Athletics Books

He is somewhat verbose in his writing, and the book would benefit from a dose a Reader's Digest type editing. He makes valid points about the rise of coaching as a model for encouraging change. There is a whole life coaching movement in progress, I guess in reaction to disenfranchisement with psychotherapy. If you want to wade through the many detailed illustrations it is worth the read.

Murray Sperber shows the scandalous financial side to NCAA college sports in this well-crafted book. It's hardly news that college sports are corrupt - amateurism is and probably always was un-workable. What is news, however, is that most colleges lose money from their athletic programs. Readers see that while football and basketball might attract revenue, they seldom offset the losses from "non-revenue" sports like gymnastics, tennis, swimming, track, etc. Also, winning sports teams fail to increase academic donations to host colleges - alumni don't like their schools having "jock" reputations. The author shows how colleges abuse Pell and minority grants to benefit athletics, and how these institutions force students (or their parents) to pay hefty "activities fees" along with tuition to bail out the athletic department

Like most appeals to reform NCAA sports, this book fell on deaf ears - we simply like the games too much. Still, this book should be of interest to educators and to students forced to pay outrageous activity fees at tuition time.

Jerry Lynch does a very good job of describing how coaches in a variety of sports have used creative coaching to motivate either their teams or individuals. He provides practices ways for teams and individuals to succeed in their sport. It is not a difficult read as the reader can relate to the players, situations and the problems one may have in coaching. This book is good for the minor sports coach as well as the professional.

This book offers good solid advice in how to deal with adolescent women. I was very pleased that it exists at all, as very few resources are geared specifically for women.

Technically, it's a little on the general side, but I did find some things that I am adapting to my club's workouts.

All in all, an easy read.