Athletics, also known as track and field or track and field athletics, is a collection of sports events that involve running, throwing and jumping. This book presents recent articles on athletics and issues related to athletes.

The genesis for this book was a 1969 compilation in which Peter Lovesey and Tom McNab described all books on track and field to date. Both authors have had a lifetime interest and involvement in athletics and the present work builds on that knowledge and expertise to give the reader a definitive guide to the UK literature of track and field. This super bibliography includes an extensive introductory overview of the literature by Tom McNab, as well as annotations contributed by all three compilers. The compendium covers the history, theory and practice, and personalities of athletics as well as special chapters on athletics in literature and the visual arts.

Statues of fans as nostalgic monuments to the North American devotion to baseball, Canadian lacrosse and ethnic ideologies, the rise of modern sports and class sensibilities in São Paulo, the inaugural world championship for women’s hockey, and national memories of Olympic Games hosted on US soil. What do these seemingly disparate themes have in common? They each comprise a facet of sporting experiences in the western hemisphere that took place between the 1890s and the 1990s. This collection offers new insights on the role of sport in defining local, regional, national, and international cultures in the western hemisphere. The essays offer historical perspectives on the power of sport to create common ground in modern societies while simultaneously exploring how it serves to mark cultural boundaries and reinforce cultural identities. From national pastimes to ethnic traditions, from class sensibilities to racial ideologies, Sport in the Americas presents novel contributions that examine both the singular and manifold patterns of culture that sport animates. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue in The International Journal of the History of Sport.

Coaches are amongst the most visible figures in sport today but little is known about the history of their profession. This book examines the history of coaching from the early nineteenth to the late twentieth century. It uses a number of sports as case studies that includes: cricket, swimming, rugby union, athletics, football and tennis. The focus is largely English but international examples are used to illuminate the British context. A number of themes are explored. Initially, in the 1800s, the coach was like an artisan who learned his skills on the job and coaching was similar to a craft. Early coaches were professionals but from the late nineteenth century an amateur elite governed British sport, who inhibited and in some sports banned coaching. As the twentieth century progressed, though, different sports at different stages began to embrace coaching as international competition intensified. In addition, the nature of coaching changed as a more scientific and managerial approach was applied. Finally, in football, the export of early British coaches is examined in light of the migration of international athletes and also as a process of ‘knowledge transfer’. This book was published as a special issue of Sport in History.

Practiced and watched by billions, sport is a global phenomenon. Sport history is a burgeoning sub-field that explores sport in all forms to help answer fundamental questions that scholars examine. This volume provides a reference for sport scholars and an accessible introduction to those who are new to the sub-field.

Physical education has become an integral part of the total education system. Physical education programs are needed for the growth and development to increase the physical competence, health related fitness self responsibility and skill development. Physical education refers to the process of importing systematic instruction in physical exercise, sports, games & hygiene. It aims at the training of the body, mind and conduct. It helps to keep healthy mind within healthy body.

This book is an historical survey of women’s sport from 1850-1960. It looks at some of the more recent methodological approaches to writing sports history and raises questions about how the history of women’s sport has so far been shaped by academic writers. Questions explored in this text include: What are the fresh perspectives and newly available sources for the historian of women’s sport? How do these take forward established debates on women’s place in sporting culture and what novel approaches do they suggest? How can our appreciation of fashion, travel, food and medical history be advanced by looking at women’s involvement in sport? How can we use some of the current ideas and methodologies in the recent literature on the history and sociology of sport in order to look afresh at women’s participation? Jean Williams’s original research on these topics and more will be a useful resource for scholars in the fields of sports, women’s studies, history and sociology.