Introduction

Families, Pre-School Sport, and Physical Activity: Critical Perspectives provides a social science perspective on the growth of paid-for pre-school sport and physical activity (PA). These activities act as a lens to provide a historical and contemporary analysis of families, parenting, and childhood in the UK and beyond. This edited book is largely about the growth of pre-school sport and PA, as we were discussing the idea of the book back in 2021, a news story of interest appeared in the UK. It was reported that four-year-old Zayn Ali Salman had joined Arsenal's pre-academy. Zayn is the youngest player to ever join Arsenal and is an Instagram sensation with over 78,000 followers (at the time of writing) watching his footballing skills. He has since been dubbed ‘Little Messi’ after the Argentinian footballer, Lionel Messi. Arsenal's talent scout Stephen Deans said at the time the story hit the headlines: ‘Salman was doing things kids his age aren't supposed to be doing.’ At four years old, Zayn is too young to officially sign a contract with Arsenal, yet there are reports that Zayn and his father had turned down offers from other clubs (Mehta, 2021). Zayn was still attending nursery school at the time Arsenal asked him to join their Under-6 to Under-8 Development Centre, and whilst the story gained a lot of attention, many were criticising the professionalisation of football at such an early age. While our text is not about elite sport for young children, the signing of a four-year-old boy highlights the wider growth and interest in pre-school sport (see Griggs et al. in Chapter 6 for further discussion on this particular topic). Furthermore, this story highlights the ways in which contemporary parenting ideologies put pressure on parents to ensure their child's success, a theme that is discussed extensively throughout this book.