© 2025
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
WAMC FM will periodically be on low power for tower maintenance
The Roundtable
51%

Dionne Koller on why youth sports are "More Than Play"

By Jesse King
Published May 1, 2025 at 8:00 PM EDT
University of California Press/University of Baltimore
Book Cover and Headshot

On this week's 51%, we speak with Dionne Koller, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, about the benefits and dangers of youth sports, and what parents should know before signing their kids up. In her new book, More Than Play, Koller explains how today's youth sports became more privatized, more expensive, and less regulated. We also stop by a roller derby bout in New York's Hudson Valley.

Guest: Dionne Koller, professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law and author of More Than Play: How Law, Policy, and Politics Shape American Youth Sport

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 

————

Tags
51% bookyouthSportsDionne Koller
Jesse King
Jesse King is the host of WAMC's national program on women's issues, "51%," and the station's bureau chief in the Hudson Valley. She has also produced episodes of the WAMC podcast "A New York Minute In History."
See stories by Jesse King
Related Content
  • Fifty-One Percent
    Jill Hasday on "We the Men"
    Jesse King
    On this week's 51%, we chat with Minnesota Law Professor Jill Hasday about her book, We the Men: How Forgetting Women's Struggles for Equality Perpetuates Inequality.
  • Fifty-One Percent
    How to prepare for a recession (just in case)
    Jesse King
    On this week’s 51%, we learn how to prep for and survive a recession with Professor Suzanne Shu of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. We also chat with business journalist Alison Kosik about her new book What’s Up with Women and Money? Part memoir, part how-to guide, Kosik’s book explains how women can feel more confident navigating their finances, invest for the future, and avoid getting taken for a ride at the car dealership.
  • Fifty-One Percent
    Nanda Reddy on "A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl"
    Jesse King
    On this week’s 51%, we speak with author Nanda Reddy about her new novel A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl. An exploration of identity and the immigrant experience, A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl follows Maya, an Indo-Guyanese woman, as she confronts the many versions of herself, she had to create in order to escape her traumatic youth and survive as an undocumented immigrant in the U.S.
  • Fifty-One Percent
    The SAVE Act: What would it mean for women voters?
    Jesse King
    The House has passed the SAVE Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship from anyone registering to vote in federal elections. What might this mean for married women and other voters with changed names or hard-to-reach documents? We discuss the bill (and where it goes from here) with Dr. Elizabeth Matto, director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University - New Brunswick.