More Than Just a Game: How the Youth Sports Industry Is Changing the Way We Parent and What to Do about It

How parents can learn to navigate the billion-dollar industry and profit-driven system of youth sports that frequently ignores the needs of kids.

In More Than Just a Game, the authors provide--in many compelling first-person stories--original research about parental attitudes and struggles and much-needed perspective regarding what has become a billion-dollar youth-sports industry. They examine the most pressing issues in the world of 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 an underprivileged young athlete or one who identifies as transgender.
  

In exploring these topics, the authors 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. Concrete suggestions are highlighted about things like how to identify the appropriate team for a child, how to select activities that will help young athletes develop emotional and physical resilience, and ways that parents can create balance in their children's lives.

Ultimately, the authors' eye-opening research gives youth-sports parents a grounded perspective that will help their kids find success on and off the field.