About the Original Author

Jay Coakley is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, USA. Currently, he works as a writer and public speaker. He received a PhD in sociology at the University of Notre Dame and has since taught and done research on play, games, and sports, among other topics in sociology. Much of his work focuses on the ways that young people make sense of their physical activities and integrate them into their lives. Coakley’s most recent research analyzes popular narratives about youth sport and personal development, parental commitment to the sport participation of their children, and changing approaches to youth sports in different societies. Dr. Coakley has received many teaching, service, and professional awards, and is an internationally respected scholar, author, and journal editor. He has written nine editions of Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies, co-edited Inside Sports and the Handbook of Sports Studies, and authored over 160 articles and book chapters, mostly focused on issues related to sport, society, and culture. His work has been dedicated to making sport participation a source of enjoyment and positive development for young people, and making sports more accessible, democratic, and humane for people of all ages.

About the Adapting Authors

Chris Hallinan is an Associate Professor at Monash University. He was born in Newcastle, NSW and was educated in Australia but used a scholarship to fund his postgraduate education in the United States. He was previously employed at the University of Alabama, the University of Richmond (Virginia) and the University of Wollongong. He has been a Visiting Researcher at Monash University and Charles University in Prague. He is Vice President of the International Sport Sociology Association.  His research interests are within the politics of ethnic, racial and national identities, gender studies, youth studies, and ethnographic research methods.  He is also the author of numerous research articles and is the editor or co-editor of several volumes including: Sport and Cultural Diversity in a Globalising World (Emerald/Elsevier), Sporting Tales:  Ethnographic Fieldwork Experiences.  (ASSH), Fenced Off Soccer:  The Containment of the World Game in Australia, (Routledge), Race, Ethnicity and Sport in Australia, (Routledge).  His current sporting pastimes include jogging around Braeside Park (and dodging the sunbaking snakes) and coaching a Youth League basketball team.

Steve Jackson is a Professor in the School of Physical Sciences, University of Otago in New  Zealand, specialising in the socio-cultural analysis of sport. He completed an Honours degree at the University of Western Ontario and subsequently a Master’s and PhD at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In addition to his post at Otago Steve has served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland), the University of British Columbia (Canada) and the National Taiwan Normal University. Steve’s research focuses on: Sports Media, Globalisation and; Sport, and National Identity and Sport. He is co-editor of several books including: Sport, Beer and; Gender in Promotional Culture: Explorations of a Holy Trinity (Peter Lang), Sport and Cultural Diversity in a Globalising World (Emerald/Elsevier), Sport in Aotearoa/New Zealand Society (Thomson-Nelson), Sport Stars: The Cultural Politics of Sporting Celebrity (Routledge), Sport, Culture and; Advertising: Identities, Commodities and the Politics of Representation (Routledge). A former New Zealand national ice hockey team coach and player Steve was awarded a New Zealand National Tertiary Education Teaching Excellence Award. He is the new President of the International Sociology of Sport Association (ISSA), 2008-2011, (www.issa.otago.ac.nz ).

Peter Mewett  is a senior lecturer in sociology at Deakin University in Geelong, following earlier appointments at the University of Glamorgan and the Australian National University. He has held visiting positions at several universities in Australia and overseas. Peter holds a BA(Hons) in sociology and politics from the University of Hull, a MA(Econ) in social anthropology from the University of Manchester and a PhD in sociology and social anthropology from Aberdeen University.  His research experience took him from the islands of Scotland to remote towns in northern Australia, before he turned to the study of sport with an ethnographic investigation of professional running in Victoria. Subsequently, he has done historical sociological research on the origins and development of sports training in modernity and is currently involved in collaborative research on women sports fans.  Peter’s many publications, found as book chapters and refereed journal articles, cover a wide range of sports and non-sports topics. His dismal sporting prowess has meant that he has always needed a ‘day job’, though he gains some solace from contemplating ‘what-ifs’ while pumping iron in the gym!