SPORT AND BODY IDENTITY IN ADOLESCENCE

The aim of this paper is to reflect about the experience of the body in adolescence and to explore the roles,the meanings and the representations of the body from an educational perspective. The change of the bodyrepresents the focal point of the adolescent's experience and the psychic re-elaboration of the perception ofthe body one of the most complex and critical developmental tasks. The complex process of constructingbodily identity requires the integration of internal needs, desires and emotions related to the body, andexternal demands, models and body standards that are proposed socially. Sport as a place of work with andon the body and it represents a space of educability aimed at enhancing the lived body, recognizing thequality of the performance rather than the result, offering adequate opportunities to express oneself throughthe body and communicate with others. Sports group can represent a space for the elaboration of bodilyidentity that supports the subjects in building a positive relationship with themselves through which they canlive their body dimension in an authentic way.