A Loughborough University academic has contributed to a significant new publication exploring race, ethnicity and racism in sports coaching.
‘’Race’, Ethnicity and Racism in Sports Coaching’ has been co-edited by Dr Steven Bradbury from Loughborough University’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health and Sciences, and focuses specifically on how ‘race’, ethnicity and racism operate within the socio-cultural sphere of sports coaching.
Featuring multi-disciplinary perspectives, the book is arranged into three thematic sections, addressing the central topics of representation and racialised barriers in sports coaching; racialised identities, diversity and intersectionality in sports coaching; and formalised racial equality interventions in sports coaching.
Dr Bradbury explained the importance behind the book:
“The book is the first comprehensive collection of academic work focusing specifically on issues of ‘race’, ethnicity, and racisms in sport coaching, and provides a timely and insightful scholarly contribution to this marginalised field of study.
“It also has a significant degree of topicality, in the context of recent popular, mediated, and academic debates around the lack of racial diversity in the sports coaching workforce, and growing calls for the implementation of positive action measures such as US National Football League (NFL) ‘Rooney Rule’ to redress this racialised imbalance across a range of national and sporting contexts.
“The book also has a particular relevance for scholars and practitioners with an interest in examining the relationship between racial diversity and operational effectiveness in the coaching workplace, and with particular respect to supporting the vocational development and career progression of minoritised coaches and players within these settings.”
The literature also includes case studies from across North America, Europe and Australasia, and has been cited as essential reading for students, academics and practitioners with a critical interest in the sociology of sport, sport coaching, sport management, sport development, and ‘race’ and ethnicity studies.
Dr Bradbury collaborated with Dr Jim Lusted (The Open University) and Dr Jacco van Sterkenburg (Erasmus University Rotterdam) on the publication which can be purchased in hardback and downloaded as an e-book HERE.