Today’s fathers are responding to new expectations about fathering: the remote father of the past has faded and men are now expected to be ‘involved’ fathers who actively engage with their children. Most turn to leisure and sport to do this, yet in the areas of family studies and men’s studies, the leisure component of family life is under-played. This book provides a long overdue and thorough investigation of the relationship between fatherhood, sport, and leisure.

Fathering through Sport and Leisure investigates what fathers actually do in the time they spend with their children. Leading researchers from the fields of sport, leisure and family studies examine the tensions men encounter as they endeavour to meet the new expectations of fatherhood, and the central role that sport and leisure play in overcoming this. Analysed in relation to social trends and current policy debates, this unique collection examines fathering in a wide range of contexts including:

• Parental expectation and youth sports
• Fathers and daughters
• Leisure time and couple time in dual earner families
• Divorce, fatherhood and leisure.

This book shows how contemporary fathers use sport and leisure to engage with their sons and daughters, achieve emotional closeness and fulfil their own expectations of what it means to be a ‘good father’. Drawing on research carried out in the UK, Australia, Canada and the United States, this is a crucial text for anybody with an interest in sport and leisure studies, family studies or fatherhood.

The Author

Tess Kay is Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Institute of Youth Sport at Loughborough University, one of the largest research centres dedicated to the study of young people, sport and leisure.