Hail Mary


Book Description

The groundbreaking story of the National Women’s Football League, and the players whose spirit, rivalries, and tenacity changed the legacy of women’s sports forever. In 1967, a Cleveland promoter recruited a group of women to compete as a traveling football troupe. It was conceived as a gimmick—in the vein of the Harlem Globetrotters—but the women who signed up really wanted to play. And they were determined to win. Hail Mary chronicles the highs and lows of the National Women’s Football League, which took root in nineteen cities across the US over the course of two decades. Drawing on new interviews with former players from the Detroit Demons, the Toledo Troopers, the LA Dandelions, and more, Hail Mary brings us into the stadiums where they broke records, the small-town lesbian bars where they were recruited, and the backrooms where the league was formed, championed, and eventually shuttered. In an era of vibrant second wave feminism and Title IX activism, the athletes of the National Women’s Football League were boisterous pioneers on and off the field: you’ll be rooting for them from start to finish.




We Are the Troopers


Book Description

Discover the unlikely story of the Toledo Troopers, the winningest team in the National Women's Football League, who won seven league championships in the 1970s—and gain full access to the players and key figures in the organization. Amid a national backdrop of the call to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, the National Women’s Football League was founded as something of a gimmick. However, the league’s star team, the Toledo Troopers, emerged to challenge traditional gender roles and amass a win-loss record never before or since achieved in American football. The players were housewives, factory workers, hairdressers, former nuns, high school teachers, bartenders, mail carriers, pilots, and would-be drill sergeants. Black, white, Latina. Mothers and daughters and aunts and sisters. But most of all, they were athletes who had been denied the opportunity to play a game they were born to play. Before the protests and the lobbyists, before the debates and the amendments, before the marches and the mandates, there was only an obscure advertisement in a local Midwestern paper and those who answered it, women such as Lee Hollar, the only woman working the line at the Libbey glass factory; Gloria Jimenez, who grew up playing sports with her six brothers; and Linda Jefferson, one the greatest, most accomplished athletes in sports history. Stephen Guinan grew up in Toledo pulling for his hometown football team, and—in the innocence of youth—did not realize at the time what a barrier-breaking lost piece of history he was witnessing. We Are the Troopers shines light on forgotten champions who came together for the love of the game.




Football for Females


Book Description




Women's American Football


Book Description

Tackle football has been primarily viewed as a male sport, but at a time when men’s participation rates are decreasing, an increasing number of women are entering the gridiron—and they have a long history of doing so. Women’s American Football is a narrative history of girls and women participating in American football in the United States since the 1920s, when a women’s team played at halftime during an early NFL game. The women’s game became more organized in 1974, when the National Women’s Football League was established, with notable teams such as the Dallas Bluebonnets, Toledo Troopers, Oklahoma City Dolls, and Detroit Demons. Today there are two main professional leagues in the United States: the Women’s Football Alliance, with nearly seventy teams, and the Women’s National Football Conference, with eighteen, in addition to a number of smaller leagues. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the NFL have recently begun sponsoring flag football teams at the college level, and the game is growing for high school girls as well. In 2021 more than two thousand girls played on mostly boys’ teams, and there are currently four all-girls leagues in the United States and Canada, in Manitoba, Utah, Indiana, and New Brunswick. In addition to the rapid growth of women playing football, there have been advancements in other areas of the game. Beginning with Jennifer Welter in 2015, several women have earned positions coaching the professional game. In 2020 ESPN aired Born to Play, a documentary on the Boston Renegades, the 2019 champion of the Women’s Football Alliance. Based on extensive interviews with women players and focusing closely on leagues, teams, and athletes since the passage of Title IX in 1972, Russ Crawford illuminates the rich history of the women who have played football, breaking barriers on and off the field.




Play Big


Book Description

An inspiring, gutsy handbook for success from the first woman to ever coach in the NFL When Jen Welter became a linebackers coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 2015, she was the first woman to ever break the glass sideline of the NFL. In Play Big, Welter reveals the grit that it took to be a trailblazer in the ultimate boys' club. Pre-NFL, Welter was an undersized, underestimated athlete who made sacrifice after sacrifice to achieve her football dreams -- rising to the top of women's football leagues and eventually daring to play against men twice her size. Play Big lays out how she succeeded despite the odds, through force of will and determination, revealing the wisdom Welter gained over countless setbacks and challenges. With vivid wit and candor, Play Big will coach you to do the same -- whatever your obstacles might be -- while translating Welter's hard-earned advice for cultivating true perseverance and toughness.







Women's American Football


Book Description

Tackle football has been primarily viewed as a male sport, but at a time when men's participation rates are decreasing, an increasing number of women are entering the gridiron--and they have a long history of doing so. Women's American Football is a narrative history of girls and women participating in American football in the United States since the 1920s, when a women's team played at halftime during an early NFL game. The women's game became more organized in 1974, when the National Women's Football League was established, with notable teams such as the Dallas Bluebonnets, Toledo Troopers, Oklahoma City Dolls, and Detroit Demons. Today there are two main professional leagues in the United States: the Women's Football Alliance, with nearly seventy teams, and the Women's National Football Conference, with eighteen, in addition to a number of smaller leagues. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the NFL have recently begun sponsoring flag football teams at the college level, and the game is growing for high school girls as well. In 2021 more than two thousand girls played on mostly boys' teams, and there are currently four all-girls leagues in the United States and Canada, in Manitoba, Utah, Indiana, and New Brunswick. In addition to the rapid growth of women playing football, there have been advancements in other areas of the game. Beginning with Jennifer Welter in 2015, several women have earned positions coaching the professional game. In 2020 ESPN aired Born to Play, a documentary on the Boston Renegades, the 2019 champion of the Women's Football Alliance. Based on extensive interviews with women players and focusing closely on leagues, teams, and athletes since the passage of Title IX in 1972, Russ Crawford illuminates the rich history of the women who have played football, breaking barriers on and off the field.




The Professionalisation of Women’s Sport


Book Description

The Professionalisation of Women’s Sport draws upon the expertise of a range of scholars from the fields of sport sociology, sport history, sport economics to critically discuss the complex and often fragmented histories of women’s involvement in professional sport.




Contemporary Sport Management


Book Description

This is the ideal text for students studying sport management, exercise, fitness management and athletic training. It will teach aspiring sport managers about this expanding field, enabling them to define sport management and discuss the scope of opportunities the sport industry presents.




Contemporary Sport Management


Book Description

Contemporary Sport Management, Fifth Edition With Web Study Guide, provides students with an overview of sport management by presenting extensive discussions of the foundational aspects of the profession and current topics from the field. The fifth edition continues to engage students with a full-color format and an integrated web study guide. The text also discusses the role of social media in revolutionizing the industry and the significance of sport as an international institution. Students will learn the relevance of legal, sociocultural, historical, political, and psychological concepts to the management of sport; the professional skills and attitudes of successful sport managers; and ways in which the globalization of sport continues to affect sport management professions. One of the top-selling textbooks in the field, the fifth edition retains many of its popular learning tools for students and also offers several key additions: • Social media sidebars in every chapter prepare future sport managers to confront some of the unique challenges and opportunities of this growing phenomenon. • Professional profiles containing a biography, Q&A, and associated web study guide activity allow students to gain realistic views into the roles of sport managers. • Enhanced ancillaries include a new image bank and chapter quizzes compatible with learning management systems to further support classroom instruction and testing. • A student web study guide now contains more than 171 fully integrated activities to provide opportunities for real-world application. • A retrospective from cofounding editor Janet Parks illustrating how the outstanding roster of contributors has been a hallmark of this title from the beginning. The text also contains a variety of updated learning tools, including international sidebars with associated activities, a timeline, ethics and critical thinking sections, a running glossary, chapter objectives, end-of-chapter reviews, and references to help students stay engaged with the material and understand key concepts and terms. In addition, the web study guide (WSG) contains multiple interactive learning experiences that assist students in retaining the information. Each chapter of the text includes several cross-references to the WSG, allowing students to take advantage of the following features: • Professional profile activities encourage students to test their expectations of the challenges that sport industry professionals face on a daily basis. • Job announcement activities demonstrate the skills that prospective employers seek in particular sport settings. • Web searches point students to the vast amount of information available online. • Portfolio activities help students reflect on questions related to the critical thinking and ethics sections of each chapter. Upon completion of the activities, students will have constructed a portfolio of their reflections on issues they might face as future sport management professionals. • Learning in Action activities help students understand and apply the concepts covered in each chapter. With 20 chapters written by 44 expert contributors, Contemporary Sport Management, Fifth Edition, begins with an overview of the field and historical aspects of the industry. Next, the attributes of effective and professional sport managers and the relevance of managerial and leadership concepts applied to sport management are discussed. In part II, students learn about the major settings in which sport management professionals work today, including professional and amateur sport management sites, sport management agencies, and sport tourism venues. Part III offers information on key functional areas of sport management, such as marketing, communication, finance and economics, and facility and event management. In part IV, readers examine current challenges in the profession, such as issues related to consumer behavior, law, sociology, globalization, and the importance of continuing sport management research. The updated and enhanced fifth edition of Contemporary Sport Management offers a varied and dynamic learning package to assist readers in understanding the many opportunities and challenges in the sport management field. From historical foundations and future directions to current issues and professional skill sets, this popular textbook continues to inform and inspire up-and-coming professionals to have a positive influence on the management of sport.