Deportes

Spanning the first half of the twentieth century, Deportes uncovers the hidden experiences of Mexican male and female athletes, teams and leagues and their supporters who fought for a more level playing field on both sides of the border. Despite a widespread belief that Mexicans shunned physical exercise, teamwork or “good sportsmanship,” they proved that they could compete in a wide variety of sports at amateur, semiprofessional, Olympic and professional levels. Some even made their mark in the sports world by becoming the “first” Mexican athlete to reach the big leagues and win Olympic medals or world boxing and tennis titles. These sporting achievements were not theirs alone, an entire cadre of supporters—families, friends, coaches, managers, promoters, sportswriters, and fans—rallied around them and celebrated their athletic success. The Mexican nation and community, at home or abroad, elevated Mexican athletes to sports hero status with a deep sense of cultural and national pride. Alamillo argues that Mexican-origin males and females in the United States used sports to empower themselves and their community by developing and sustaining transnational networks with Mexico. Ultimately, these athletes and their supporters created a “sporting Mexican diaspora” that overcame economic barriers, challenged racial and gender assumptions, forged sporting networks across borders, developed new hybrid identities and raised awareness about civil rights within and beyond the sporting world.

Esta obra habla de uno de los miedos más antiguos que existen: el miedo a la incertidumbre, especialmente del miedo del deportista a enfrentarse a lo desconocido, a perder el control de la vida, a tener que dejar de hacer lo que mejor sabe hacer para comenzar algo nuevo, el miedo a un cambio radical y absoluto. El miedo de quién se encuentra en plenitud física y no deja de ser un jubilado que se ve obligado a un adiós definitivo a lo que ha consagrado su vida.

¿Qué tienen en común el seleccionador nacional de baloncesto y el director general de Inditex? Aunque a simple vista pudiera parecer que más bien poco, un análisis más profundo revela multitud de paralelismos entre los que, quizá, el más significativo sea que ambos dirigen equipos ejerciendo (y gestionando) el liderazgo con el objetivo de alcanzar la excelencia (se refleje ésta en una cuenta de resultados o en un campeonato olímpico). Partiendo de las similitudes (y también de las diferencias) entre el ámbito del deporte de alta competición y el mundo de la alta gestión, Juan Carlos Cubeiro y Leonor Gallardo desarrollan un estudio conciso y ameno, repleto de referencias a casos reales y cercanos de deportistas de éxito (Fernando Alonso, Rafa Nadal, el Sevilla C.F., etc.) y de empresas y empresarios igualmente reconocidos (Microsoft, Inditex...) de los que extraen valiosas lecciones que se pueden aplicar en nuestro día a día en la búsqueda de esa excelencia. Descriptivo y formativo, Liderazgo, empresa y deporte, puede leerse desde el punto de vista del deportista o del gestor pues ofrece claves esenciales que permitirán tanto a uno como a otro alcanzar el oro en la gestión y obtener dividendos tangibles en el deporte.

While globalisation has undoubtedly occurred in many social fields, in sport the importance of ‘the nation’ has remained. This book examines the continuing but contested relevance of national identities in sport within the context of globalising forces. Including case studies from around the world, it considers the significance of sport in divided societies, former global empires and aspirational nations within federal states. Each chapter looks at sport not only as a reflection of national rivalries but also as a changing cultural tradition that facilitates the reimagining of borders, boundaries and identities. The book questions how these national, state and global identifications are invoked through sporting structures and practices, both in the past and the present. Truly international in perspective, it features case studies from across Europe, the UK, the USA and China and touches on the topics of race, religion, terrorism, separatism, nationalism and militarism. Sport and National Identities: Globalisation and Conflict is fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in the sociology of sport or the relationship between sport, politics, geography and history. Chapter 8 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.