This book examines the youth sport parent experience through the lens of social capital, a cornerstone social science concept of the past 30 years. Social capital reflects the value of one's social networks, and the actual and potential benefits - and costs - of relationships. Bringing together a team of kids for a season also brings together their families who all must negotiate this new social world. Within this world, relationships are bound to form, and these are the foundation upon which this project rests. Youth sport scholars have traditionally been interested in questions such as: how many kids play sports, what sports they play, how and why do they start playing and stop playing, and the costs and benefit of participation. However, aside from sensational examples of youth sport parents behaving badly, scholars know far less about the parental experience. This time is meaningful for parents, because parents often spend as much or even more time at the fields than their children. It is thus worth examining what they might get out of this investment. Utilizing two years of fieldwork and over 30 interviews with parents and board members of a youth baseball league in the southwestern United States, this book provides an inside look at the beneficial relationships that can be found in the bleachers of a kids' baseball game, as well as the unseen, high-stakes games waged in the boardroom, where relationships can carry heavy costs as well. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

How ’Bout Them Dawgs! tells the behind-the-scenes story of the University of Georgia’s 2021 college football national championship season from the perspective of the man in charge: Kirby Smart. In addition to offering his perspective on coaching, his defensive philosophy, the importance of recruiting, each of the fifteen games, and the celebrations that followed the last one, Coach Smart also tells a bit of his own story that started in Slapout, Alabama, in 1975 and ended at the height of the college football world on a January night in Indianapolis. From the opening-game victory over perennial-power Clemson University to the undefeated march through the mighty SEC to the discouraging loss to the University of Alabama in the SEC Championship Game to the Dawgs’ eventual triumph over that same familiar foe in Indianapolis, Coach Smart and Loran Smith team up to provide an intimate look at the first team to win a college football national championship at the University of Georgia in more than four decades. Vince Dooley, the last head coach to lead UGA to a college football national championship in 1980, and Jere W. Morehead, the president of the University of Georgia, offer their unique insights on the historic 2021 season and the elite team that made it happen as well. Featuring the profiles and recollections of players, coaches, and support staff—and handsomely illustrated with more than 100 never-before-seen photographs—How ’Bout Them Dawgs! is a unique keepsake for Dawg fans everywhere.

Current popular interest in bodies, fitness, sport and active lifestyles, has made bodybuilding more visible and acceptable within mainstream society than ever before. However, the association between bodybuilding, drugs and risk has contributed to a negative image of an activity which many people find puzzling.
Using data obtained from participant observation and interviews, this book explores bodybuilding subculture from the perspective of the bodybuilder. It looks at:
* How bodybuilders try to maintain competent social identities
* How they manage the risks of using steroids and other physique-enhancing drugs
* How they understand the alleged steroid-violence link
* How they 'see' the muscular body.
Through systematic exploration it becomes apparent that previous attempts to explain bodybuilding in terms of 'masculinity-in-crisis' or gender insecurity are open to question. Different and valuable insights into what sustains and legitimizes potentially dangerous drug-taking activities are provided by this detailed picture of a huge underground subculture.

Current popular interest in bodies, fitness, sport and active lifestyles, has made bodybuilding more visible and acceptable within mainstream society than ever before. However, the association between bodybuilding, drugs and risk has contributed to a negative image of an activity which many people find puzzling.
Using data obtained from participant observation and interviews, this book explores bodybuilding subculture from the perspective of the bodybuilder. It looks at:
* How bodybuilders try to maintain competent social identities
* How they manage the risks of using steroids and other physique-enhancing drugs
* How they understand the alleged steroid-violence link
* How they 'see' the muscular body.
Through systematic exploration it becomes apparent that previous attempts to explain bodybuilding in terms of 'masculinity-in-crisis' or gender insecurity are open to question. Different and valuable insights into what sustains and legitimizes potentially dangerous drug-taking activities are provided by this detailed picture of a huge underground subculture.

Success in elite football demands both mental and physical excellence. Players must make decisions at lightning speed, and execute those decisions with perfect technique, combined with an ultra-clear understanding of where others - their team-mates and their opponents - are at all times. In The Futsal Way, world-renowned futsal coach Sergio Gargelli and veteran writer Paul Challen make the case that today's elite football clubs require futsal coaches on their staff to take their teams to the next level - as many have already done. With photos, diagrams and clear explanations, they demonstrate how top-level coaches can use futsal to produce exceptional players in the 11-a-side game - as seen in the amazing technical ability of many Brazilian and Spanish players who grew up playing futsal. With a foreword by Euro 2020-winning manager Roberto Mancini, this book is a must for any team or coach looking to keep pace with modern training techniques and tactical developments. It combines in-depth instruction with real-life examples.

As sport has grown, progressively replacing religion, in its power to excite passion, provide emotional escape, offer fraternal (and increasingly sororital) bonding, it has come to loom larger and larger in the lives of Europeans and others. It has become an inescapable reality linking public environment with intimate experience and thus offers the historian an opportunity to inspect and attempt to grasp all the dimensions of the recent past and their relative share in individual and collective experience. This collection considers the evolution of modern sport in Europe and examines its role in shaping masculine identity.

The 'feel-good' effect of physical activity is widely reported among participants. Physical Activity and Psychological Well-Being represents a research consensus on the relationship between physical activity and aspects of mental health, providing an overview of the case for the role of exercise in the promotion of psychological well-being. Topics covered include:

* anxiety and stress
* depression
* mood and emotion
* self-perceptions and self-esteem
* cognitive functioning and ageing
* psychological dysfunction

This book is invaluable reading for students and researchers working in the exercise, sport and health sciences, and for health and clinical psychologists. It is also a foundation text for health promotion and health service professionals, particularly those working in the area of mental health.

The feel good effect of physical activity is one which although realised has barely reached its potential and in the modern world of stress and inactivity for our mental health. Physical Activity and Pychological Well-being provides a research consensus on the relationship between physical exercise and the aspects of mental health. Whilst reviewing and integrating relevant information the book also considers physical activity in relation to the different aspects of mental health:
* anxiety
* depression
* mood and emotion
* self-esteem
* cognitive functioning
* psychological dysfunction.
Physical Activity and Psychological Well-being is invaluable reading for undergraduates and post graduates of sport and exercise science and provides a foundation for health services, sport specialists and psychologists alike to promote the benefits of physical activity and improve mental health.

The book is relevant for various regions including the US, UK, Australia, Western European nations and New Zealand. Key informants offer insights for policy and practice. Rich theoretical analysis further contextualizes findings and provides analysis to advance the field.

The American Dream is founded upon the ideological belief that 'you can be anything you want to be', regardless of your current class position, and is one of the most emotive, pervasive and ideologically embedded concepts championed by American citizens. Providing contemporary insight into the American Dream via the critical lens of soccer - the world's pre-eminent sport but still a minority interest in the US - this book challenges the notion that America is different, exceptional or unique in the global order, either in real socio-economic-political terms or in perceived cultural terms. Soccer and the American Dream offers an overview of soccer in the US and uses case studies to explore the motives of American university students in undertaking a soccer scholarship, considering the impact of family, social class and career development upon social mobility and upon the game itself. Providing a fascinating new insight into the nexus of sport, education, culture and society, this is a topical resource for students, scholars and practitioners across the fields of soccer, higher education, youth sport, sports development, sports coaching and sport management.

Despite the growing literature on spirituality and its positive impact on well-being in health psychology, education, occupational psychology and leisure studies, it has been less examined in sport studies. Meaning and Spirituality in Sport and Exercise: Psychological Perspectives examines the many forms of spirituality in sport from a psychological perspective, from moments of transcendence and finding deeper meaning and value to prayer before an important competition or in adversity, such as a career-threatening injury. Based on the latest research and the Nesti's experience in applied sport psychology service delivery, this book covers a range of novel topics linking spirituality to athlete development, injury, exercise motivation, and ageing athletes, and offers applied, practical guidance for sport psychologists working with spiritual athletes. Offering a unique contribution to the study of spirituality in sport, and to sport psychology practice, this book is vital reading for any upper-level student or academic working in sport and exercise psychology, religion and sport, or the philosophy of sport, and any practising sport psychologist.

Contents:
Contents Preface Introduction: Sport as a Field of Sociological Enquiry 1. On Problems of the Emotions in Sport and Leisure 2. Sport in the Western Civilizing Process 3. Sport in Space and Time: State-Formation and the Early Development of Modern Sport 4. The Dynamics of Sports Consumption 5. The Development of Soccer as a World Game 6. Football Hooliganism as a World Social Problem 7. Sports Crowd Violence in North America 8. Sport in the Process of Racial Stratification: the Case of the USA 9. Sport, Gender and Civilisation. Notes. Bibliography.

This book is a practical guide and concise sports medicine reference, written exclusively for the sport of soccer. Based on Adil Shamoo's notes from years of coaching, teaching, and lecturing on the subject, this succinct handbook approaches soccer from a unique scientific perspective. The experiences of Dr. Shamoo and coauthors William Baugher, a sports medicine orthopedist, and Robert Germeroth, a physical therapist, combine to make the latest sports medicine research relevant and accessible to those who participate in the sport. Coaches, referees, players, parents, and athletic trainers from grade school through college will find the authors' knowledgeable discussion of soccer injuries to be an invaluable resource for prevention and treatment. Sports retailers, pediatricians and professionals in the field of sports medicine will also appreciate the book's comprehensive coverage of the physical, mental, and nutritional aspects of playing the game of soccer, the world's most popular sport.

‘I really recommend this, it's a cracker. A top read and a great tool to use to improve and enlighten. It doesn't matter who you are – you will all get something out of this. Lovely stuff.' Ben Ryan, Olympic gold-medal-winning coach and author of Sevens Heaven: The Beautiful Chaos of Fiji's Olympic Dream ________________________ ‘I urge anyone who has the ambition and passion to develop themselves and those around them to read this book. I’ve worked with Matt for over fifteen years and have seen first-hand how he is able to get the best out of people with his unique awareness of soft skills, human values and long term vision' Leon Smith OBE, Great Britain Davis Cup team captain ________________________ 'This book brilliantly underlines the core principles needed to prepare for the next stage of your career. Terrific read.' Ross Hutchins, former British tennis player and Commonwealth Games silver-medal winner ________________________ Drawing on more than a decade’s experience working with former tennis World Number One Sir Andy Murray, The Way of the Tortoise introduces you to the benefits of the slow lane and reveals why it’s the only true path to a high-performance mindset. Taking inspiration from Aesop’s well-known fable of the Hare and the Tortoise, internationally renowned trainer Matt Little recognizes that there is no fast path to success. By focusing on immediate results, we can gloss over process in the race to get ahead, skipping over the lessons and experiences that we all need to build solid foundations for our future achievements. Matt shows that taking the slow lane can not only help you reach your goals more effectively, it can make your successes more sustainable by increasing your motivation, energy and resilience. Packed full of examples from the highly adaptable worlds of sport and business, as well as Matt’s own remarkable career, The Way of the Tortoise reveals, through practical exercises and techniques, the essential strategies we can all use to achieve extraordinary results.

Sport Matters offers a comprehensive introduction to the study of modern sport from a sociological perspective. It covers such topics as the history of sport, the development of ideas of 'fair play', sport and the emotions, the professionalization of sport, race-relations and sport and sport and gender.
Unique in its cross-cultural analysis, it uses examples from around the globe, including sports spectator violence in North America, the growth of international soccer and the role of sport in the European identity.

Historians in recent years have paid considerable attention to sport and leisure in the past, and historians of education are no exception. The chapters in this book showcase the breadth and depth of scholarship in this area, bringing new perspectives to bear on the history of physical education in several different European countries. Ranging from schoolgirl cricket in early postwar England to the varying approaches to physical education in the nineteenth-century Netherlands, the contributions all emphasise the importance of physical education to wider conceptions of education for citizenship. A number of chapters tackle issues in gender history, while others focus on the effects - often unintended - of policy-makers and the conflicts that could arise from the imposition of new physical education curricula. Covering England, Scotland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Greece, this book features the work of both established and emerging scholars, and is an important contribution to the historiography of both education and sport. This book was originally published as a special issue of History of Education.

Science in Elite Sport brings together experts from around the world with the aim of furthering collaboration between athletes and scientists working in the field of training in sport. Each chapter gels theory (sport science) with practice (training and performance) in order to demonstrate the impact science can have on performance at the elite level. Examples are given from key sports and in the context of specific countries within Europe. This book will be of great value to any one studying sport science degree with the aim of entering into coaching or training. It will also be a key resource for those already involved in the implementation of coaching strategies at the elite level and also for athletes themselves.

Considering the celebrity-like status of the professional football manager, surprisingly little is known about their role. This book provides an unprecedented insight into the chronically insecure and vulnerable world of the contemporary professional football manager. Drawing on original research, it explores the complex challenges and skills of the football manager in an increasingly cut-throat, ruthless and results-based industry. Written by a former professional footballer, the book examines how personal contact networks and the social mobility of different actors within the industry influence various elements of the manager's role. Beginning with an overview of literature on football management, its subsequent chapters each examine a key aspect of a manager's work, such as: managerial recruitment and appointment; the role of previous playing experience and formal education; the assessment and recruitment of players; maintaining discipline and control; maintaining successful working relationships with players, coaches, agents, club directors and owners. Shedding light on the inner workings of the football industry, this book is fascinating reading for any serious football fan and an essential resource for any student or scholar researching football, sport management or sport business.

Personal Training: Theory and Practice, Second Edition, draws together in one unique volume the personal, practical and business skills central to becoming a successful personal trainer. This accessible book introduces you to the fundamentals of applied exercise prescription and programme design, as well as advanced concepts including nutritional intervention, postural analysis and the psychology of behaviour change. Key Features - updated to reflect advances in training methodology and techniques in line with requirements for professional qualification - key points boxes, chapter summaries and a glossary of scientific and technical concepts to aid understanding - full colour illustrations and photos to support visual learning - case studies and sample exercise plans to help you put theory into practice - supported by online resources such as self-assessment tests, downloadable forms and session sheets at www.routledge.com/cw/crossley Personal Training: Theory and Practice is the ideal companion and handy reference for those embarking on a career in personal training as well as experienced trainers. Reviews of the first edition: 'the ideal companion to turn you from an amateur into a professional sports trainer...the only title tailored to meet the needs of UK-based personal training.' Work Out 'a gem of a book...clearly written and presented which makes it easy for both fitness professionals and lay people to understand. Definitely worth buying.' Health and Fitness

Elite Youth Cycling showcases the latest cutting-edge research in youth cycling performance. Covering both endurance and sprint cycling events, the book explores the effect of cycling on the maturation of the body from childhood to adolescence, suggests long-term training and nutritional strategies for young athletes, and discusses issues such as injury prevention, long-term athlete health, and body image in endurance cyclists. Divided into sections on growth and maturation, training and testing, sports medicine and nutrition, and coaching and psychology, the book includes chapters on: Muscle, bone and cardiopulmonary development of young cyclists Performance assessment in the laboratory and on the track Longitudinal training strategies and concurrent strength training Overuse injuries and injury prevention Nutrition and ergogenic aids Personal and psychosocial development Including directions for future research in each section, Elite Youth Cycling is an authoritative and comprehensive anthology of the latest research in youth cycling. It is vital reading for any physiologist, psychologist, strength and conditioning coach or sport therapist working with young cyclists, and any academic researching youth sport and the development of young athletes.

Crisis and Disaster Management for Sport is the first book to introduce key concepts and best practice in crisis and disaster management in sport and international sports events. The book draws from multiple disciplines to provide insight into the issues and challenges involved in planning for, and managing, crises and disasters in the context of sport. With an initial focus on sports event and venue resilience, the book also explores social, community and individual resilience within sport and examines concepts and issues such as fandom, risk perception, crowd control and management, crisis communication and reputational risk and the growing challenges posed by climate change. The book includes real-world case studies as well as disaster management-related simulation and scenario-building exercises and looks ahead to what might be the most significant threats in future to the safe and sustainable management of sport. With the devastating impacts of COVID-19 illustrating the central importance of resilience and proper preparation for crises and disasters, this book is an essential read for all researchers, students, practitioners and policy-makers working in sport, tourism, entertainment, leisure and critical event studies.

Managing Major Sports Events: Theory and Practice is a complete introduction to the principles and practical skills that underpin the running and hosting of major sports events, from initial bid to post-event legacy and sustainability. Now in a fully revised and updated new edition, the book draws on the latest research from across multiple disciplines, explores real-world situations, and emphasises practical problem-solving skills. It covers every key area in the event management process, including: * Bidding, leadership, and planning; * Marketing and human resource management; * Venues and ceremonies; * Communications and technology (including social media); * Functional area considerations (including sport, protocol, and event services); * Security and risk management; * Games-time considerations; * Event wrap-up and evaluation; * Legacy and sustainability. This revised edition includes expanded coverage of cutting-edge topics such as digital media, culture, human resources, the volunteer workforce, readiness, security, and managing Games-time. Each chapter combines theory, practical decision-making exercises, and case studies of major sports events from around the world, helping students and practitioners alike to understand and prepare for the reality of executing major events on an international scale. Also new to this edition is an "Outlook, Trends, and Innovations" section in each chapter, plus "tips" from leading events professionals. Managing Major Sports Events: Theory and Practice is an essential textbook for any course on sports event management or international sports management, and an invaluable resource for all sport management researchers, practitioners and policymakers. Online resources include PowerPoint slides, multiple choice questions, essay questions, stories, and decision-making exercises.