ABSTRACT
Also, as sociologists, we were interested in the process(es) by which people arrive at their answers to these questions.
Any new “role” that we take on, a new job or a new sport, involves changes to our identity-to who we are and how we think of ourselves. Sociologists have described this process as “identity formation.” But we found that, in the case of becoming a participant in a new sport, this process actually involves a much more deliberate process of identity construction. We also found that the point at which a novice begins to think of him/ herself as a rock climber or rugby player might actually occur well before the veterans began to think of him/her as a fellow participant. In order for the new identity to be accepted, the new peers must confirm it. Thus, in becoming a member of a new group such as a sports team, two complementary processes must occur-identity construction and identity confirmation. One cannot become a full participant in a new sport without both. It should be noted that these processes seem to take place without much notice when sports are started at a young age. However, they occur in a much more obvious way when sports are taken up during the teens and young adulthood.
