In our current moment, sport and romance are uniting in the creation of YA sports fiction titles that are flooding the market and enjoying widespread popularity. Despite this exciting intersection between sport and romance in the world of fiction for young people, little research has been conducted on the realities and possibilities of the genre. This paper employs inductive thematic analysis to explore answers to the question: How does sport function across three current, contemporary, high-quality YA sport romances? Findings reveal how, within each text, the protagonist’s relationship with sport is initially represented as a romance trope that is, at best, idealized, and at worst, dangerous. This is followed by the introduction of a fellow teen who foments romantic interest in the protagonist, and serving as an unwitting rival, reveals the flaws and failings of the initial sporting suitor. The protagonist, now under the spell of a new love, is forced and enabled to see, confront, and redefine their relationship with sport. This paper is important in the way it invites purposeful consideration of sport and romance and their intersections in young adult literature at a time when YA sport romances abound but scholarly examination of the genre is just beginning to emerge.
Wendy J. Glenn (Fri,) studied this question.