"This is a timely and useful book that will make a significant contribution. Sport psychologists are just beginning to assess whether or not sports have something positive to offer young people. Political leaders, educators, physical educators, school administrators, and community planners want useful ideas and evaluation information that tells them whether or not sports are an asset in young people's lives, especially poor and marginalized young people. This book takes an important step in this exploratory direction, and will help us plot a course for future research and advocacy." — Donald F. Sabo, coeditor of Masculinities, Gender Relations, and Sport

"It is in both the individual scholarship and the juxtaposition of interdisciplinary perspectives that this book truly shines. The multiple voices focusing on similar issues from varying perspectives—research, theory, practical applications, athlete reflections—allow the reader to mentally walk around the complex issues of sport, youth, violence, sport violence, gender, race, and media." — Kate F. Hays, author of Working it Out: Using Exercise in Psychotherapy

Foreword
Wayne Wilson

Preface

Introduction: Framing Social Issues through Sport

PART ONE

CAN SPORT FOR YOUTH BUILD CHARACTER AND PREVENT VIOLENCE?

1. Using Sports to Control Deviance and Violence among Youths: Let's Be Critical and Cautious
Jay Coakley

2. The Role of Sports in Youth Development
Martha E. Ewing, Lori A. Gano-Overway, Crystal F. Branta, and Vern D. Seefeldt

3. Teaching Life Skills through Sport
Steven J. Danish

Kids of Value: A Conversation with Marty Martinson

PART TWO

READING SOCIAL ISSUES: SPORTS MEDIA, LITERATURE, AND PEDAGOGY

4. Representations of Female Athletes in Young Adult Sports Fiction: Issues and Intersections of Race and Gender
Mary Jo Kane and Kimberly D. Pearce

5. We Got Next: Negotiating Race and Gender in Professional Basketball
Sarah Banet-Weiser

6. Teaching Against the Grain: A Learner-Centered, Media-Based, and Profeminist Approach to Gender and Nonviolence in Sport
Jim McKay

7. Blowing Whistles: The Sports Violence Profile
Lawrence A. Wenner

Let's Face It: A Conversation with David Davis on Sports Journalism

PART THREE

RACIAL INEQUALITY AND INTERGROUP CONTACT

8. Race, Youth, and Role Models
Kenneth L. Shropshire

9. Understanding Intercultural Relations on Multiethnic High School Sports Teams
Patricia M. Greenfield, Helen M. Davis, Lalita K. Suzuki, and Ioakim P. Boutakidis

10. Athletic Identity, Racial Attitudes, and Aggression in First-Year Black and White Intercollegiate Athletes
James S. Jackson, Shelley Keiper, Kendrick T. Brown, Tony N. Brown, and Warde Manuel

11. Uneven Playing Field: The Impact of Structural Barriers on the Initial Eligibility of African American Student Athletes
Robert M. Sellers, Tabbye M. Chavous, and Tony N. Brown

Race and Sport and Youth in America: A Conversation with Terrence Barnum

PART FOUR

VIOLENCE ON AND OFF THE PLAYING FIELD: IS THE PROBLEM SPORT CULTURE OR SOCIETY?

12. Contrasting Perspectives on Youthful Sports Violence
Malcolm W. Klein and Susan B. Sorenson

13. From "Sports Violence" to "Sports Crime": Aspects of Violence, Law, and Gender in the Sports Process
Kevin Young

14. Scoring without Consent: Confronting Male Athletes' Violence Against Women
Michael A. Messner and Mark A. Stevens

15. Sport, Youth, Violence, and the Media: An Activist Athlete's Point of View
Donald G. McPherson

Sport and Youth-Violence Prevention: A Conversation with Billie P. Weiss