ABSTRACT
In response to St. Peter’s chapter “Teaching the Coach, Coaching the Teacher,” the author applies findings from recent research investigating representations of organized youth sports coaches in award-winning works of young adult literature to problematize the relationship between a win-at-all-costs Little League coach and the players in his care in Richard Dresser’s odd-couple play Rounding Third. Further, the author stresses the importance of reading coaches – both real and fictional – with a critical eye, examining power dynamics between coaches and athletes and interrogating the ways of being that are normalized for authority figures in sports culture and our greater society.
