Seeking Identities

Abstract

Prus's model of career-contingency has been useful in examining the careers of elite athletes. But is this interactionist perspective useful in helping us understand the ways in which non-elite athletes (masters swimmers) become involved in and continue their involvement in their athletic careers? Data from interviews with masters swimmers (N = 29, recreational and competitive, of both genders) illustrate how their swimming involvements began through the processes of `seekership' and `solicited recruitment'. These involvements were then deepened through the processes of `conversion', `entanglements' and `reputations and identities'. These processes are understood from an interactionist perspective, which assumes that an individual is an active, self-reflexive actor, and is central in making decisions whose outcomes (intended and unintended) determine the course of his/her involvements in any number of activities.