Mothers, Mothering, and Sport

Judy E. Battaglia is a Clinical Professor of Communication Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles; Rebecca Bromwich is a mom to four kids in competitive sports, as well as being a lawyer, legal academic, and activist. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario, where she is a faculty member at Carleton University's Department of Law and Legal Studies as well as serving as an Assistant Crown Attorney; Pamela Morgan Redela is a mother of two, a wife, and friend to many feminist co-conspirators. She holds a B.A., M.A., and PhD in Spanish Language, Literature and Culture and teaches in the Women’s Studies Department of California State University, San Marcos.

• Introduction: This Volume – Theoretical Foundations and Contributions“We changed her nappies. We saw that she was a girl.” Caster Semenya’s Femininity and the Power of Maternal TestimonyCeleste E. Orr and Amanda D. Watson“Swim Coaches and Mothers: Exploring Pedagogy Through Oral History”Kindell Foley Peters“Quit Calling My Kid, Yao Ming: Reflections of Race and Class from a Chinese Basketball Mom”Catherine Ma“Ecofeminism Meets the Team Mom: Eco-Momma as Cultural Change Broker”Pamela Morgan Redela“Concussions in Sport and Girls in Women’s Rugby: Effectively Resisting and Moving Beyond Confining Gender Norms and Mother-Blame: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Rowan Stringer Case”Rebecca Jaremko BromwichWhat Keeps Me Running: Horatio Algiers, The Albatross We Cannot Shed and Maternal Values in Motherhood and SportJudy BattagliaSports, Moms, School and Stress: My Story - Helaina Bromwich

“There is no other text like it. The articles provide watershed feminist theorizing about the process and practices of mothering athletes from intersectional feminist perspectives from all over the world. There are no other anthologies that I know of that critique the world of sports for children with a focus on gender from a mother’s point of view or a theoretical grounding in intersectional feminism. The chapters in this book challenge cissexism, interphobia, racism, classism, hegemonic feminism, and mother blame. These critiques turn the heteronormative, masculinist, cisgender world of competitive sports on its head. The authors approach the world of youth sports teams and individual sports from a myriad of voices—relational voices, embodied voices, voices of mothers, and mothers who coach. They challenge and resist masculinist and misogynist views of sports.” PAIGE EDLEY, Communication Studies Professor, Loyola Marymount University