Mark Kreidler
Teoksen Four Days to Glory: Wrestling with the Soul of the American Heartland tekijä
Tietoja tekijästä
Mark Kreidler is a regular contributor to ESPN television, ESPN.com, and ESPN magazine, and a recipient of the Associated Press Sports Editors citation as one of the ten best sportswriters in America
Tekijän teokset
Merkitty avainsanalla
Yleistieto
- Sukupuoli
- male
Jäseniä
Kirja-arvosteluja
U have to like wrestling to like this book. And i happen to wrestle it is really hard to understand what a wrestler goes through and how you coep with the making weight stress. when a little sundae sounds like a million dollars to a wrestler wen all u eat is gum and a little salad
In the mid-1990's a city in New Jersey named Toms River sent three Little League All Star teams to the Little League World Series, with one of them winning it all. This was both a great thing - in that the athletes, coaches, children, and parents in the town learned that anything is possible - and also terrible in that people started putting very unrealistic expectations upon the shoulders of children.
While it takes a great team to make it to the world championships, it takes every bit as much luck as skill. And while you can work as hard as humanly possible on the skills, no one can control outside factors like scheduling, weather, or injuries to the kids.
And so we come to the Toms River Americans in the summer of 2007. In the previous year, in 2006, this Little League All Star team finished third in the state championships. So then...for their twelve year old summer, when it is possible to go to the Little League World Series, expectations from parents, fans, coaches, and the children themselves were very very high.
The children described in the book are obviously good kids with (for the most part) supportive families. They are also extremely hard workers and elite athletes. After their 2006 season many of them gave up on their other sports to concentrate on baseball year round - as is so often the case in these days with gifted athletes (as I know, having one former child athlete finished with high school and another, who competed in his sport on a national level in middle school now in high school - I can report that yes, the coaches do expect year round committment and practice for each and every sport).
These children - and they ARE children - worked on their baseball skills as hard as they could for that intervening year. In the fall they had travel baseball. In the winter they worked out in an indoor baseball facility. In the spring they had regular Little League. And in the summer, All Star Little League began again, with two a day practices - four hours of hard work every day for more than fifty days. And with the dream and goal of making it to the Little League World Series.
How many adults could go for more than fifty days in a row without a day off?
How many adults could deal with that much internal and external pressure?
Needless to say, all of this work showed not only in the high level of skill these kids showed - but also in physical and emotional strain.
As the parent of an elite athlete, who was scouted by university coaches in middle school, I know some of the sacrifices to family time and endless hard work on the part of the child that goes into the glory of aiming at a national or state championship. I also find myself constantly questioning myself and my husband and my children's coaches about putting undue expectations and pressure - both emotional and physical - upon that child.
This book goes right into the heart of that debate - is the potential athletic glory and possible rewards down the line like college athletic scholarships worth the family sacrifices and near insanity of scheduling?
Well researched and well written, this is the story of an elite Little League All Star team with big dreams, and even bigger pressure put upon them by their community, rivals, parents, coaches - and themselves.… (lisätietoja)
While it takes a great team to make it to the world championships, it takes every bit as much luck as skill. And while you can work as hard as humanly possible on the skills, no one can control outside factors like scheduling, weather, or injuries to the kids.
And so we come to the Toms River Americans in the summer of 2007. In the previous year, in 2006, this Little League All Star team finished third in the state championships. So then...for their twelve year old summer, when it is possible to go to the Little League World Series, expectations from parents, fans, coaches, and the children themselves were very very high.
The children described in the book are obviously good kids with (for the most part) supportive families. They are also extremely hard workers and elite athletes. After their 2006 season many of them gave up on their other sports to concentrate on baseball year round - as is so often the case in these days with gifted athletes (as I know, having one former child athlete finished with high school and another, who competed in his sport on a national level in middle school now in high school - I can report that yes, the coaches do expect year round committment and practice for each and every sport).
These children - and they ARE children - worked on their baseball skills as hard as they could for that intervening year. In the fall they had travel baseball. In the winter they worked out in an indoor baseball facility. In the spring they had regular Little League. And in the summer, All Star Little League began again, with two a day practices - four hours of hard work every day for more than fifty days. And with the dream and goal of making it to the Little League World Series.
How many adults could go for more than fifty days in a row without a day off?
How many adults could deal with that much internal and external pressure?
Needless to say, all of this work showed not only in the high level of skill these kids showed - but also in physical and emotional strain.
As the parent of an elite athlete, who was scouted by university coaches in middle school, I know some of the sacrifices to family time and endless hard work on the part of the child that goes into the glory of aiming at a national or state championship. I also find myself constantly questioning myself and my husband and my children's coaches about putting undue expectations and pressure - both emotional and physical - upon that child.
This book goes right into the heart of that debate - is the potential athletic glory and possible rewards down the line like college athletic scholarships worth the family sacrifices and near insanity of scheduling?
Well researched and well written, this is the story of an elite Little League All Star team with big dreams, and even bigger pressure put upon them by their community, rivals, parents, coaches - and themselves.… (lisätietoja)
Tilastot
- Teokset
- 4
- Jäseniä
- 100
- Suosituimmuussija
- #190,120
- Arvio (tähdet)
- 4.0
- Kirja-arvosteluja
- 5
- ISBN:t
- 10
Kreidler takes you into the world of high school wrestling in Iowa by focusing on two high school wrestling programs, and the two star wrestlers on each team - Jay Borschel and Dan LeClere. Although one reviewer disparages Kreidler's attention on the coaches and families and the college recruiting drama that occurred, these things are important parts of the story, providing the crucial context that allows the reader to gain a full understanding of the athletes and the sport. Congratulations to Kreidler for such a phenomenal job.… (lisätietoja)