Synopses & Reviews
Review
Mark Hymans
Until It Hurts is a hair-raising look at everything that is wrong with youth sports today. More than just a splendid job of reporting and writing, it is a work of true public service. Every parent and every coach who has ever been involved in youth sports and cares about kids has an obligation to read it.”
Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights and Three Nights in August It took a sons sore arm for Mark Hyman to recognize a hard truth: Were destroying youth sports, and maybe not even producing better athletes in the process. Until It Hurts is a sobering manifesto that should be required reading for every parent, coach, administrator, and referee. Though my daughters U-7 soccer team doesnt know it, Ive already implemented its smart, sensible, and long-overdue advice.”
Stefan Fatsis, National Public Radio sports commentator and author of A Few Seconds of Panic and Word Freak As his teenaged son undergoes major surgery so he can pitch again, a sports dad examines the physical and emotional minefield of youth sports and comes up with ideas to make it family-friendlier. If youve got a young jock in the house, this book is more important than a private coach.”
Robert Lipsyte, author of Raiders Night Mark Hyman illustratesthrough personal anecdotes and meticulous reportingthe transformative power of sports in the lives of young people. More important, he shows how adults are ruining the experience by turning youth sports into a high-pressure, big-money enterprise. When did kids sports become more work than play? Until It Hurts provides the answerand offers the solutions weve been looking for.”
Joan Ryan, author of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
In this passionate and eye-opening book, Mark Hyman shows how helicopter parents, professionalized sports programs, and technological changes have produced a perfect stormwith our childrens physical and mental well-being at the vortex.”
Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America Hyman has authored a richly detailed, eye-opening look at an America hell-bent on turning our children into winnersno matter the physical or emotional cost. Important, compelling, and painfully honest, Until It Hurts looks in all the right directions, including the mirror.”
Armen Keteyian, Chief Investigative Correspondent, CBS News
"A must read
What lends Hyman's admonitions such chilling credibility is his willingness to lay bare his own foibles.
Such candor is compelling and engaging.
A candid
indictment of youth sports today."
Boston Globe
"It's likely that every parent and coach who reads Hyman's anecdotes will relate to at least one, will glimpse their own bad behavior, whisper a personal mea culpa and seek out ways to undo inflicted damage and do their part to fix a national problem that needs fixing."
New York Post
"In short, Until It Hurts is a compact, compelling read that has received much praise in just its first two weeks of release."
San Jose Mercury News
"This book should be the sports Bible for every parent with a kid in youth sports and for every coach."
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Synopsis
Over the last seventy-five years, adults have staged a hostile takeover of kids sports. For generations of children the effects have been devastating. The quest to turn children into tomorrows superstars often has led adults to push them beyond physical and emotional limits, sometimes with tragic consequences. In Until It Hurts, journalist, coach, and parent Mark Hyman explores how youth sports reached this problematic state. He gives heartbreaking examples of children and their families, including his own, pushing beyond healthy limits in headlong pursuit of sports glory, athletic scholarships, or even professional careers. His investigation takes him from the Little League World Series in Pennsylvania to a prestigious Chicago soccer club, from adolescent golf and tennis superstars in Atlanta to California volleyball players. He speaks with dozens of children, parents, coaches, psychologists, surgeons, and former big-leaguers.
About the Author
Mark Hyman is a journalist, frequently contributing to publications, such as The New York Times and Sports Illustrated, and he was a former writer for BusinessWeek and Sports Business Journal. In 1998, he assisted Baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster Jon Miller in the writing of his memoir, Confessions of a Baseball Purist. He has appeared on panels and led workshops for the Sports Lawyers Association, the American Press Institute and the Associated Press Sports Editors. In 2010 he was honored as one of 18 Sports Ethics Fellows by the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island and the Positive Coaching Alliance at Stanford University. He currently teaches in the sports management program at George Washington University.