Research question: Continued sport participation hinges on facilitators and constraints, which may change throughout an individual’s life. The research question for this study was: ‘How do facilitators and constraints change over time in the pursuit of lifelong participation in sport?’ Research methods: Interviews with 16 participants who commenced surfing as a child and continued to surf at middle adulthood revealed the facilitators and constraints that affected their commencement and continuation of surfing. Results and findings: Findings showed that social factors (e.g. friends and family) facilitated surfing as a child and continued to do so in middle adulthood. However, a significant shift was noted in middle adulthood towards participants’ mental wellbeing as a strong facilitator for continued participation. Furthermore, middle-aged adults used other activities to develop competencies that would compensate for any loss of functional capacity and help them continue surfing. Implications: The results offer an application of social ecology in sport which contributes to understanding facilitators and constraints within a sport-specific context over lifetime participation.