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Has anyone read this book? opinions?

http://www.revolutioninthebleachers.com/

Just thought I would read some of the comments on this website and the first one is from a Mt. Pleasant parent.

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This is the email from Soccer America's Youth Soccer Insider that brought the book to my attention. I have mixed feelings about what is said in this synopsis. While I definetely agree that some aspects of youth soccer are out of control, it has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for my family.

From Passionate to Frenzied

By Regan McMahon
Believe it or not, there was a time not so long ago that families spent Saturday mornings together at home or someplace other than a soccer field. ... When I was growing up, youth sports were dominated by boys, and kids generally didn't get started in team sports until 3rd grade at the earliest, joining seasonal teams like football, baseball and basketball, with some kids not getting involved until middle school and almost no one getting serious till high school. Soccer changed all that, with programs starting in kindergarten and close to 50 percent participation by girls. ...

What's unique about the soccer phenomenon is that this "new" American sport went from being practically unknown to universally embraced within 10 or 15 years. Before soccer took hold, it was understood that there were some kids who played sports and some who didn't. A parent might watch for signs of athleticism when she threw the ball around with her child at a park when he was little and think, "I can see he's got a good arm. Maybe he'll be a good baseball player when he gets old enough for Little League."

But soccer programs inspired such a lemming-like response that a majority of middle- and upper-middle-class parents sign their kids up for soccer at age 5, whether they are athletic or not. To not do it makes you or your child the odd person out. So now it's not just a sport, it's a tool of socialization.

Recreational soccer also fills a gap created by grade school budget constraints and academic priorities that led to the cutting of physical education programs. In times past, kids got exercise, gained skills and learned individual sports in P.E. class. At one time, everything from croquet and badminton to baseball and basketball were taught as part of the regular school curriculum. Students would discover at school if they had a certain aptitude or passion for a sport, and might build their skills in class before ever going out for a team at school or in a recreational league.

Soccer's role as a safe environment for kids to play can't be underestimated, either. The sport's popularity explosion in the '80s came at a time when parents were increasingly worried about their children's safety in day care centers (around the time of the McMartin Preschool case; the owners were indicted in 1984 for sexually abusing the children in their care but acquitted at their 1990 trial) and in their neighborhoods, where there was great concern about child abductions, fueled by the media and a few high-profile incidents. Parents began to believe that it wasn't safe to let their children play in their front yard or even in their backyard, or to walk or ride their bikes to friends' houses or to the local playground to play a pickup game or shoot some baskets. Plugging your child into an organized sport overseen by plenty of adults, with parents on the sidelines, seemed a wise and easy choice. And millions of American parents made their choice.

As soccer grew in the '80s and '90s, U.S. soccer successes mounted in the Olympics and the men's and women's World Cup competitions, and the number of collegiate programs multiplied. Professional soccer matches began to appear on the new 24-hour sports networks and cable TV outlets - including those by the first professional U.S. women's league (which disbanded in 2004) - and parents and kids began to see soccer not just as weekend fun but also a ticket to a college scholarship or even a career path. Consequently, the excitement over soccer went from passionate to frenzied. To not sign your kids up for soccer seemed tantamount to denying them an opportunity for a college education. The pressure was on. Soccer mom and good parent became synonymous.

Excerpted from "Revolution in the Bleachers" by Regan McMahon. Published by arrangement with Gotham Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) April 2007.

Regan McMahon, a mother of two athletic children, is the deputy book editor and a feature writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. "Revolution in the Bleachers" traces the dramatic changes in youth sports in America over the past 20 years and provides a guide to help parents bring balance back into their kids' lives and reclaim family life apart from the kids' team activities. For more about the book, go to: http://www.revolutioninthebleachers.com/

I bought it on Saturday morning and I'm through the first four chapters. I'll offer up my review after I finish reading the entire book.

Pretty cool to see that a former teammate of mine (South Jersey men's summer league for four years), Dean Koski, the head men's coach at Lehigh University, is quoted extensively in Chapter 2.

Also, in Chapter 4, Dr. Robbie DaSilva, of Midlands Orthopaedics in Columbia is quoted from an article written in The State by Joey Holleman.

I finished the book while on vacation last week. Not much there that we all don't already know.....most of us on these boards have been living this life for many years now.

The author talks about standing up to the club coach or DOC and saying "Enough....we're not doing all of those tournaments!" Easier said than done. I haven't seen too many highly-competitive teams who have managed to say "no". Nobody wants to put their own kid in a bad spot. As she states in one of her chapters.....the coach has all the power (even though the parents shell out the dollars).

Interesting quotes from Lehigh men's coach Dean Koski. Apparently he's keeping his three young boys out of competitive soccer for as long as he can. He doesn't want them burned out and he wants them to experience different sports. As a coach he has seen very good, high-level club players fail at his school. He's seen them quit because this is all they have done for ten years, since they were eight years old, and they've lost the desire. He also mentions that some of the best players to ever play for him have been multiple-sport athletes all through high school. He likes what they bring to the table.

Not a bad read but the book seems to get a little redundant after a while.

The thing that jumps out at me is the pressure to give up other sports at a young age. By age 11 kids are having to chose between jv or club football and club soccer. There is no doubt in my mind that most young soccer players will suffer if they take falls off for football, or sping off for baseball. They will suffer because their short term soccer development won't be as good. In turn, that means giving up chances for ODP, elite teams, etc. But would they really be worse soccer players at age 18 if they took off some seasons to play ofther sports? I honestly don't know. But under the current system, we might never know, because those players would fall beneath the elite soccer radar. I think there's something wrong with that situation.

LeGrazie:

Of course, a young (or any) player of sport who takes extended time off, away from the sport, will be worse—in the short and long term—than if that player had not taken the time off.

High-skill sports reveal this the most—such as golf and I would include soccer.

If you want to be elite, you must commit early and must remain committed year-round to be elite. The question is, What do you WANT?

Not every child can be or wants to be elite, so some will and should commit early and play soccer year-round; while others can be quite good but play many sports.

Youth need fair and expert adults (not just their parents) giving them advice about this without trying to recruit. This is probably the weakest aspect of youth sport right now—a lack of honest athletic advice that isn't recruiting oriented.

Doesn't talent and athleticism win in the end?

For a guy, if you are 6' 2", 180 lbs., solid as a rock and fast as lightening with a powerful shot....isn't there a place for you on the elite team? Won't you play in college, even if you don't train year-round?

The kid that is 5' 7", 140 lbs., with average athletic ability will have to bust his butt playing 24/7/365 and receive vast amounts of technical and speed & agility training....and there's still no guarantee he is going to play at an elite level.

(1) Nothing is a guarantee.

(2) I mean ELITE—so I disagree, Hurst66. SKILL trumps at the elite levels. Maybe athleticism trumps at U14, but then it starts to lose. At the elite levels, the pool is rich with skill AND athleticism; percentages favor having greater skill if you have put in the time. . .

(3) Sure, there are mediocre and weak college teams—soccer players who are either lacking natural talent or failed to put in the effort, there is a place for them. ELITE college programs? Nope.

An example: Our national team (the A team) is ELITE for the US. BUT some of the players who are able to make our ELITE team would never see a chance on an INTERNATIONAL elite team since the US team is at best slightly above average. The pool for talent on the elite international teams is different than the US pool. . .

Hurst... if you are talented AND athletic.....

But talent is a complex question...

I think we all agree that Michael Jordan was (is) a talented Basketball player who is also a superb athlete. Yet baseball was not as easy as he thought.

In my opinion talent is more of a requirement in baseball than athleticism whereas basketball can be skewed the other way.

Talent in a soccer player to me means ball control; in passing running, shielding, etc. It also means good head on your shoulders.

May I point out that some of the greatest players to play the game Pele 5ft 8in and Maradona 5ft 5in where not imposing figures on the field. Of course quick feet are important.