Abstract

This thesis employs a dialectic of continuity and change to examine the ways in which adult amateur hockey players in Montreal account for, and represent, the effects of aging. The findings are based on fieldwork conducted with three amateur hockey teams over the 2013-2014 winter season. The thesis explores what amateur hockey means to participants throughout their life course and how that meaning shifts with age. Examining how hockey fits into everyday life at different points in the life course of players reveals how participants understand their present age, and the aging process. This thesis considers both the socio-cultural and embodied aspects of the game in exploring how players sustain their engagement in hockey over time in the face of competing domestic and work commitments as well as their own aging bodies.