Indeed, this notion of self-worth is an essentially point of consideration in the Messner text, both as it relates to those who are excluded and included. The latter would make up the interview sample for Messner's research, with young men involved in organized sports providing descriptive qualitative data on their experiences. Among these experiences, it is compelling also that Messner connects participation in organized sports with a boy's patriarchal relationship. It is here within that boys learn what Messner refers to as a tendency toward non-intimacy. Accordingly, Messner notes that "the fact that boys' introductions to organized sports are often made by fathers who might otherwise be absent or emotionally distant adds a powerful emotional charge to these early experiences. Although playing organized sprots eventually came to feel 'natural' for all of the men interviewed in this study, many needed to be 'exposed' to sports, or even gently 'pushed' by their fathers...

89)
Critique:

Here, Messner is compelled by the central idea that participation in organized sports provides young men with a way of relating to family, to society, and to their teammates that dispatches with personal or emotional disclosure in exchange for performance and praise. However, Messner largely and conveniently overlooks many of the essential qualities of sports which make these valuable to one's emotional development, including a sense of commitment to others, teamwork, participation in a community and the forging of emotional connections through shared hardship and joy. By overlooking these benefits, Messner crafts a piece that is critical of the institution of organized sports by a matter of convenience.

Works Cited:

Messner, M. (1990). Boyhood, Organized Sports and the Construction of Masculinities. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 18(4), 416-444.