This book presents a critical examination of youth sport policies and management, from the grassroots to the elite levels in a variety of countries around the world. The chapters originally published as a special issue in Sport in Society.

Chapter 1 Young people and sport: from participation to the Olympics - introduction to the special issue Berit Skirstad, Milena M. Parent and Barrie Houlihan Chapter 2 A partnership-based evaluation of a community-based youth sport and physical activity programme Milena M. Parent and Jean Harvey Chapter 3 Reinventing youth sport: formative findings from a state-level action research project Laurence Chalip and Raquel Hutchinson Chapter 4 Walking the line: how young athletes balance academic studies and sport in international competition Elsa Kristiansen Chapter 5 'Everything revolves around gymnastics': athletes and parents make sense of elite youth sport Froukje Smits, Frank Jacobs and Annelies Knoppers Chapter 6 The (un)importance of existing: community sport organizations' environmental negotiation David Patterson and Milena M. Parent Chapter 7 Talent identification and development in elite youth disability sport Barrie Houlihan and Pippa Chapman Chapter 8 'You don't realize what you see!': the institutional context of emotional abuse in elite youth sport Frank Jacobs, Froukje Smits and Annelies Knoppers Chapter 9 Boosting youth sport? Implementation of Norwegian youth sport policy through the 2016 Lillehammer Winter Youth Olympic Games Anna-Maria Strittmatter and Eivind Åsrum Skille Chapter 10 An integrative review of sport-based youth development literature Gareth J. Jones, Michael B. Edwards, Jason N. Bocarro, Kyle S. Bunds and Jordan W. Smith

Berit Skirstad is an Associate Professor Emerita at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and was responsible for the sport management study there for almost 30 years.

Milena M. Parent is a Full Professor in sport (event) management at the University of Ottawa, Canada, and at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.

Barrie Houlihan is Emeritus Professor of Sport Policy at Loughborough University, UK, and Visiting Professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.