Rick Eckstein is professor of sociology at Villanova University and the author of Public Dollars, Private Stadiums and Nuclear Power and Social Power. His research on sports is cited widely in media such as the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Philadelphia Inquirer, and many others. He has received awards for both his teaching and his writing. He was a volunteer youth sports coach for over fifteen years.

Combining sport business and sociology, Eckstein explores what he calls the ‘pay-to-play pipeline’ from girls’ youth sports to women’s intercollegiate athletics. Organized thematically, he employs a ‘‘mixed-methods’ approach’ with quantitative primary and secondary sources, interviews with individuals involved with youth and college sports, and ethnographic observations. Eckstein focuses on five US female sports (soccer, field hockey, figure skating, ice hockey, and ultimate Frisbee), their pipelines, and intercollegiate varsity footprints. Eckstein’s primary argument is that the pipeline is based on the embellished promise of a college scholarship or admissions advantage and includes increased commercialism, consumption, and commodification of girls’ youth sports. The author critiques several aspects of the supply and demand of the youth sports industry, evaluates marketing strategies, and explores the ‘masculinization’ of female sports. Although implicating several groups, Eckstein reserves most of the blame (repeatedly so) for institutions of higher education and offers several suggestions for higher education to eliminate the pipeline. This is an academically grounded yet accessible work that both scholars and parents will benefit from reading.Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.

• AcknowledgmentsPreface to the Paperback EditionIntroductionChapter One: The Female Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Two: Higher Education and the Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Three: The Commercialized Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Four: Creating Demand for the Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Five: Female Sports on Male TermsChapter Six: Saving Girls’ Youth Sports by Changing Higher EducationAppendix: The Challenges of EthnographyNotesIndex

Rick Eckstein is professor of sociology at Villanova University and the author of Public Dollars, Private Stadiums and Nuclear Power and Social Power. His research on sports is cited widely in media such as the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Philadelphia Inquirer, and many others. He has received awards for both his teaching and his writing. He was a volunteer youth sports coach for over fifteen years.

Combining sport business and sociology, Eckstein explores what he calls the ‘pay-to-play pipeline’ from girls’ youth sports to women’s intercollegiate athletics. Organized thematically, he employs a ‘‘mixed-methods’ approach’ with quantitative primary and secondary sources, interviews with individuals involved with youth and college sports, and ethnographic observations. Eckstein focuses on five US female sports (soccer, field hockey, figure skating, ice hockey, and ultimate Frisbee), their pipelines, and intercollegiate varsity footprints. Eckstein’s primary argument is that the pipeline is based on the embellished promise of a college scholarship or admissions advantage and includes increased commercialism, consumption, and commodification of girls’ youth sports. The author critiques several aspects of the supply and demand of the youth sports industry, evaluates marketing strategies, and explores the ‘masculinization’ of female sports. Although implicating several groups, Eckstein reserves most of the blame (repeatedly so) for institutions of higher education and offers several suggestions for higher education to eliminate the pipeline. This is an academically grounded yet accessible work that both scholars and parents will benefit from reading.Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.

• AcknowledgmentsPreface to the Paperback EditionIntroductionChapter One: The Female Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Two: Higher Education and the Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Three: The Commercialized Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Four: Creating Demand for the Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Five: Female Sports on Male TermsChapter Six: Saving Girls’ Youth Sports by Changing Higher EducationAppendix: The Challenges of EthnographyNotesIndex

Rick Eckstein is professor of sociology at Villanova University and the author of Public Dollars, Private Stadiums and Nuclear Power and Social Power. His research on sports is cited widely in media such as the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Philadelphia Inquirer, and many others. He has received awards for both his teaching and his writing. He was a volunteer youth sports coach for over fifteen years.

Combining sport business and sociology, Eckstein explores what he calls the ‘pay-to-play pipeline’ from girls’ youth sports to women’s intercollegiate athletics. Organized thematically, he employs a ‘‘mixed-methods’ approach’ with quantitative primary and secondary sources, interviews with individuals involved with youth and college sports, and ethnographic observations. Eckstein focuses on five US female sports (soccer, field hockey, figure skating, ice hockey, and ultimate Frisbee), their pipelines, and intercollegiate varsity footprints. Eckstein’s primary argument is that the pipeline is based on the embellished promise of a college scholarship or admissions advantage and includes increased commercialism, consumption, and commodification of girls’ youth sports. The author critiques several aspects of the supply and demand of the youth sports industry, evaluates marketing strategies, and explores the ‘masculinization’ of female sports. Although implicating several groups, Eckstein reserves most of the blame (repeatedly so) for institutions of higher education and offers several suggestions for higher education to eliminate the pipeline. This is an academically grounded yet accessible work that both scholars and parents will benefit from reading.Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.

• AcknowledgmentsPreface to the Paperback EditionIntroductionChapter One: The Female Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Two: Higher Education and the Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Three: The Commercialized Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Four: Creating Demand for the Youth Sports to College PipelineChapter Five: Female Sports on Male TermsChapter Six: Saving Girls’ Youth Sports by Changing Higher EducationAppendix: The Challenges of EthnographyNotesIndex