age Flashcards
What does age directly affect?
A person’s physical maturity
What are the qualities that are affected by age (or physical maturity)?
- Flexibility
- Strength
- Oxygen capacity
- Skill levels
- Time it takes to recover from an injury
What is flexibility?
The range of movement around a joint
What happens to flexibility with age?
It may be quite high in a person’s teens but tends to decrease with age. This can combine with a tendency to put on weight, which can also reduce flexibility
What happens to strength with age?
It decrease as a person gets older but maximal strength does not happen until a person is fully grown
Why is weight training not recommended for certain age groups?
Because much younger people will not achieve maximal strength until they are fully grown, in their late teens or early twenties
What happens to oxygen capacity with age?
It reduces with age
Why does oxygen capacity decrease with age?
Because the heart becomes less efficient. The arteries gradually lose their elasticity, increasing blood pressure and reducing blood flow
What happens to skill levels with age?
They can improve with age and experience, as well as improving as a person grows and gets stronger
What happens the older a person gets, in general?
- They take longer to recover from injuries
- There is more chance of suffering from disorders or diseases
- There is gradual build up of wear and tear on the body
What is physiology?
The functions and processes of the human body
How does sport respond to the factor of age?
One of the most basic ways is to introduce age divisions into competitive sport
How do schools organize sport?
It is within year groups and it is very unusual for this not to happen
How do major sports organize competitions, championships and leagues?
By organizing them around age but may allow some flexibility by arranging under-14, under-16 and under-18 events where it is possible for some players to play older competitors
Why are younger people sometimes allowed to play slightly older competitors?
Because age does not always affect people in exactly the same way and some young people will physically mature quicker and be able to cope with older components
