Who am I and how did I get here?

Born and raised in Montreal, I’m lucky enough to have the support of an incredible family who have always stressed the importance of kindness, respect, and standing up for what’s right.

Growing up in a mostly secular but still somewhat observant Jewish home, education and family were top of mind. From a young age, everyone told me I was destined for a career in law. Given my love for debate and conversation - whether about sports, books, history or just about anything - I guess this seemed a likely career path for a nice Jewish boy.

After going to Law school immediately after CEGEP (post-high school, pre-university mandatory college, Quebec is weird), I decided I didn’t want to help rich people stay rich, and moved to studying things I was more interested in. This led me to a Master’s in Sport Management and research in basketball analytics, while working as an assistant coach with the Brock women’s basketball team.

I’ve been a hoop-head since high school, and while never much of a player myself (there’s not much of a market for 5’11 power forwards with pretty good touch who can’t jump or run fast), I’ve always been a student of the game. My partner is particularly fond of my ability to provide commentary about NBA and WNBA games seconds before the announcer says the same thing. Coaching college and university students allowed me to merge my love for the game and the stats with my desire to mentor and work with young people, and I continued to coach in Montreal and Niagara throughout my graduate studies.

Learning more about the critical literature in sport studies, I knew that I wanted to move beyond crunching numbers to studying the social problems that continue to plague both the sports world and society generally (see more about this in the Research section!). This led me to sociology, where I’m fortunate to have worked with Dr. Eran Shor and several others on research that examines violence against women, masculinity, deviance, critical criminology and sport. I am currently writing a book about violence and harm in capitalist sport, with University of North Carolina Press.

I’ve also taught courses in criminology, gender, quantitative and qualitative research methods, cybercultures and cybercrime, and social stratification in my time as a faculty member and graduate student, and won the Graduate Student Teaching Award in McGill’s Sociology department in 2020.

While research and teaching does take up a considerable amount of my time, I also try to remember that we humans are not just vehicles for labour. I love to play basketball, tennis, hockey, ski, cycle and hike whenever I can, and read as many books (both academic and non-academic) that I can keep my eyes open for.

The official stuff

Currently a Lecturer in Criminology and Sociology at Middlesex University London (London, UK)

Completed my PhD in Sociology at McGill University (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

Completed my Master’s of Arts in Sport Management at Brock University (St Catharines, Ontario, Canada)

Completed my Bachelor’s of Civil Law at Université de Montréal (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)