Why is sport so important among participants and spectators when its goals seem so pointless? Stephen Mumford's book introduces the reader to a host of philosophical topics found in sport, and argues that sports activities reflect diverse human experiences - including important values that we continue to contest. The author explores physicality, competition, how sport is best defined, ethics in sport, and issues of inclusion such as disability sports, the gender divide, and transgender athletes. His book is written for anyone who is thoughtful, a sports enthusiast, or both, and will deepen our understanding of sport and its place in our lives. This new series offers short and personal perspectives by expert thinkers on topics that we all encounter in our everyday lives.

Mega-events represent an important moment in the life of a city, providing a useful lens through which we may analyse their cultural, social, political and economic development. In the wake of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC's) concerns about 'gigantism' and wider public concerns about rising costs, it was imperative in the C21st to demonstrate the long term benefits that arose for the city and nations from hosting premier sporting events. 'London 2012' was the first to integrate the concept of legacy from the moment a bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games was being considered. London proposed an ambitious programme of urban renewal for East London. Subsequent host city bids have adopted the 'legacy narrative' and, as this book demonstrates, aligned this to major schemes of urban development and renewal. Bringing together scholars, practitioners and policy makers, this book focuses upon the legacies sought by cities that host major sports events. It analyses how governments, the IOC and others define and measure 'legacy'. It also focuses upon the challenges and opportunities facing future host cities of mega-events, looking at their aspirations and the intended impact upon their domestic and international development. It questions what the global shift in geographical location of mega-events means for sports development and the business of sport, what the attractions are for cities seeking to harness the hosting of a mega-event, and whether there may be longer term consequences for the bidding and hosting major sporting events in the wake of the widespread social unrest that accompanied the preparations in Brazil for hosting the FIFA World Cup (2014) and the summer Olympics (2016) and in Turkey, where there was significant opposition to bid for the 2020 summer Olympiad.

This open access book brings together oral histories that record the experiences of individuals with intellectual disabilities in Shanghai as they participate in their careers. Employees with intellectual disabilities describe their experiences seeking, attaining, and maintaining employment. Their managers, colleagues, and family members also provide keen insight into the challenges and opportunities these individuals have encountered in the process of securing employment. An appendix provides a compilation of employment policies related to people with intellectual disabilities, particularly with respect to Shanghai.

Sport has long been used as a tool for political gain and many major sporting events are now often framed as a panacea to help combat issues such as rising obesity rates, decreasing physical activity levels and wider urban decline. In reality though, fostering a temporary 'feel-good factor' is the most that many of these events can ever achieve even though a number are now sold on the popular rhetoric of legacy. Drawing upon a range of events and the work of international scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, this collection offers insights into the ways in which events outside of the big two are (re)positioned as part of the wider sporting landscape. The chapters originally published as a special issue in Sport in Society.

Since its emergence in Italy in 1968, one model of football fandom has become the most dominant in the world: the ultras. Producing complex choreography, chants, banners and pyrotechnics, ultras represent a highly organised style of fandom that has an increasing global reach and visibility. Over the last fifty years, ultras fandom has spread from Southern Europe across North Africa to Northern and Eastern Europe, South East Asia and North America. Their collective performance, unity and harmonisation not only distinguish ultras from other football fans, but from many other forms of group behaviour. By focusing on the common form of expression through the performance of choreographies, chants and sustained support throughout the match, this book shows how members build an emotional attachment to their club that valorises the colours and symbols of that team while mobilising members against opponents. This volume seeks to make a clear theoretical shift in studies of football fandom by asking fundamental sociological questions concerning group formation, collective performance and emotional relationships. As a collective that pride themselves on having a shared, coherent sense of identity based on an act of consumption, ultras represent an important site of enquiry into masculinity and nationalism in contemporary society. -- .

This book examines the gendered politics in the context of a merger of the women's and men's athletic departments at the University of Minnesota over a ten year plus span. Examining the athletic department merger helps us understand women's continual under-representation in University athletics despite Title IX legislation passing 40 years ago. Using interview with organizational stakeholders and archival document data, the book explores how organizational change in the form of a merger is gendered with relation to the premerger, merged, post-merger stages.

Analyzing how tennis turned pro The arrival of the Open era in 1968 was a watershed in the history of tennis--the year that marked its advent as a professionalized sport. Merging wide-angle history with individual stories of players and off-the-court figures, Greg Ruth charts tennis’s evolution into the game we watch today. His vivid account moves from the cloistered world of nineteenth-century lawn tennis through the longtime amateur-professional divide and the battles over commercialization that raged from the 1920s until 1968. From there, Ruth details the post-1968 expansion of the game as it was transformed by bankable superstars, a popular women’s tour, rival governing bodies, and sponsorship money. What emerges is a fascinating history of the economics and politics that made tennis a decisive, if unlikely, force in the creation of modern-day sports entertainment. Comprehensive and engaging, Tennis tells the interlocking stories of the figures and factors that birthed the professional game.

Corruption in the sport industry is a pervasive issue that threatens the integrity of sport as an institution. From doping and match-fixing to money laundering, corruption should be a concern to anybody interested in sport policy, management, governance, or ethics. This is the first book to explore the complexity of sport corruption in terms of its conceptualisation, causes, consequences, and reform. The first part looks at the concept of sport corruption, while the second examines the causes of sport corruption from individual, organisational, industry-wide, and longitudinal viewpoints. The third part discussed is the consequences of sport corruption and its impact on the global sport industry. Various approaches to regulatory reform are considered in the next part, as well as the challenges of combatting corruption in the sport industry. The final part assesses the current state of literature in this area and suggests opportunities for future research. Drawing on multidisciplinary case studies from across the world, this is a seminal contribution to the academic study of corruption in sport. It is important reading for all students and scholars of sport management, business, criminology, and law.

This book highlights the different roles of youth sport, from sport for all and community sport activities to elite sport and international competitions, to suggest significant new directions for youth sport research and practices. The collection addresses a range of prominent management and policy issues associated with the growing interest in research into youth sport. Major youth sport events such as the Youth Olympic Games and the European Youth Olympic Festival are included in this collection as important policy arenas. In addition, the collection addresses a series of under-researched topics including the welfare of young elite athletes, the process of talent identification and development in elite youth disability sport and how young athletes cope with emotional abuse. The contributors to this collection are drawn from a wide range of countries Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Norway. The book ends with an overview of the state of research into sport-based youth development and highlights trends and gaps in the literature suitable for further research. The chapters were originally published as a special issue in Sport in Society.

Public health is a key priority for developed and developing nations. Indeed, many countries have sought strategies to promote health and reduce health inequalities. A 'settings approach' to promoting health has been endorsed by the World Health Organization, which has seen settings such as workplaces, schools, hospitals and prisons utilised to promote health. Alongside this, sport has received increasing pressure to consider its social role within the societies and communities in which it operates. Healthy Stadia is a European focused initiative with lessons relevant for global audiences to develop: (i) healthier stadium environments for fans and non-matchday visitors (e.g. smoke-free environments), (ii) healthier club workforces (e.g. bike to work schemes) and (iii) healthier populations in local communities (e.g. child obesity interventions). This book outlines lessons and insight from practitioners and empirical research for those seeking to learn and research stadia as a settings approach to health promotion. The areas covered include: practical considerations for health promotion in sports stadia; empirical research on the sports stadia as a setting for public health promotion; research on physical activity and health promotion programmes delivered by the outward facing community trusts attached to sports clubs; an analysis of the policy considerations for health promotion by sports clubs in school based settings and critical insight and discussion surrounding the use of physical activity and sport interventions to promote physical activity and public health. The chapters in this book originally published in a special issue of Sport in Society.

In a world of competing public policy priorities, economic challenges and political uncertainty, sports development organisations and initiatives need to adapt to survive. This book makes the case for 'Sporting Capital' as a new conceptual model of sports participation with the potential to transform public policy and practice in sports development. The central argument presented is that a model of Sporting Capital - with its three domains of physiological, social and psychological attributes - provides a missing framework, creating a new impetus for sustained growth in community sport by joining up the levels at which sports development is planned and implemented. Touching on important issues such as youth sport, public health, volunteering, disability, ethnicity and social inequality, it examines patterns of sports participation in relation to age, gender and social class and offers recommendations for strategic policy improvements that can be implemented by practitioners working on the frontline of community sport. Sporting Capital: Transforming Sports Development Policy and Practice provides valuable insights for all those interested in sports development, youth sport, community sport, or sport and social policy.

Taking part in a sport means that one must acquire the relevant skills: mental, physical and strategic. This book presents a new perspective on the role of skills, knowledge and intentionality in sporting contexts, examining how these skills and practical 'know how' can be perfected to a level of expertise. Contributors study broader trends of how we can best understand the role of skills, as well as using case studies of expertise to add depth and nuance to existing scholarship. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport, Ethics and Philosophy.

This book offers a rare chance to understand how sport and architecture come together to create an outstanding building type - a symbol of our times. Rod Sheard shares the experience and expertise of HOK LOBB in this beautifully illustrated book, offering practical advice and guidance on commissioning, designing and managing sports venues around the world. The award-winning work of this firm includes the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, the Wembley National Stadium, London and the Stadium Australia in Sydney, commissioned for the Olympic Games 2000.

Managing Football is the first book to directly respond to the rapid managerial, commercial and global development of the sport and offers a thorough analysis of how the football industry can meet the challenges that flow from these developments. Expertly edited by two well known specialists in football business management, it draws together the work of a world-class contributor team to form a comprehensive analysis of the most important issues facing the managers of football businesses across the world. The cutting edge analysis examines all the important business challenges in the football industry and the management of football businesses and covers all of the key football markets including England, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, North America, China, South Africa, South Korea, the Netherlands and Belgium, and Mexico. Managing Football is simply a must-read for anyone studying or working in football business management and is set to be an important landmark in this rapidly moving and globally expansive field.

Sport is a global business. Now more than ever, sport communication professionals need to understand sport's global reach in order to develop their full potential. This is the first textbook to introduce the fundamental principles and practice of sport communication from an international perspective. Combining business strategies with insights into social issues such as gender, disability and national identity, this is an accessible, practical and engaging guide to the essentials of sport communication. Aimed to enhance learning at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, each chapter contains special features tailored to meet the needs of students and instructors. These include learning objectives, chapter summaries, activities, reflections, discussion questions, recommended resource lists and original cross-cultural case studies that demonstrate sport communication theories put into practice. Its twenty chapters explore communication in sport across all levels, from interpersonal communication and team building to strategic communications, and in all forms of media, from print and broadcast to social media. Sport Communication: An International Approach is an essential text for any course on sport communication, sport business or sport management.

This book brings together many new and exciting international approaches to sport heritage. It provides a thought-provoking sport heritage case study that would be of interest to students and researchers in history, geography, anthropology, marketing, and industry practitioners at sporting events.

The book highlights 'new perspectives' on volunteerism in sport, covering frameworks, methods, context and variables on several levels from community sport clubs to international events. In analysing the processes of control within voluntary sport clubs, a new theoretical framework - critical realism (CR) - challenges how we think about theory and how scientific inquiry should proceed. Further themes raised are: Should sports clubs be viewed as a crossing between a traditional volunteer culture dominated by collective solidarity, and a modern volunteer culture focused on the individual benefits? Are former athletes a new group of possible volunteers? Can personal narratives of experiences of being a volunteer in a big international event provide us with new insight that has not previously been considered? Identity is suggested as a motive for understanding volunteers at sporting events. Two new theoretical models are presented, one on the development of volunteer commitment and the other on a framework that incorporates both individual- and institutional-level variables. All chapters have recommendations for future research. The testing of these theories and influencing factors will provide new directions in the research of sport volunteerism. This book was originally published as a special issue of European Sport Management Quarterly.

Rediscovering soccer's long history in the U.S. Across North America, native peoples and colonists alike played a variety of kicking games long before soccer's emergence in the late 1800s. Brian D. Bunk examines the development and social impact of these sports through the rise of professional soccer after World War I. As he shows, the various games called football gave women an outlet as athletes and encouraged men to form social bonds based on educational experience, occupation, ethnic identity, or military service. Football also followed young people to college as higher education expanded in the nineteenth century. University play, along with the arrival of immigrants from the British Isles, helped spark the creation of organized soccer in the United States—and the beautiful game's transformation into a truly international sport. A multilayered look at one game’s place in American life, From Football to Soccer refutes the notion of the U.S. as a land outside of football history.

Do small- and medium-sized sporting events affect the overall wellbeing of people living in the host community? If so, how they do they affect local life? This book specifically addresses the strategic choices that host communities make when hosting non-mega sporting events, and looks at the outcomes of those choices. The contributions to this study assess a variety of tangible and intangible effects, including the economic and social impacts, and the effect on tourism and participation in sport. It contains analysis of a variety of events, including spectator and participant events, single-sport and multi-sport events, and one-day and multi-day events, all hosted in different types of cities and communities around the globe. Overall, this book identifies and extends our understanding of the nature, management, and implications of non-mega sporting events. The impacts and strategic outcomes highlighted here have practical value for sport event management and strategy, and advance our understanding of the economic and social consequences of hosting an event. This book was originally published as a special issue of European Sport Management Quarterly.

This volume presents research on policy responses to racism in sporting codes, predominantly Australian Rules football, in a global context. While the three guest editors are based in Australia, and their work pertains to the uniquely domestic game of Australian Rules football, the outcomes, research vectors and key issues from this research are part of a much larger on-going international conversation that is equally relevant when considering, for instance, racism in English Premier League football, first class cricket and basketball. The book is an outcome of an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project titled Assessing the Australian Football League's Racial and Religious Vilification Laws to Promote Community Harmony, Multiculturalism and Reconciliation, which investigated social participation and the impact of the Australian Football League's anti-racial vilification policy since its introduction in 1995. This book was published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Highly acclaimed UCLA Women's gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field shares insights on how to use uniqueness and authenticity to achieve success.

How did a professional ballerina become one of the winningest coaches in NCAA history? Valorie Kondos Field-or Miss Val as she's affectionately known-has never even tumbled, flipped, or ever played any type of organized sports and yet she has been able to craft a legendary coaching career through curiosity, creativity, intention to detail, and unwavering care for the overall well-being of her athletes. For Miss Val, it's not about the X's and O's, it's about choreographing your life and owning the choices you make.

Miss Val has shaped her UCLA Gymnastics program as a life skills class and now she's sharing those lessons with you, whether you're an athlete, business leader, or simply someone who wants to own their destiny. Miss Val's philosophies are timeless. Her coaching style is unorthodox. LIFE IS SHORT, DON'T WAIT TO DANCE is a thoughtprovoking, fun journey through the personal stories and anecdotes of the 35-year career of a dancer/choreographer turned athletic coach.

The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games stand as the most profitable and arguably the most important event in the history of the modern Olympic movement. Fresh off the back of the financially disastrous Montreal Games of 1976 and the politically controversial Moscow Games of 1980, the Olympic movement returned to the United States for the sixth time in an attempt to salvage the economic viability and global prestige of the Olympics. The Los Angeles Olympics proved to be both provocative and polarizing. On the one hand they have been heralded as an overwhelming, transformative success, ushering the Olympic movement into the modern commercial age. On the other hand, critics have repudiated the Games as a manifestation of commercial excess and a platform for western political and cultural propaganda. In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the Los Angeles Olympics, this volume examines their legacy. With an international collection of contributing scholars, this volume will span a range of global legacies, including the increasing commercialization of the Games, the changing participation of women, the Communist boycott movement, nationalism and sporting identity, and the modernization and California-cation of the Games. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

This innovative and timely volume moves beyond existing operational and pragmatic approaches to events studies by exploring sports events as social, cultural, political and mediatised phenomena. As the study of this area is developing there is now a need for critical and theoretically informed debate regarding conceptualisation, significance and roles. This edited collection explores the core themes of consumption, media technologies, representation, identities and culture to offer new insight into how sports events contribute to generation of individual and shared meaning over personal, community and national identities as well as the associated issues of conflict, resistance and power. Chapters promote a critical (re)evaluation of emerging empirical research from a diverse range of sports events and locations from the international to local level. A multi-disciplinary approach is taken with contributions from areas including sports studies, media studies, sociology, cultural studies, communications, politics, tourism and gender studies. Written by leading academics in the area, this thorough exploration of the contested relationship between sports events, society and culture will be of interest to students, academics and researchers in Events, Sport, Tourism and Sociology.

Realpolitik as a component of the Olympic Games held in East Asia has been largely ignored by historians. However, sport was an integral part of cultural diplomacy and the expression of national prowess for the three Games held in East Asia: 1964 Tokyo, 1988 Seoul and 2008 Beijing. It is time this was recorded. The Olympic Games had transformational political, economic and cultural effects for the host cities and countries. This also is a neglected topic. The Triple Asian Olympics: Asia Rising explores the realities of global transformation, regional ascendancy and metaphorical modernity of the East Asian Olympics and, by extension, East Asia. As the axis of global geo-political and economic power shifts to the East, analyzing the significance of the Olympic Games in East Asia becomes significant to an understanding the shifting nature of the nations of East Asia. The Triple Asian Games are harbingers of dramatic geopolitical change. This is the first study to record, confront and examine this contemporary phenomenon. For this reason, this unique collection promises to attract a wide readership. This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.

European National football came together in the summer of 2012 for the 14th occasion. This book sets out to examine the enduring social tensions between supporters and authorities, as well as those between local, national and European identities, which formed the backdrop to the 14th staging of the European National football tournament, Euro2012. The context of the tournament was somewhat unique from those staged in previous years, being jointly hosted for the first time by two post-Communist nations still in the process of social and economic transition. In this respect, the decision to stage Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine bore its own material and symbolic legacies shaping the tournament: the unsettling of neo-liberal imaginings and emergent 'East-West' fears about poor infrastructure, inefficiencies and corruption jostled with moral panics about racism and fears surrounding the potentially unfulfilled consumerist expectations of west European supporters. The book seeks to explore the ideologies and practices invoked by competing national sentiments and examine the social tensions, ambiguities and social capital generating potentials surrounding national, ethnic, European identity, with respect to national football teams, supporters and supporter movements. This book was published as a special issue of Soccer and Society.