews with 22 young athletes aged on average 20 years, this article examines the ways in which they used observations of the ageing and old age of their family members to shape the ways in which they anticipated the ageing of their own bodies. The representations of the bodies, roles and lifestyles of their parents and grandparents provided 'narrative maps' that held pre-presentations of the young athletes' possible futures. They included both preferred and feared scenarios about middle age and old age, particularly the opportunities they would have for maintaining physical activity and the appearance of their bodies. The young men's and the young women's narrative maps differed: the women's accounts of old age gave more prominence to the loss of appearance, while the men's focused more on the loss of control and independence. The informants were highly sensitised to the biological dimensions of ageing which, for them, meant the inevitable decline of the material body, especially in performance terms, and both genders recognised social dimensions, particularly that responsibilities to jobs and family would constrain the time available for exercise. To understand more fully young athletes' experiences of self-ageing, and the family as a key arena for the embodied projection and inscription of ageing narratives, further research is required. KEY WORDS--inter-generational family relationships, narrative maps, possible selves, gender, body, young athletes, self-ageing.

In the context of an increasing clinical need to better support self-management for people living with long-term health conditions an interest in the role of social networks has emerged. Given that sport participation often provides opportunities for social engagement, a space to explore self-management at the intersection of medical sociology and the sociology of sport has opened up. This article presents findings from an exploratory qualitative study with organ transplant recipients who have participated in Transplant Games events – national and international multi-sport competitions for organ transplant recipients. Our findings illustrate how sport-based social networks serve as resources for health-related knowledge, provide participants with additional affective support and help shape health expectations for the future. Although sport-based social networks were seen as an overwhelmingly positive resource for our participants, it is plausible that harmful unintended consequences could arise for patients with existing self-management issues. As such, it is recommended that people seeking to use sport as a tool to enhance illness self-management should consider the various and powerful ways that social networks can be impactful and anticipate the potential consequences accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing body of research signaling the health and wellbeing benefits of being in blue space. Here, we advance this intellectual agenda by critically examining perceptions and experiences of coastal blue space among residents of a disadvantaged, predominantly African American community who report limited engagement with their local coastal blue space, despite beachgoing being considered mainstream by a previous generation. Drawing on focus group data and sensitized to a range of theoretical perspectives aligned with race, space, and social class, we advance theoretical and empirical knowledge pertaining to blue space engagement. In doing so, we demonstrate the need for more critically informed, theoretically appropriate research in this area, which connects individual stories of the sea to the wider historical, social, and political settings in which relationships with blue space are framed and (re)produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the authors construct a story of one woman's (Justine’s) experience of learning to run within the context of a beginners group. Building on existing scholarship on narrative, aging, and physical activity, this work is part of a larger ethnographic project examining subjective accounts of the physically active aging body across the life course. Concerned with often simplistically linear problems of representation, the authors present a messy text that represents the complex and fluid nature of Justine’s embodied tale. The aim is to show the intersection of biographical (storied) identity with health behavior choices and to interrogate the process of challenging narrative foreclosure. By using the emerging genre of messy text as a creative analytic practice, the authors avoid prompting a single, closed, convergent reading o f Justine’s story. Instead, they provoke interpretation within the reader as witness and expand the ways in which research on aging and physical activity has been represented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical activity (PA) is an important lifestyle component of long-term health management for organ transplant recipients, yet little is known about recipients' experiences of PA. The purpose of this study was to shed light on this experience and to investigate the possible implications of PA in the context of what is a complex patient journey. Phenomenological analysis was used to examine interviews with 13 organ transplant recipients who had taken part in sporting opportunities posttransplantation. Findings illuminate how participants' experiences of PA were commonly shaped by the transliminal nature of being an organ transplant recipient as well as a sense of duty to enact health, self-care, and donor-directed gratitude. This analysis underlines the potential role of PA in supporting organ transplant recipients' attempts to live well following transplantation and makes novel connections between PA and our existing knowledge about challenges related to identity, survivorship, obligation, and patient empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the authors consider the different approaches that can be used to examine the relationship between physical activity and aging. They propose that much is to be gained in our awareness of this dynamic relationship by drawing on multiple forms of knowledge that can generate diverse understandings regarding the impact of physical activity on physiological, psychological, and social aspects of aging. Accordingly, 3 different approaches to understanding the older physically (in)active body are presented. These are categorized as (a) the objective truth about the aging, physically active body; (b) the subjective truth about the aging, physically active body; and (c) "tales" about the aging, physically active body. The key underpinnings, strengths, and weaknesses of each approach are outlined. A number of examples from the literature are also offered to demonstrate where and how each approach has been used to contribute to our understanding about older people and physical activity. The more thorough, multidisciplinary, and wide spanning our knowledge of the aging, active body is, the more informed we might become in every dimension of its existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the authors construct a story of one woman's (Justine’s) experience of learning to run within the context of a beginners group. Building on existing scholarship on narrative, aging, and physical activity, this work is part of a larger ethnographic project examining subjective accounts of the physically active aging body across the life course. Concerned with often simplistically linear problems of representation, the authors present a messy text that represents the complex and fluid nature of Justine’s embodied tale. The aim is to show the intersection of biographical (storied) identity with health behavior choices and to interrogate the process of challenging narrative foreclosure. By using the emerging genre of messy text as a creative analytic practice, the authors avoid prompting a single, closed, convergent reading o f Justine’s story. Instead, they provoke interpretation within the reader as witness and expand the ways in which research on aging and physical activity has been represented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]