Sports and K-12 Education: Insights for Teachers, Coaches, and School Leaders

Much of the landscape of K-12 education is infused with sports. In the United States and the United Kingdom, nearly half of school-aged children play some form of organized sport. The impact of athletics on schools is enormous when informal athletic activity and the ubiquity of sports merchandise are also taken into account. What does this mean for educators? What challenges and opportunities do sports and athletic participation present to educators serving in K-12 schools? As an introductory text, Sports and K-12 Education addresses these questions through an accessible and engaging collection of chapters divided into three overarching themes: sports and classroom success; sports and identity; and sports, media, and schools. The book’s diverse set of authors—scholars, teachers, administrators, former athletes, athletic directors—offer a multifaceted exploration on a range of topics, including parallels between coaching and teaching, the complexities of student-athlete identity, role conflict among teacher coaches, strategies for supporting athletes from marginalized populations, media representations of female athletes, sports values and teaching, and more.