More Than Play: How Law, Policy, and Politics Shape American Youth Sport

Tens of millions of children in the United States participate in youth sport, a pastime widely believed to be part of a good childhood. Yet most children who enter youth sport are driven to quit by the time they enter adolescence, and many more are sidelined by its high financial burdens. Until now, there has been little legal scholarly attention paid to youth sport or its reform. Dionne Koller sets the stage for a different approach by illuminating the law and policy assumptions supporting a model that puts children's bodies to work in an activity that generates significant surplus value. In doing so, she identifies the wide array of beneficiaries who have a stake in a system that is much more than just play--and the political choices that protect these parties' interests at children's expense.

Author: Dionne Koller
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 04/08/2025
Pages: 228
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9780520399266
ISBN10: 0520399269
BISAC Categories:
- Law | Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice
- Law | Sports
- Law | Family Law | Children

About the Author

Dionne Koller is Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Sport and the Law at the University of Baltimore.