ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the career length as it relates to maintaining performance at the expert or professional level. While data on career length and expertise have historically been distorted by a number of social factors, the evidence suggests that this may be decreasing, particularly as the cost of coach/management irrationality is revealed by systematic analysis. Masters sport represents an important model for studying the influence of advancing age on skill maintenance, and the available research provides intriguing data on the extent to which performance can be maintained at late ages. A myriad of social factors interact with biological limits to influence performance measures across the age spectrum, from our youngest citizens to our very oldest. The sporting world has experienced substantial increases in participation by older athletes; participation rates in events like the World Masters games have grown considerably since their inauguration in 1985.
