Sports & Recreation books

Doping, as both practice and phenomenon, has largely been approached as a question of socio-cultural context and structures. Doping in Sport and Fitness argues that rigid differentiations between doping contexts – such as sport/fitness or elite/recreational – are less clear than it might seem. Breaking down these boundaries allows for a more complete understanding of substance use patterns, behaviours, and policy responses related to sport, fitness, and society. Contextual separations have greatly impacted how scholars have addressed the phenomena of doping in contemporary society, which in turn has impacted current anti-doping policies, preventative work, and harm reduction strategies globally. Bringing together research on doping and image and performance enhancement drug use (IPED) that highlights links between areas of doping research that have been previously separated, this collection includes contributions focusing on emerging and under-researched topics related to IPED use. Providing studies on new demographic groups of users, especially in terms of gender and age, Doping in Sport and Fitness suggests alternative ways of approaching the issue and supports providers such as coaches and drug service professionals.

Gender Equity in UK Sport Leadership and Governance goes beyond the headlines to provide a timely analyses of current strategy, policy, structure, and practice relating to gender equity in the leadership and governance of sport in the UK. It brings together the expertise and empirical insights from the work of scholars who are researching in this field. Providing theoretical and historical insights, the first part of this edited collection includes chapters on intersectionality and the history of women in sport leadership and governance. The chapters in the second part explore gender equity in the UK home nations, analysing policy and practice within each home country, while problematising the complexity of a dual approach that includes devolved nation policies and UK policies. The final element draws together chapters that explore organisational practices and the gender pay gap and makes visible the everyday experiences of women working in the sector. For those working in sport and researching gender equity, this collection provides evidence-based suggestions on ways we can evidence and create change within the sector through future research and applied practice.

The last decade has seen significant changes in global attitudes, policies and practices that impact the lives of trans people, but the world of sport has been slow to follow these initiatives. Contributors to this book document the formidable social-cultural and legal challenges facing trans athletes, particularly girls and women, at the global, national, and local levels, in contexts ranging from school sport to international competition. They demonstrate how proponents of trans exclusion rely on flawed or inconclusive science, selectively employed to support their purported goal of ‘protecting women’s sport’. Politicians in the US, UK, and elsewhere who have shown little interest in women or in sport exploit the issue to advance broader conservative agendas, while hostile mainstream and social media coverage exacerbates the problem. Bringing insights from sociology, philosophy, science and law, contributors present cogent analyses of these developments and explore the way forward, providing thoughtful and original recommendations for changes to policies and practices that are inclusive, innovative and democratic.

This book explores the theories of transhumanism and posthumanism, two philosophies that deal with radically changing bodies, minds, and even the nature of humanity itself. These fields are rapidly growing and gaining more exposure both in today's media, especially in video games and science fiction screen media, and the minds of their fans - the so called 'geek fandom' that follows this media with a passion. The book covers the early days of humanist thought and the birth of 'anthropocentrism', and the history of trans/posthumanist thought from ancient times through to the modern day. It looks at the way in which video game and science fiction research has developed and presents case studies from video games and science fiction film (Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles X and EX_MACHINA).  The author provides a unique insight into trans/posthuman theory, one of the most interesting theories the future of humanity, and demonstrates how the media – especially in the realm of science-fiction and video games - has been fixated on it. 

Over the last forty years, running has grown from a niche sport for a handful of committed club athletes into one of the Western world’s most popular pastimes. In Running, Identity and Meaning, Neil Baxter asks: What kinds of people have been drawn to running in such numbers? What do they seek from the sport? And what does running’s popularity tell us about ourselves and the society we live in today? Delving into the great paradox of running: that despite its low cost of entry and inclusive ethos, the sport remains riven by inequalities, Baxter showcases how gender, class, age and ethnicity influence whether and how different groups participate in the sport, and explores its role in the reproduction of social structure and the search for distinction. By considering running simultaneously as a technique of self-cultivation, a social field in which forms of capital and status are at stake, and an important source of meaning and identity for millions of people across the world, this book equips readers to understand the many diverse links between the sport, society, and individual identities.

Sport and the environment are inextricably linked. Sport is dependent on its environmental contexts and is potentially environmentally impactful in its own right. Sport facilities – like ski hills, golf courses, and stadiums – can upset ecosystems and displace local residents. Teams and fans commonly travel in cars and planes that emit CO2. Rising temperatures might make participation in some sports impossible. Other examples abound. Yet while sport can be environmentally damaging, there is also hope that it can be a force for positive environmental change – for example, in modelling pro-environment forms of sport, and in decision-making by sport’s many stakeholders.  In a context where pressing concerns about the climate crisis have inspired calls for changes in how people relate to the environment, questions remain about the environmental sustainability of sport. Such questions are at the core of Sport and the Environment: Politics and Preferred Futures, which brings together a diverse collection of contributors to explore a range of topics, such as how sport is implicated in environmentally damaging activities, how decisions about responding to environmental issues are made, who benefits most and least from these decisions, and, ultimately, what a truly environmentally-friendly sport could look like.

The links between high profile sports events and tourism are increasingly apparent, yet comparatively little attention has been paid to lower profile sports-related travel. Developing this type of travel provides clear economic and social impacts - employment opportunities, investment, development, the foundation of new infrastructure and the improvement and reinforcement of local communities. Sport and Tourism offers a comprehensive analysis of how and why interorganizational cooperation between sports and tourism occurs to develop tourist destinations. Considering new strategies and crisis management programs, the chapter authors cover a range of sports from football and cycling to winter sports and hiking in countries around the world, such as China, Croatia, Greece, India, Italy, Malaysia, Portugal, UK and Slovakia. In confronting growing concerns around environmental, social and economic issues facing sports and tourism, this collection presents different perspectives to develop new plans for future needs and problems. Sport and Tourism provides an opportunity to stimulate academic research on the relationship between sport and tourism with multidisciplinary approaches. Furthermore, this work encourages discussion among international scholars on how to stimulate cooperation strategies on sport and tourism to develop tourist destinations.

This book is the first of its kind to focus on the role of economics, social issues and sustainability in terms of sport entrepreneurship, thereby paving the way for both a monetary and social perspective of the subject. Ratten focuses on sport entrepreneurship from multiple levels of analysis including the athlete, manager, fan and company viewpoint, enabling a holistic understanding of how sport entrepreneurship emerges in society and the role it plays in the knowledge economy.  Sport Entrepreneurship: An Economic, Social and Sustainability Perspective is fundamentally about innovation, competitiveness and futuristic thinking. This exciting work focuses on how digital technology is driving transformations in the sport industry, enabling readers to understand the shift in sport towards integrating more entrepreneurial activity. Also examined is the role of the knowledge economy in facilitating the shift from a product orientated to more service and technology oriented sport ecosystem. This edited collection enables a change in the way sport entrepreneurship is currently conceived and looks at how it can migrate towards economic, social and sustainability.

Sport Startups: New Advances in Entrepreneurship examines the global growth of startup enterprises in the sports sector and addresses how they contribute to new developments in business innovation and entrepreneurship. Highlighting the unique challenges faced by startups in this sector, Vanessa Ratten explores approaches to business model development, branding and marketing, and the utilization of new technologies to build successful enterprises, underpinning her study with a clear theoretical framework rooted in institutional theory.  Sport Startups is one of the first books to specifically focus on the role of startups in sport. Analyzing the inherent start-up aspect of the sporting sector, due to the combination of profit and non-profit ties, which means that many sport enterprises are developed as new start-up business ventures as they link in with the community. The book foregrounds how startups in sport are vital in developing a better global society that emphasizes the role of health and fitness in communities.   Sport Startups will be illuminating reading for all scholars of innovation, entrepreneurship, sports management and business studies.

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access, thanks to Knowledge Unlatched funding, and freely available to read online. In a context where striving for gender equity in relation to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals seems more pressing than ever before, Sport, Gender and Development: Intersections, Innovations and Future Trajectories brings together an exploration of sport feminisms to offer new approaches to research on Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) in global and local contexts.  Including postcolonial and decolonial feminist lenses by drawing upon fieldwork with organizations and individuals in Afghanistan, Uganda, Nicaragua, and India, Sport, Gender and Development reveals the complexities of development and gender discourses and how they operate on and through researchers, practitioners, and participants' bodies. Delving into a thoughtful engagement with the (dis)connections and comparisons across these diverging contexts, this book offers a critically reflexive account of what is transpiring in the transnational sport, gender and development field, while remaining sensitive to the importance of community context and local iterations.  Taking up emerging and contemporary feminist issues in sport related international development, this book advances empirical, conceptual, and theoretical developments in sport, gender and development.