Athletes and Father Time

Source: http://images.musictimes.com/data/images/full/53124/kobe-bryant-24-of-the-los-angeles-lakers-waves-to-the-crowd-after-the-game-against-the-philadelphia-76ers-on-december-1-2015-at-the-wells-fargo-center-in-philadelphia-pennsylvania-note-to-user-user-expressly-acknowledges-and-agrees-that-by-downloading-and.jpg?w=775

Kobe’s Last Visit to Philly

Yesterday, my basketball idol, Kobe Bryant, announced his decision to retire at the conclusion of the 2015-2016 NBA season. As I read his speech, the following words stuck out to me the most: “My mind can handle the grind but my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.” One of the main questions that popped up was why couldn’t athletes play after a certain age, particularly 40. Why 40? As I scan through professional sports, all the athletes I admire all retired at the age of 40, or very close to it: Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan, Steve Nash. For the athletes that continue to play within the old age range, such as Paul Pierce or Payton Manning, their performance has drastically declined within a year. I decided to investigate this topic to find answers. Can athletes avoid old age?

This article caught my attention because the author proposed that the declination of athletic performance is not in part to the aging athlete’s oxygen intake (for endurance), rather, lack of psychological motivation and systematic exercise. A study that was mentioned in the article was conducted by Dr. Greg Heath along with his co-workers in Missouri in which sixteen highly trained masters athletes (Masters athletes are athletes over 50) were compared with sixteen “young” athletes (Men ages 18-27) on their VO2max, which is the maximum volume of oxygen an individual can use. Both types of athletes were matched based upon their training exercise/regime. Also, 18 untrained men were also observed in this study to be the controls. The results showed “older athletes who maintained constant challenging levels of training lost only 5% of their VO2max per decade, about half of the typical decline.” The aging athletes are not necessarily experiencing a significant oxygen decline that is enough for their bodies to be physically inactive to participate in athletic events. (Owen Anderson) In addition, the results of the study supports the idea that masters athletes and young athletes are similar physically. (after checking their muscle-fat ratio, oxygen intake) 27 years after the study, “one of the subjects, a former world record-holder named Fred Wilt, had continued to train and compete over this period, and his VO2max reduction was only 0.41 ml/kg/min per year – less than half the rate of decline experienced by his more slothful peers” who did not continue to engage in physical activity. (Owen Anderson) From the study’s conclusions, the researchers proposed the idea that psychological change leads to drastic decline in athletic performance. After reading the study, it makes sense. It is evident that athletes tend to stop working as hard once they hit a certain age, such as veterans in professional sports.  The correlation is definitely there but we cannot assume that the correlation mentioned means causation. Reverse causality should also be considered. Can it be that drastic decline of performance causes athletes to lose motivation? It is evident that my idol Kobe Bryant has had a string of terrible games prior to his announcement to retire. Maybe he is not physically done, but mentally stressed. Maybe a psychological toll which made him consider retirement. There must be more factors that come into play for the relationship between aging athletes and performance. The study was an observational study and the conclusions based on the results were extremely definitive. However, there are some flaws to this experiment. To make stronger conclusions, I would have manipulated variables such as the athletes and the amount chosen to take this experiment.16 subjects seems meager and does not seem to eliminate the chance that all the subjects are physically equal to 18-27 year old athletes. Most importantly, the subjects tested were also mostly consisting of endurance sports. Though most sports require stamina, there needs to be testing on speed, agility, and reaction time lost through aging. The study also did not mention if it was randomization or double blind trails. More studies should be done to support the results. 

Athletes are humans. It is destined that we will all age eventually. Below are some listed changes bodies will go through as we age:

  • Bones become less dense which leads to higher probability of fractures.
  • Cartilage that protects and cushions the joints are limited due to the extensive amount of use throughout the years.
  • Muscle Strength decreases
  • Eye problems – “Loss of near vision, Need for brighter light, Changes in color perception, The pupil of the eye reacts more slowly” (John E. Morley)
  • Recovery Rate takes much longer, which is essential to performance in athletes going through a long and tedious season
Master Athletes

Master Athletes

In the Dallas Bed Rest and Training Study, five healthy men in their 20s were taken as subjects and were told to spend three weeks of their summer resting in bed. “Testing the men before and after exercise, the researchers found devastating changes that included faster resting heart rates, higher systolic blood pressures, a drop in the heart’s maximum pumping capacity, a rise in body fat, and a fall in muscle strength,” – all changes a body would go through with old age. The scientists then put the subjects on an exercise program in which did more than reverse the “deterioration brought on by bed rest, since some measurements were better than ever after the training.” (Harvard Health Publications) 30 years later, the subjects were tested again. This time, all of them had showed signs of old age- weight gain, decrease in metabolism. Through exercise, the men were able to “reverse 100% of the 30-year age-related decline in aerobic power. Even so, exercise did not take the men back to their peak performance after 8 weeks of intense training at age 20. The clock does tick, after all, but exercise did slow the march of time.” This study was an observational and randomized control trial. Though it does not mention if the men were selected blindly, all 5 men were healthy 20 year olds and the study was well conducted. This study makes me see the credibility of the idea that old age will eventually happen to everyone. Yes, it can be stalled, but we will never be our 20 year old selves.

All in all, athletes can stall Father Time, but the effects of old age will catch up. Every sport demands different characteristics or skill. (Reaction time for volleyball, Strength and agility for football, endurance for biking) As athletes get older, in my case, Kobe Bryant, their bodies are unable to recover and compete at the level demanded of them. Although my first study proves that master athletes are similar physically to the young athletes, it did not test the aerobic ability of each individual, rather, stamina/endurance. Given that the NBA season is a strenuous 82 games and physically demands athletic ability, skill cannot be the sole factor of successful play in basketball. Sure, athletes can stall the aging process with proper fitness and nutrition, but it depends on what their sport is requiring them to do. Sad to say, it is time for Kobe to retire. 

Works Cited