Stories of Athletes from Underserved Communities - Rob Book (Pt2) - Meaningful Sport Series

Athletes from underserved communities often have unique challenges and their pathways have received relatively little attention in the study of athletes’ careers. This episode continues exploring these athletes’ stories with Rob Book who is working on an exciting PhD project in this area. We discuss these athletes' cultural transitions and lessons learned from Rob’s work from both research and applied practice perspectives.

Before his doctoral research, Rob worked as a physical education teacher and coach in one of the most challenging school districts in the United States. He then transitioned from a teacher to a researcher to explore those athletes' developmental pathways who come from these communities.

Rob and his supervisory team have recently published two articles that form the basis of our conversation. See here:

Oatmeal is better than no meal: the career pathways of African American male professional athletes from underserved communities in the United States 

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.