I’ve never been a massive fan of April Fool’s Day – probably a result of my brother scamming me too many times as a kid – but I do enjoy flicking through various brand’s social posts each year to see what they’ve conjured up.

Sports teams, organisations and individuals love getting involved as much as anyone else. This year there was a claim circulating that the three teams promoted to the Premier League next season would receive a 3-point head start, Park Run announced their new underwater event and, most importantly in my opinion, The Well HQ used the day to shed light on astonishing facts from Women’s sport that they wish were April fool’s jokes - did you know that the first sports bra was made of two jockey straps sewn together, that women weren’t allowed to compete in the Olympic marathon until 1984 and that as recently as 2021 beach volleyball players were fined for wearing shorts rather than bikini bottoms?

However, there was one sports-related April Fools post that got to me. A previous Olympian, now mother of two, created a post about her comeback, returning to next year’s Winter Olympics. Reading through the comments, many took the post at face value, expressing their excitement and congratulations before finding out it was not to be. Ultimately, the whole thing saddened me – partly because I would have truly loved to have watched her return –  but mainly because the idea that a mother in her early 40s could still partake at that level is considered suitable subject matter for a joke.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about age bias in sport and the impact that dismissing professional athletes in their 30s, 40s and beyond can have on perceptions of age and sport for the rest of the population. Firstly, many do compete at a top level much later in life - the Paris Olympics saw athletes up to the age of 69 taking part, with Tim Bollo playing tennis at 42, Andy MacDonald Skateboarding at 52 and mum of two Breanna Stewart being picked for the American Basketball team. But more importantly, most non-professional athletes peak much older than the professionals and all this negativity does is create incorrect assumptions about what their bodies are capable of as they get older.

So as the joke posts fade from our feeds from another year, how can brands help change perceptions around age in sport all year round:

1. Try and show a diverse range of ages in your work. Whether this be sports stars, actors, or influencers - sport and fitness is not just those in their 20s and everyone needs to see that.
2. Show athletes as human. Talk about their back stories as well as their achievements. Did they get into sport early or late? Are they juggling their passion for sport with working a full-time role, raising children or caring for relatives?
3. Stop making the retirement ages of sports stars a headline. Isn’t it enough to know that someone is stepping down from sport? Do we need to publicise if they are in their early 30s or late 40s? Doing so only creates the impression that there is a performance ceiling for everyone else.

Ultimately, everything we do contributes to overall perceptions. Even light-hearted posts can have an impact far beyond their initial intentions.