Take back the game : how money and mania are ruining kids' sports--and why it matters Cover Image

Book

Take back the game : how money and mania are ruining kids' sports--and why it matters / Linda Flanagan.

Flanagan, Linda (Journalist), (author.).

Summary:

"In theory, youth sports are an all-around win: kids build character, derive the health benefits of exercise, and make lifelong friends--while parents get them out of the house for a few hours. But the reality is much thornier. The youth sports industry is now worth more than 19 billion dollars, a 90 percent increase since 2010. Fifty-eight percent of high school coaches have considered quitting because of obnoxious parent behavior. And by age thirteen, 70 percent of kids have given up on athletics entirely. What happened to kids' sports? And how can we make them fun again? In Take Back the Game, coach and journalist Linda Flanagan reveals how the youth sports industry capitalizes on both parental worry over kids' futures and misguided desire for status, driven largely by the frenzy around college athletics." -- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9780593329047
ISBN: 059332904X
Physical Description: xxi, 280 pages ; 24 cm
Publisher: [New York, New York] : Portfolio / Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, [2022]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [247]-272) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Part I: How the game changed when we weren't looking -- Money -- The stakes (and status) -- College -- Part II: The six paradoxes of youth sports today -- The myth of character building -- The parent trap -- Body slam -- Lonely at the top -- The trouble with coaches -- The connection conundrum -- Part III: Taking back the game -- What parents can do -- How coaches can help -- Reform opportunities post-pandemic : bold models and ideas that work.