Youth athletics in America is an ever-evolving landscape. People continue to focus on its educational benefits, whether learning teamwork or getting aYouth athletics in America is an ever-evolving landscape. People continue to focus on its educational benefits, whether learning teamwork or getting a college scholarship. However, these competitive foci can also bring out the worst in parenting. Parents often become more drawn into success than their kid-athletes. At the college level, tantalizing new constructs like the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) marketing and the Transfer Portal require wise decision-making to avoid pitfalls. What are kids to do? And what are parents to do? Professionally, Kirsten Jones, a former D1 volleyball player, helps families navigate the playing field of youth athletics. Here, she distills wise guidance on how to best empower young athletes for their futures.
She principally focuses on having fun, not winning, as the main benefit of sports. She also stresses the lifelong lessons that can be learned from playing sports at any level. As a parent of two college athletes, she is well aware that the sports odyssey can end at any moment and that the value of every moment must be maximized. Her main advice to parents is to not ruin it for their kids. Instead, empower them to make their own decisions. Importantly, that attitude equips them for the next level, whatever that is, and it equips them for life.
The climb in sports is fleeting. Everyone wants to win, but only a small group can reach the pinnacle. Plus sports is ephemeral – champions are here one day and gone tomorrow. Thus, its foundation is fragile and can’t become sole to our children’s identities. Yet it can keep kids connected to a healthy path when their primary drive is not academics or some artistic hobby. To navigate this domain, she offers not just advice, but stories of real young athletes that were her friends and clients. She visits their mistakes and their successes to give us adults wisdom.
While this book’s obvious audience is parents, the more mature young athlete can also benefit from its perusal. They can see mistakes that adults often make and prepare themselves for their futures, wherever that may lead. Coaches can also benefit from understanding parental motivations better so that they can guide their young athletes towards longer-term success. Thus, this book is broadly generalizable to many groups. In a competitive landscape among competitive people, Jones offers a beacon’s light of winning guidance to prevent us from causing our own losses.
Recruiting for college football is a complicated but important process. Many aspire to its benefits, but only a few will move onto the next level. LikRecruiting for college football is a complicated but important process. Many aspire to its benefits, but only a few will move onto the next level. Like anything in sports and life, those who prepare the best will succeed the most. So how do you prepare, aside from dominating on the field? Larry Hart’s guide is a great way to start. An ex-NFL player and current college coach, he shows aspiring players what they should be doing each step along the way. This can reduce anxiety while increasing the chances of ultimate success.
I mentor a high-school student with ambitions in football. To keep up with his desires, I read this book as a way to introduce myself to this process. I have been a longtime football fan (Clemson) and knew some of the process from news clippings. However, reading this book gives me the confidence to guide my mentee along with knowledge and wisdom.
Potential readers should note that Hart’s future did not look promising out of high school. His grades were low, and with only one offer, he went the Junior College route. Even after that, he moved to an FCS school, not from a Power 5 conference. Nonetheless, he won All-American honors and made his way to the League. He supports getting your academic house in better order than he did to enhance your chances, but having lived through hardships, he remains sympathetic to those whose forecasts may be a bit more complicated.
This book checked every box that I had, except one: NIL. That’s because it was published in 2021, and NIL protocols emerged after that. And frankly, no one still (in 2023) has it figured out. When things settle down – which I suspect they will by regulations in coming years – Hart needs to update this book with guidance on this topic.
This guide is written for high-school students with football ambitions. Its language is on a high-school level with a coach’s tone. Even parents and mentors of high schoolers can benefit from reading it and being able to guide their student-athlete better. For a long time, I have observed the positive difference school sports done right can have upon young people. Concepts around character, physical and emotional strength, and education spring to mind. This book makes those benefits more accessible, and that benefits us all.
This work is only 28 pages long. It provides a high-level overview of the recruiting process but does not go into detail on any one topic. It does oriThis work is only 28 pages long. It provides a high-level overview of the recruiting process but does not go into detail on any one topic. It does orient the reader to the recruiting process and talks about recent innovations in this domain, especially using online tools. It's helpful to see what's out there, but I am left wondering how I can dig deeper. A College Football Recruiting 201 book is needed....more
The author Maya Washington’s father is Gene Washington. (In order not to confuse, I will refer to them in this review by their first names.) Gene was The author Maya Washington’s father is Gene Washington. (In order not to confuse, I will refer to them in this review by their first names.) Gene was among the first black football players on nationally prominent college and NFL/AFL teams in the 1960s. He grew up in Jim Crow Texas, but played football for Michigan State University. Not only did he help to integrate the sport; he also laid the groundwork for football becoming so central to American culture. In this story, Maya tells his story and his friends’ stories while sharing how she – notably, not an avid sports’ fan before this project – grew closer to Gene throughout this process.
By trade, Maya is not a writer but a filmmaker. This book is preceded in time by a documentary with the same name. (The documentary is being aired privately at the time of this writing in late 2021.) Using the same research, she shares their collective story in a literary format. The book touches on deep themes like racism, economic mobility, family, the need for social dignity, and the rights of athletes to be rewarded for their work.
Gene played with the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos for several seasons with a career limited by injury. In concert with recent trends, he is being (rightly) acknowledged as among a generation who laid the foundation for integrated college football, for the Minnesota Vikings franchise, and for the early growth of the NFL. Of course, his daughter’s perspective allows his personal side to be brought to light as well, and that thread makes this story especially heartwarming.
This historical tale will appear particularly to football fans and more broadly to all those who yearn for a more just society. Football is a big industry in American society, and aspiring football players can learn through Maya the complexities of its ascent. Female football fans might also appreciate her account, which speaks of feminine roles in this traditionally masculine of sports. Stories and voices like these need to be recorded before this generation of American heroes dies. Their work, courage, and sacrifices have helped us all become better....more
The Tour de France is established each year as an endurance race that lasts for about an entire month and encompasses the entire range of French landsThe Tour de France is established each year as an endurance race that lasts for about an entire month and encompasses the entire range of French lands. In 1919, following the armistice ending World War One, the Tour resumed after a multi-year hiatus. It included areas in the northeast that were decimated from warfare. Many of the riders, too, had personally experienced the tumults of war. The French people needed something to boost morale as they began the long task of rebuilding. Dobkin combines all these tales together into a coherent and intriguing piece of literature.
The course was particularly long and hard that year. The riders could not use vehicles to pace, additional bikes to replace, or even extra help in repairs. Only an astounding eleven riders completed the race out of the seventy-something who began the trek. The race, like the war, was a feat of attrition and endurance.
By tying individual stories into the piece, Dobkin maintains human interest while reaching into their histories with the military. Photographs accompany each chapter to bring the scenery to the readers’ minds. It is difficult to tell a story of endurance without becoming repetitive, but by bringing in the cultural history of the war, Dobkin avoids that pitfall.
In normal years, the Tour’s athletes, facing massive mountain climbs in the Pyrenees and the Alps, tend to inspire fans. After the embittering war, France needed the Tour to lead it into a new world. Sports, at its best, guides society into embracing its better self. Such is no different with this story. The 1919 Tour reminded France that it needed strategy, endurance, hope, and a bit of luck to rebuild.
This book has appeal to fans of European history and of sports. It can educate readers of one group about the other group’s interests. I learned much about cycling and France through this work. Despite the male bias that comprised the characters of this tale, Dobkin even manages to tie women’s contributions into the narrative. Overall, the variety of themes and stories weave an interesting tapestry where none might have existed to the untrained eye....more
Despite watching tennis religiously throughout my life, I did not know the name of Charlotte “Lottie” Dod. She was a five-time winner of Wimbledon in Despite watching tennis religiously throughout my life, I did not know the name of Charlotte “Lottie” Dod. She was a five-time winner of Wimbledon in the late 1800s. But she was more than a mere tennis player. She was an ice skater, a tobogganist, a mountain climber, an endurance bicyclist, a hockey player on the English national team, a championship golfer, and an Olympic silver medalist in archery. Quite the resume. After her sporting days were through, she ventured into nursing during the world wars and into singing in peacetime.
With all of those accolades, why don’t we know her name? Well, she’s a female and achieved in an era before video and electronic communication. In this biography, fortunately, Abramsky seeks to let us know a little more about her and to trumpet her legacy a bit.
The quality of his research shows throughout this work. Although source material is limited as almost all observers are deceased, he manages to paint a vivid narrative based on newspaper clippings, interviews with the Dod estate, and direct observations of scenery. In particular, his settings in England are impressively detailed. Although the reader sadly cannot see the quality of Dod’s tennis shots in motion, the pictures in the book and Abramsky’s back-stories paint as vivid a picture as can be expected.
Interestingly, the author writes as a lifelong tennis fan, not as a professional sports writer. Instead, by trade, he is a freelance writer in the field of politics. That background shows as he does not dwell on the feats of the body much. His writings’ strengths lie in setting, the human spirit, and interpersonal interaction. These unique qualities and eccentricities make this work even more enjoyable.
This work will be popular in the women’s-studies classroom as well as among female athletes. But the appropriate audience should also extend to fans of sport, regardless of gender. Dod’s “fabulous” story can inspire us to embrace life to the fullest and to seek ever greater heights in our own personal journeys. In history, Dod was not enamored with fame or money; rather, she sought to live a great life first and foremost. That lesson ought to teach us all.
This new release seeks to tell the tale of basketball at the University of Evansville, a small Division I school in Indiana. Like many areas in the AmThis new release seeks to tell the tale of basketball at the University of Evansville, a small Division I school in Indiana. Like many areas in the American midwest, the community surrounding the school is tight-knit and obsessed with basketball. Before moving into Division I, the program even won several national championships at the Division II level.
There’s a wrinkle in the true story that makes its telling especially emotional. In 1977, the entire basketball team died in a plane crash. A new basketball coach and a new team were brought in to complete the season. Within a few years, they miraculously qualified for their first Division I basketball tournament (i.e., the NCAAs or “March Madness”). Obviously, this brought deep joy and pride – dare I say, redemption – in the Evansville community.
As the afterword suggests, this story is based on an abundant amount of research. It’s almost as if you can hear the words of the first-hand witnesses in the tale. The story presents as an anthology of short, personal anecdotes masterfully weaved together into a coherent narrative. Although probably not difficult to an Evansville fan, the cast of characters is so wide that it is tough to keep the names straight. Still, as the author sometimes deliberately slips into the first person, one hears genuine excitement through the narrative. The author thus portrays his personal connection to the story.
Why do we need another sports story? The movie We Are Marshall details the loss of the Marshall University football program in a 1970 plane crash. This tale has similar resonance. I’m composing this review days after Laker great Kobe Bryant died with his daughter in a helicopter crash. As evident by the national outpouring of grief in the Bryants’ deaths, these stories tend to define American culture. Sports make us feel as if we know the players, as if they are part of our circle of friends. The players’ untimely deaths, therefore, profoundly affects us – our hopes, our dreams, our perspective of life. In modern society, sports stories convey our humanity in a way that national politics, religion, and other unifying forces do not and cannot. We use these stories to show who we are in our hearts. As such, Beaven in We Will Rise uses the Evansville saga to remind us more of what it is to be human, to be alive, to be American, and to believe.