Stories of Athletes From Underserved Communities (Pt1) - Rob Book - Meaningful Sport Series

Athletes' careers have been studied for several decades, but fairly little is known about those athletes who come from underserved communities and whose formative years have been accompanied by violence, poverty and instability.

Rob Book worked as a physical education teacher and coach in one of the most challenging school districts in the United States, engaging in highly stressful yet meaningful work. He then transitioned from a teacher to a researcher to explore those athletes' developmental pathways who come from these communities. In this episode, he reflects on his experiences working in this environment and shares findings from his ongoing research.

Rob and his supervisory team have recently published two articles that form the basis of our conversation, Oatmeal is better than no meal: the career pathways of African American male professional athletes from underserved communities in the United States and Sink or swim: career narratives of two African American athletes from underserved communities in the United States.

Rob Book is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark. His research project is 'Empowering youth athletes against the odds: Athletic talent development environments in underserved communities'. 

You can follow Rob on Twitter @book_rob.