Winner of the 2018 North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Book Award

For nearly one hundred years, basketball has been an important part of Japanese American life.  Women’s basketball holds a special place in the contemporary scene of highly organized and expansive Japanese American leagues in California, in part because these leagues have produced numerous talented female players. Using data from interviews and observations, Nicole Willms explores the interplay of social forces and community dynamics that have shaped this unique context of female athletic empowerment. As Japanese American women have excelled in mainstream basketball, they have emerged as local stars who have passed on the torch by becoming role models and building networks for others. 

"“Willms has combined solid research with clear prose to craft an exemplary study that is smart in execution and fresh in its perspective. When Women Rule the Court is unlike any other on the market and will make contributions to multiple fields."" - author of Redskins: Insult and Brand

"Willms provides a meaning-laden sporting milieu with multi-generational investments, complex social formations, and kinship networks of Japanese American basketball that complicates femininity, ethnicity, ability, and nation. This book challenges hyper-hetero-masculinized readings of sport through spectacular athletes and everyday sporting cultures." - author of Desi Hoop Dreams: Pickup Basketball and the Making of Asian American Masculinity

"This book will make a strong contribution to multiple fields. It will inspire discussions about the intersection of gender and race, the process of racialization and the production of ethnic identity through sport, and the role of iconic female sporting stars in the empowerment of young girls." - Gender & Society

"Willm takes us through how her sociological imagination for the J-Leagues was ignited leading to her becoming enthralled with Japanese American women’s basketball in California....A very good depiction of a subculture and how it has grown and endured....Recommend[ed]...to anybody interested in basketball, not only scholars involved in the sociology of sport." - Idrottsforum

"“Willms has combined solid research with clear prose to craft an exemplary study that is smart in execution and fresh in its perspective. When Women Rule the Court is unlike any other on the market and will make contributions to multiple fields."" - author of Redskins: Insult and Brand

"Willms provides a meaning-laden sporting milieu with multi-generational investments, complex social formations, and kinship networks of Japanese American basketball that complicates femininity, ethnicity, ability, and nation. This book challenges hyper-hetero-masculinized readings of sport through spectacular athletes and everyday sporting cultures." - author of Desi Hoop Dreams: Pickup Basketball and the Making of Asian American Masculinity

"This book will make a strong contribution to multiple fields. It will inspire discussions about the intersection of gender and race, the process of racialization and the production of ethnic identity through sport, and the role of iconic female sporting stars in the empowerment of young girls." - Gender & Society

"Willm takes us through how her sociological imagination for the J-Leagues was ignited leading to her becoming enthralled with Japanese American women’s basketball in California....A very good depiction of a subculture and how it has grown and endured....Recommend[ed]...to anybody interested in basketball, not only scholars involved in the sociology of sport." - Idrottsforum