Compensatory Strategies of Older Adults Older adults who participate in sport sometimes compensate for limitations in their movement (due, for example, to changes in the skeletal system, muscle...

Compensatory Strategies of Older Adults

Older adults who participate in sport sometimes compensate for limitations in their movement (due, for example, to changes in the skeletal system, muscle strength, or flexibility) by anticipating their next movements based on experience in playing the game. Interview an older adult who participates fluently in a sport such as tennis, racquetball, or volleyball and ask him or her to describe making such adaptations. For example, Dodo Cheney, who won tennis championships into her 80s, recounts learning to position herself closer to the net (when in her younger days she would have positioned herself at the baseline) in order to reach drop shots or short balls.