| Summary: | Nearly half of all American high school students participate on sports teams. With a total of 7.6 million participants, this makes the high school sports program in America the largest organized sports program in the world. This book traces the history of high school sports in America from the student-led athletic clubs of the 1880s through to the government takeover of athletic associations in the 1930s. The author provides an exploration of the ways in which the ideals Americans hoped to instill in future generations - hard work, fair play, team building - were challenged by questions of gender, race, and religion. The author explains the struggle to control high school sports, first by schools and local government and eventually on the national level. "Interscholastic sports have become so important that they have become a touchstone of conflict over ... virtually every social division (in) our society," the author writes. "The values and ethics in our society as a whole are reflected in our schools, and most publicly on the athletic fields and courts." -- Publisher's description.
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