Kicking (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781478033882)

As a poet, public-facing scholar of sports politics, and former professional soccer player, having represented the United States on the men's U23 national soccer team, Jules Boykoff draws on his lifetime of athletic experience to reflect on the practice of kicking. With short vignettes blending the personal, the reflective, the historical, and the analytical, Kicking is uniquely positioned to reflect on the most popular sport in the world. From the act of kicking a soccer ball, Boykoff looks outward to his own family history, including his mother's struggle with polio, which fed her insistence on his athleticism; to broader trends like greenwashing and sportwashing; and to reflections on sport's toxic masculinity, the poetics of on-field revenge, and the power-politics of both the men's and women's World Cups. Kicking is a must-read for all those who love the beautiful game.

Author: Jules Boykoff
ISBN-10: 1478033886
ISBN-13: 9781478033882
Publisher: Duke University Press
Language: English
Published: 05/05/2026
Pages: 160
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.26lbs