More Than Just a Game
How the Youth Sports Industry Is Changing the Way We Parent and What to Do About It
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
More Than Just a Game
How the Youth Sports Industry Is Changing the Way We Parent and What to Do About It
About this book
"A compelling, clear-eyed look at the changing norms around youth sports, family, and what it means for us to spend meaningful time together."—Hua Hsu, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Stay True
More Than Just a Game presents original research, first-person stories, and a much-needed perspective regarding what has become a multibillion-dollar industry that involves forty-five million kids. Are the current practices good for young athletes and their families? What is gained and what is sacrificed when the goal is winning at all costs?
In this confusing environment, parents struggle to maintain a sense of equilibrium, wondering how to balance their child's athletic "career" with "normal" developmental goals and family life.Authors and researchers Bjork and Hoynes offer knowledge, support, and a meaningful way forward, as well as a way back to letting our kids play, grow, and thrive. Theyexamine the most pressing issues in youth sports, including
- How taxing athletics can be developmentally for children.
- The financial impact the ever-popular travel teams have on families.
- Excessive time commitments and expectations.
- The conundrums and challenging decisions the families of young athletes' face.
- Inherent disadvantages of being a young athlete facing inequities.
They connect the patterns in the behavior of the adults they observed to broader trends in our society. They also provide parents with the information they need to understand the contemporary youth-sports industry—to see the bigger picture—and help them make conscious and more informed decisions for their children that are consistent with their core values.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: Sports, Success, and Parenting
- Chapter One: Who’s on First? How Kids’ Sports Became Big Business and How It Affects Parents
- Chapter Two: Why They Do It
- Chapter Three: To Specialize or Not to Specialize: That Is the Question
- Chapter Four: Scholarship Dreams: College Sports Myths and Meanings
- Chapter Five: The Mobile Neighborhood: The Culture of Travel Team Parents
- Chapter Six: Not Always on Their Best Behavior: Parents On and Off the Sidelines
- Chapter Seven: Exceptional … or Not: The Politics of Youth Sports
- Chapter Eight: Different Backgrounds, Different Opportunities
- Chapter Nine: Navigating Change: How Parents Adjust When Their Children Stop Playing Sports
- Chapter Ten: Advice from Experienced Adults/Words of Wisdom
- Chapter Eleven: Conclusion
- Acknowledgments
- Endnotes
- Back Cover