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.

Jules Boykoff is the author of What Are the Olympics For?, The 1936 Berlin Olympics, and NOlympians.

“In this poignant memoir Boykoff writes about his passions, family then football, in a way that offers an opportunity to engage with the vulnerability of one of the world’s best public scholars. We know Boykoff won’t stop advocating for better sport, and for the people who love it.”
-- Shireen Ahmed, sports journalist and Senior Contributor with CBC Sports

Ghostface  1
“Mès Que Un Club”  13
Trophy Husband  37
Swish Swish  55
A Taste of Power  71
My Dhad  84
Home Field Advantage  91
Greenwash Gold  104
Kicking It  119
The Bonds of Soccer  130
Acknowledgments  139
Notes  141
Bibliography  151