Playing Pretend with Imaginary Athletes

It’s common for children to have imaginary friends, and the nature of those friends can vary based on their interests. For young athletes, those imaginary friends can take the form of imagined teammates, a wall serving as a tennis opponent or a tree acting as a stand-in for a football goalpost.

Stephanie Madsen, a professor of psychology at McDaniel College, started researching the phenomenon of “imaginary athletes” when some of her students discussed having similar experiences. Madsen worked with Wellesley College psychology professor Tracy Gleason to conduct a study, which found that 41% of college-age participants recalled having an “imaginary athlete” during childhood.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Why might a child create an imaginary athlete?

We use our imagination and create imaginary others throughout our whole life, so people are very familiar with the idea of a preschooler creating an imaginary playmate. Maybe you’re playing pirates and you want to imagine a bunch of other pirates to make it more fun. Children are always trying to navigate developmental tasks, and imagining others is one tool they use for it.

Why is it more common for boys to create imaginary athletes than girls?

Girls and boys in middle childhood in the U.S. engage in organized sports at about the same rate, but I think it’s more common for boys to spend their unstructured time in athletic play on their own. Of course, girls also do this, but they tend to choose other activities.

What qualifies as an imaginary athlete?

The most common kind of imaginary athlete is a “ghost runner.” If you don’t have enough teammates, you imagine one as a placeholder. Others are opponents. If you’re kicking a soccer ball into a goal, you might imagine a goalkeeper. Some people might imagine their real-life coaches cheering them on or pretend they’re playing against a famous athlete. And some imagine a crowd cheering them on as they play.

How can imaginary athletes help a child prepare for competitive sports?

It depends on how the child is using the imaginary athlete. Different ones can serve different functions, but there were some in particular that we called “athletic tools.” Placeholders make play possible, but athletic tools help you hone your skills and motivate you to play more, practice more and make practice more fun or challenging. And we had some that emulated more social relationships that helped meet social and emotional needs. Of those different types, the athletic tools can be really useful for motivation.

How does this kind of pretend play benefit children?

Children are working on a lot of things during middle childhood, such as having a sense of industry [finding hobbies], mastering skills, forming social groups and regulating their emotions and self-confidence. Athletics, in general, are helpful with all of these. The imaginary athlete can allow a child to work on those skills on and off of the sports field. Playing with or against these imaginary athletes also does not have the same pressure to win that real games do, so they allow children to work on these developmental tasks at their own pace.

Stephanie Madsen, Ph.D., is a developmental psychologist and professor of psychology at McDaniel College. Her research examines the impact of close relationships on various aspects of social development, and she is the author of numerous articles for scholarly publications and peer-reviewed journals, including “Imaginary athletes: Prevalence, forms, and developmental functions.”