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Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children
A first-of-its-kind investigative book on the least examined and most important topic in sports today.
Youth sports isn't just orange slices and all-star trophies anymore. It's 14-year-olds who enter high school with a decade of football experience, 9-year-olds competing for national baseball championships, 5-year-old golfers who shoot par, and toddlers made from sperm donated (for a fee) by elite college athletes. It's a year-round "travel team" in every community--and parents who fear that not making the cut in grade school will cost their kid the chance to play in high school. In short, a landscape in which performance often matters more than participation, all the way down to peewee basketball.
Much as Fast Food Nation challenged our eating habits and Silent Spring rewired how we think about the environment, Tom Farrey's Game On will forever change the way we look at this desperate culture besotted by the example of Tiger Woods. An Emmy award-winning reporter, Farrey examines the lives of child athletes and the consequences of sorting the strong from the weak at ever earlier ages: fewer active kids, testier sidelines, rising obesity rates, and U.S. national teams that rarely win world titles.
He dives into the world of these games that are played by more than 30 million boys and girls, and along the way uncovers some surprising truths. When the very best athletes enter organized play. The best approach to coaching them. And the powerful influence of wealth and genetics. Farrey has written a surprising, alarming, thoughtful, and ultimately empowering book for anyone who wants the best for the newest generation of Americans, as athletes and citizens.
Youth sports isn't just orange slices and all-star trophies anymore. It's 14-year-olds who enter high school with a decade of football experience, 9-year-olds competing for national baseball championships, 5-year-old golfers who shoot par, and toddlers made from sperm donated (for a fee) by elite college athletes. It's a year-round "travel team" in every community--and parents who fear that not making the cut in grade school will cost their kid the chance to play in high school. In short, a landscape in which performance often matters more than participation, all the way down to peewee basketball.
Much as Fast Food Nation challenged our eating habits and Silent Spring rewired how we think about the environment, Tom Farrey's Game On will forever change the way we look at this desperate culture besotted by the example of Tiger Woods. An Emmy award-winning reporter, Farrey examines the lives of child athletes and the consequences of sorting the strong from the weak at ever earlier ages: fewer active kids, testier sidelines, rising obesity rates, and U.S. national teams that rarely win world titles.
He dives into the world of these games that are played by more than 30 million boys and girls, and along the way uncovers some surprising truths. When the very best athletes enter organized play. The best approach to coaching them. And the powerful influence of wealth and genetics. Farrey has written a surprising, alarming, thoughtful, and ultimately empowering book for anyone who wants the best for the newest generation of Americans, as athletes and citizens.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published May 6, 2008
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202 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 27, 2018
I (mistakenly) assumed a book about youth sports would give pretty equal airtime to girls’ sports. Title should be “Boys Game On” as it was almost exclusively about boys’ sports. Gave it an extra star for the one chapter about girls ice hockey, which was interesting.
April 4, 2018
I read this for class and I actually ended up really enjoying it. I learned some wild things about youth sport that have never occurred to me and I think this book is so eye opening.
December 9, 2018
For SOC 316 class! Adolescents and Sports pretty interesting!
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July 20, 2024If you are thinking "what is happening?!" as a parent around kids sports this book gets at the topic from so many angles. Definitely recommend.
March 15, 2017
This is the last hardcover book I read. Tom Farrey's book was recommended to me by one of my professor's at the University of Florida and loved it! This is a great book on youth sports in the US. Years later, I recommended this book to my father who also loved reading it. This book makes you look at youth sports from a different point of view and 7-8 years later, I still refer to it quite often.
November 18, 2012
Youth sports in today’s culture is a far cry from days past when kids played locally with friends from their own neighborhood, or on a community team for a season that lasted four months out of the year [not twelve]. Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children by Tim Farrey bares the truth about what’s behind youth sports, prompting readers to think about what is going on with our kids. Really, quite an eye-opener.
Youth sports is not always about the kids, but it is about the adults; adults with their own agendas. Game On is an essential read for coaches, parents, and a must read for anyone else involved with youth. I’ve read numerous books on this topic, and Farrey’s book is the best I’ve read because of the startling facts he provides, the breadth and depth of his research, and how he tells the story. In this article I’ll provide an overview of the book, and review one of the most provocative of chapters, The Man about a sixth grader and his NBA dream.
Non-fiction books can be a dry [and dull] read, not Game On. Farrey gives the reader not just snippets of facts and anecdotes to support his points, but full stories. And robust stories they are; all true, which at times is disconcerting, especially when reading of young athletes that were pushed, pressured and in some instances taken advantage of.
Farrey devotes the last chapter to potential solutions to this problem. Though it takes a village, as the saying goes to raise a child, and they need our help. Awareness is the first step towards positive change in youth sports. I encourage readers to pick up the book (link below), and/or do some further research about youth sports, and ask questions of coaches and sports administrators. For parents, perhaps finding alternate teams that provide a safe and fun environment that focuses on participation for all. Our kids need us, adults shouldn’t need the kids.
For a complete read of the review, check out my blog post here: http://wp.me/p2dNX5-8Y
Youth sports is not always about the kids, but it is about the adults; adults with their own agendas. Game On is an essential read for coaches, parents, and a must read for anyone else involved with youth. I’ve read numerous books on this topic, and Farrey’s book is the best I’ve read because of the startling facts he provides, the breadth and depth of his research, and how he tells the story. In this article I’ll provide an overview of the book, and review one of the most provocative of chapters, The Man about a sixth grader and his NBA dream.
Non-fiction books can be a dry [and dull] read, not Game On. Farrey gives the reader not just snippets of facts and anecdotes to support his points, but full stories. And robust stories they are; all true, which at times is disconcerting, especially when reading of young athletes that were pushed, pressured and in some instances taken advantage of.
Farrey devotes the last chapter to potential solutions to this problem. Though it takes a village, as the saying goes to raise a child, and they need our help. Awareness is the first step towards positive change in youth sports. I encourage readers to pick up the book (link below), and/or do some further research about youth sports, and ask questions of coaches and sports administrators. For parents, perhaps finding alternate teams that provide a safe and fun environment that focuses on participation for all. Our kids need us, adults shouldn’t need the kids.
For a complete read of the review, check out my blog post here: http://wp.me/p2dNX5-8Y
July 27, 2011
This was an eye-opener regarding the sports industry in our country - not just pro sports, but the downward creep of big-money's influence on sports programs for children as young as two. Starting at age one, the author dedicates a chapter to each year, examining the athletic opportunities and pressures faced by children and their parents.
Some of the programs he mentions seem ludicrous - golf tournaments for six-year-olds, national rankings of young basketball players, and high school national football championships - but they seem to be the direction in which athletics are headed. As the focus of athletic programs changes to identify early the elite athletes and make as much money as possible off them, larger and larger percentages of children are discouraged from participation.
Farrey does not mince words when taking on the deleterious effects of Bobby Dodd's Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), or the U.S. Olympic committee under the influence of George Steinbrenner. The former he portrays as turning amateur sports into a gold mine, with parents willing to shell out the money to make their child a sports star. Or the obsession with national tournaments for big television revenues.
I would recommend this book to any parent who has children involved in sports. It seems to me that the problem used to be children who didn't take school seriously because they thought they could be a Michael Jordan. It would seem that increasing the problem is the parents who see their child as the next Tiger Woods... well until December 2009 anyway. Farrey tries to remind us that the purpose for early athletic programs was for fun and fitness... for everyone.
Some of the programs he mentions seem ludicrous - golf tournaments for six-year-olds, national rankings of young basketball players, and high school national football championships - but they seem to be the direction in which athletics are headed. As the focus of athletic programs changes to identify early the elite athletes and make as much money as possible off them, larger and larger percentages of children are discouraged from participation.
Farrey does not mince words when taking on the deleterious effects of Bobby Dodd's Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), or the U.S. Olympic committee under the influence of George Steinbrenner. The former he portrays as turning amateur sports into a gold mine, with parents willing to shell out the money to make their child a sports star. Or the obsession with national tournaments for big television revenues.
I would recommend this book to any parent who has children involved in sports. It seems to me that the problem used to be children who didn't take school seriously because they thought they could be a Michael Jordan. It would seem that increasing the problem is the parents who see their child as the next Tiger Woods... well until December 2009 anyway. Farrey tries to remind us that the purpose for early athletic programs was for fun and fitness... for everyone.
April 17, 2015
This book offers a compelling survey of the landscape of contemporary youth sports in the USA. It's great reading for anyone who is interested in how we might go about introducing kids to a life of joy in physical activity or sports. The book shows how far our current practices tend to stray from anything like teaching a love of the game--and it offers some helpful pointers about how we might get back on track, whether as individual families, as communities, or as a society.
August 13, 2008
Very thought provoking book about the current crazy state of children's sports. Full of great research, athlete testimonials and the writer's personal thoughts. It made us rethink a lot of things...
August 9, 2009
If you have kids at all, but especially those who like to play sports, this is a must read.
June 14, 2011
Well worth reading if you are interested in youth sports.
August 23, 2012
Agree with it.
April 14, 2014
As a sports management major this book is very eye opening. It discuss the way youth sport had become and it's due to many aspects of the world.
March 4, 2014
A must read for parents who are involved in travel sports. You will gain perspective reading Game On. Very interesting and insider look to this intense culture.
December 31, 2014
Youth sports is rigged for the early-blooming champion, and it's costing us a generation of athletic kids. Seeing these challenges first-hand with our own girls.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews