Youth Football Books

Excellent well researched book that de-mystifies the I got my "bell rung" attitudes. Gives practical strategies to manage head injury risks. A must read for all parents and coaches in contact sports.

I had 11 concussions playing football in the 1960's. My last two happened when I was playing for the NY Jets Taxi Squad. They ended my career. "Head Games - Football's Concussion Crisis" has given information
and understanding that I had not known in 40 years. I think every parent should have knowledge about head injuries no matter what sport their children play. "Head Games - Football's Concussion Crisis" is a great way to start.

This is a fantastic book and a must read for parents, athletic trainers, coaches, and anyone else interested in seeing a summary of the current research on concussions. Nowinski breaks down the complex science into layman's terms and uses LOTS of stories and personal accounts to really drive home the importance of his message without ever taking an alarmist tone. As an athletic trainer, I would highly recommend this book to anyone remotely involved in sports, especially collision sports like football and wrestling.

This should be required reading for every clinician that sees patients who have had concussions.

As a physician and athlete, I was surprised at how much I didn't know about head injuries! Not only is this book an excellent layman's guide, it is a well-researched and even-handed review of the emerging data on post-concussion disability. Nowinksi has a personal writing style and uses his own experience for credibility and context. He is to be commended!

This was a gift for my husband. He loves it! It is about more than just football. It has heart.

"Hurricane Season" is a true story about triumph through hardship for a private Christian school's football team in New Orleans overcoming the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and Rita. This book takes a personal look at the devastation that Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita caused within six weeks. It's about a High School football coach's and his players' commitment to their school and team in midst of chaos and turmoil. It's about how football can pull a community together. I particularly liked reading how the coach motivated his players and how he taught them to be men. It was heartwarming to see how much the coach loved his players and cared about their personal lives and not just how they played football.

Another aspect that really touched me was J.T.'s close relationship and admiration for his father. His father built the school and was a big part of the football team. After the father died, J.T. still thinks of him often and wishes he could still run things past him. He feels a real sense of responsibility to make his dad proud and run the school well.

The ending of the book is very moving and emotional when the team finally gets to play football after it looked like they wouldn't even have a season. As I read about the games, it felt like I was right there in the stands watching and cheering for them. This book started out slow and was pretty sad, but is definitely worth reading to get an inside look at what the people of New Orleans went through during Katrina and how a football team really jelled. It certainly made my few problems look totally insignificant in comparison.

Karen Zemek, author of My Funny Dad, Harry

I can't say enough good things about this book!! This book is remarkable!! It tells the story about how people dealt with Hurrican Katrina and the aftermath and a remarkable man, J. T. Curtis, Head football coach and principal of the John Curtis Christian School. How he and his family brought together a school and the football team is an unbelievable story. Their story will make you cry, laugh and cheer!! I really enjoyed this book A LOT!!!

Gerard Zemek
Husband of author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"

Hurricane season is an excellent complement to Douglas Brinkley's " The Great Deluge." While Brinkley provides an excellent analytical and scholarly account of Hurricane Katrina that should set the standard for many years; Hurricane Season captures the powerful emotional dimensions. Though grounded in the story of a high school football team, it transcends normal sportswriting by speaking to the bigger panorama of life, suffering, loss, and inspiring tales of recovery and fortitude.
With so many aspirations and dreams hanging in the balance, the J.T. Curtis School and football team regroup after enduring catastrophe and devastation and become a beacon of hope and solace for many of the victims.
Replete with an abundance of anecdotes and personal accounts, Thompson weaves their stories into a gripping narrative that will find appeal among readers of all genres. This is a stirring and fast paced treatment of those perilous days that is both wrenching and redeeming.

The Patriots are a football team that plays for a Christian school John Curtis. Members of the founder's family, his five children and grandchildren make up part of the faculty members at the school. They aren't just a school; they are more like a family. They have taken football members into their homes for extended periods of time.

The Patriots have a great team due largely to their head coach J.T. Curtis, son of John Curtis. "Hurricane Season," the story, takes place in August 2005. The Patriots are preparing to play their first pre-season game, which they do, and it's a shut out in their favor. Unfortunately, hurricane Katrina is coming through the state. Katrina will drastically change John Curtis School and students' lives dramatically. Readers glimpse the struggles shared by each family during and after the storm.

J.T. is determined to get his football team back together for some normalcy. While many of the players have been relocated, J.T. realizes that getting the guys back on the field will be a big help to them mentally.

Neal Thompson has written a very good book that should be read by everyone. A true story, while reading you feel as if you're actually there in New Orleans and very much apart of the school, their family and face all of their triumphs. After finishing "Hurricane Season" I went to the website just to get information on the school and the players.

Reviewed by: Carmen
Also agree with the one reviewer who says that if you enjoy Friday Night Lights.

As a former Lynvet, I attended many of the ganes highlighted in the book. Additionally I knew so many of the players mentioned who were a few years older than my friends and I. A few even were our coaches as we moved through the Lynvet organization. These flawed heroes modeled some risky behavior that many of us idolized. Consequently some of us followed in their troubled footsteps. And yet, the strength of character that they also modeled motivated recovery as well. The quasi-hero, Larry Kelly was responsible for many success stories including my own for which I could never repay him. I say a prayer of gratitude to him and all the fascinating old friends that the author recalls.
Jim Matthews, M.Ed. [...]

As an ex-Lynvet player and Annopolis grad, I thouroughly enjoyed "State of Grace." Mr. Timberg successfully brings you back to a much more difficult, but, in many ways, a simpler time. He provides vivid and colorful descriptions of his teamates and the challeges that they faced while entering adulthood.

"State of Grace" is a timeless book about young men living difficult lives, by today's standards, and through football and comraderie find their ways through life. I recommend this book to everyone, but especially to teenagers and their parents.

This memoir will never be dated. The son of a Ziegfield girl and an aspiring songwriter Timberg's book has you rooting for him from the beginning as challenge after challenge threaten to keep him down. He pulls himself into manhood and takes us with him in this superbly crafted work. His goal, Annapolis, is preceded by two years of trying to obtain an appointment. During this interregnum, he joins a sandlot football team made up of good, sometimes errant, boy/men wondering about destinies. A page turner.
S.D. Segalini
Falmouth MA

This book will appeal to anyone who grew up in the 50's/60's, especially in the New York area. The football aspect is a thread; the focus is on coming of age and the changes in society that took place in that era.

It was a personal bonus to me in that I knew the Stuyvesant High School folks mentioned in the book. They were a special breed, dealing with long commutes to school & practices while succeeding in one of the most academically challenging high schools in the U. S.

As I came to know the Lynvets in State of Grace, I found myself caring about each and every one of them while rooting for them to succeed in the games of football and life.

Robert Timberg comes across as an uncomplaining, grateful warm human being who appreciates the hardships of his life for the lessons they taught him, and the good things that happened to him and his buddies for the rewards they brought for trying. Unlike Frank McCourt , who, in "Angela's Ashes" and "Tis" constantly complains about his life growing up and shows very little appreciation for the good life that this country has given him. He should take a lesson from Timberg, whose book is equally as good, who loves his country and his fellow man.

It was wonderful to read about the bond between the Lynvets and the competitions that helped almost everyone to mature to his potential.

Despite a surface knowledge of football I thoroughly enjoyed "State of Grace", and the plays are so well described that it doesn't take much familiarty with the game to get involved and root for the Lynvets.

I highly recomment reading this book.

I. C. Lefferts - Litchfield, CT

Coach Gregory has provided a great system for youth coaches. It is very easy for the children to understand, and difficult for to defend. We are currently installing this system with 7-9 year olds with a coaching staff working together for the first time.

The terms are not too technical, but some might require a little refresher. I would still recommend this book to first time coaches with little to no coaching/football experience.

There are a couple of grammatical, typographical and "cut and paste" type errors. They do not distract from the useability of the text.

I highly recommend not only the book, but the DVD video series.

If your thinking of running the Double Wing at the youth level then this book is ALL you will need to put together a great run for the Championship! This book and the 5 DVD package from Championship Productions are the base for my progam. Jack Gregory does a great job!

This is the definitive book on running the Double Wing offense at the youth level. No basic primer, this book is thorough, comprehensive and detailed. Coach Jack Gregory is one of the great teachers and finest coaches in the country. This book is for any coach interested in Double Wing football.

McShane is the real deal when it comes to coaching soccer. I highly recommend his instructional and informative book. I do wish that he sought out the mighty Arsenal Football Club as a resource. I'm sure Thierry Henry could have added some poignant insights on the game. My only other complaint regarded the fact that there were no chapters on soccer video games. I feel that these games not only serve to develop hand-eye coordination and lot of good material for "smack-talk," but also instill confidence (albeit false) in one's outdoor performance. Nonetheless, this is a fine read for the lads. Go STA! Go Arsenal! and GO SOX!

Mr. McShane has produced a work that will, I think, have a profound effect on how the elite youth players in the United States are trained. He has done intensive research on how the most successful player development systems operate and has written a book designed to clearly define the essential elements of their training. If you have involvment with the development of potentionaly elite players, you should read this book.

This is a worldview changing book when it comes to both soccer coaching, and child development. This is that influential even after having read or at least tried reading 20+ soccer coaching books, watching 20+ videos, earning coaching licenses through the US Soccer National D course, and playing soccer since I was 6 in the US, France, and Brazil.

There are three things that make this a great book:

1). Understanding children's capacities and needs. I learned how most kids are receiving coaching instruction that does not fit them at all, and so actually hinders them. Like a shoe that does not fit. Often kids are playing with far too many numbers beyond their abilities - such as 6v6, when they have not even shown any mastery at 2v2. So the actual activities in practice and competition need to be tailored to the abilities of the kids for efficient learning and maximum enjoyment.

2). Children learn best by discovering. I learned so much how to not give answers to players where they end up relying on the coach, and not becoming creative problem-solvers. By answering open questions the coach poses and playing simplified games, players learn how to learn: perceive (look), analyze (think), decide (act), perceive the effect of decision (pay attention to result).

Most people think soccer starts developmentally at the feet, and moves up when older to the head as the game becomes more about tactics and teamwork. Actually, soccer starts in the head as every action involves thought, moves to the heart where passion and joy develop from success and expressiveness, and then to the feet where technical skill is developed. This is contrary to many schools of thought that think technique should be taught outside of context to tactics. And this makes no sense as invention (skill) is born from necessity (situation). Just dribbling or kicking the ball for the first time is a process of perceiving, thinking, deciding, and noticing the result. And this learning process will always happen naturally as long as the number of factors is not so great to overwhelm a person or answers are artificially introduced.

Like Horst Wein says, Nature herself is not in a rush, and neither should we be so that everything happens at the right moment.

3). Step-by-step progression. Players need success and new appropriate challenges to remain motivated. Here is a program that is very logical, thorough, and sensitive to the abilities of coaches and players.

For instance, an example practice structure for u7-- 2v2 competition, game for passing/shooting, game for dribbling, game for tackling, back to 2v2 game to see if skills have improved. (Notice everything is a game, as kids want and need to play. Also, notice the pattern of starting with the game, and then taking a step back to learning something simpler which is impeding success in the more complex game, and then back to the complex game to see what improvement is made.)

Seasonal progression from u7-u14:
u7: games for basic abilities (passing/shooting, dribbling, tackling), 2v2 games
u8: u7 content + games for learning 3v3, 3v3 competitions
u9: u8 content (which includes u7 content) + 4v4 competitions
and so on... a nice ladder to move through the complexities of the game

I have personally used these coaching methods for the past 1.5 years after 3 years trying other methods (including US Soccer's and Brazil's coaching methods), and have found them to be more effective and enjoyable for players.

Phenomenal. One of the best soccer books I have ever purchased. Detailed, well argued, well presented... the works. Horst Wein is on another level.

I found this book provided innovative and real solutions to the various problems I've faced at my children's baseball and hockey games over the past several years.

I am very fortunate that I have two sons that are naturally talented
athletes and are always selected to be on travel and all-star teams. When I
read Fair Play I was surprised to find that despite the success my sons have
had I learned that they could be excelling and learning more if they were
invovled in programs such as the book suggests and illustrates. This is
truly a book for every parent to read.

I used this book to help with my daughter's overall soccer skills and general knowledge base. It was written concisely and logically and was easy to follow. I highly recommend it.

The book deals with all the main technical and positional parameters whilst not neglecting attitude to the game in general. The language is clear and concise and leaves no room for confusion. In essence, the language of a good coach.
One can study the contents in total for an overview of all that is necessary to play the game well whilst appreciating those that execute the focused skills at the highest level. Moreover, it is a gem of a reference for those players and coaches who wish to quickly jump into a specific coaching topic to refresh a weak area of their game or coaching programme.
This is an ideal tool for players and coaches in junior squads.
I enjoyed the read and my only regret is that such a book was not available in my formative years in soccer.

Don Kirkendall is a doc that really has "been there and done that." This book provides super information, based on studies and years of experience from the youth to national team level on what comprises soccer fitness, how to improve it, and how to test for it. The section on injury prevention alone is worth the cover price. This is a great way for club and high school coaches, in particular, to get up to date with the latest in exercise physiology as it relates to soccer. It's a much more user friendly book than Jens Bangsbo's excellent, but way down in the physiological weeds, book.

People need to take a real good look and see what the primary function of our Children and Youth Services is. It seems that they operate in such a way to fit their own needs and not the needs of the children. I rate this book a five star. Why should we be held responsible for what we do while they bury their mistakes within the system. It is about time these so called Social Workers started be held accountable for destroying people's lives.