ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter is to detail and discuss the responses of the participants towards the core research question: ‘What are the motives of American university students for undertaking a soccer scholarship?’ The hypothesis tested within this study is that soccer scholarship students are a site for a cultural expression of the American Dream in which success and social advancement are crucial aspects. By following the well-trodden path of an athletic scholarship, undergraduate students can be regarded as adopting an established vehicle and conduit of social mobility. The results presented in this chapter offer the reader insight to the rich and nuanced opinions of students undertaking a soccer scholarship. As such, the chapter documents the views of a previously unrepresented cohort of millennial student-athletes. The results identified within the chapter provide an empirical context for reflecting upon notions of soccer and ‘American exceptionalism’.
