L’abandon de la gymnastique, entre logique endogène et logique exogène

Abstract

This article studies the process of social construction of the abandonment of artistic gymnastics among ordinary amateurs. For this purpose, it relies on a survey based on numerous sequences of observations and a series of interviews with children, instructors and some relatives of former practitioners. Focusing on the early stages of the career, it attempts to explain these abandonments by examining the social interactions that apprentice gymnasts have with other actors. The abandonment of young practitioners is linked to a redefinition of the gymnastics activity to which they proceed along the way, either by reacting to the unpleasant events that occur during their career within the club, or by taking into account the institutional levels that they are about to cross in the school sphere considered as a priority, or by following these two paths at the same time.