Until It Hurts: America's Obsession with Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids

this is a great introductory book detailing some of the most salient problems with youth sports. it should be read by a wide audience. the writing is superb and the subject matter is very prescient. enjoy!

Great book - Should be required reading for parents and potential coaches. We are hurting our young athletes by pushing too hard.

Great read. Hyman combines his extensive sports history knowledge with the current shocking issues surrounding youth sports. Must read for any parent or coach.

Hyman pulls no punches, using himself and his son as an example of the way a parent's good intentions and a child's desire to play can go horribly wrong. Every parent who thinks their child is the next Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm, Tim Teebow, or A-Rod should be required to read this book before their child gets back on the field or court. Hyman convincingly lays out the case that youth sports have gone professional and frequently have more to do with the adults footing the bills than the children playing them. Touching on irresponsible coaches and parents, over-acheiving kids, doctors whose voices are ingnored by parents who "shop for a doc" until they get the answer they want, and blowing apart the myth that your child is going to get an athletic shcolarship or that having one actually pays for college, Hyman argues that we're out of control and then gives examples of youth sports the way they should be played...for FUN and character. The lowering of age in surgery statistics and the number of life-affecting overuse injuries will frighten you, the parents and coaches will make you ill. If you see yourself in these pages, it's not too late to change things. Highly recommended.

Having no children of my own, I recently attended a friend's child's Little League game, and was taken aback at the intensity and unhappiness of the whole experience: Coaches yelling at players constantly, parents yelling and agonizing about their kids, kids outright bawling following a strikeout. Wow. I thought sports was supposed to be fun. My experiences with youth sports were largely similar. I can say that pickup games, backyard basketball, endless wiffleball games with other kids on my street, these are the best sports memories from my youth. Not organized games with annoying coaches and cloying parents. This is an outstanding book that all parents, umpires, and coaches of young kids need to read and think about. Sports are supposed to be fun. Ask yourself this question: does my son or daughter actually enjoy and look forward to playing basketball, baseball, soccer, etc? If not, maybe they, and you, should look to put their energies in another direction. Highly recommended.