Take Back the Game
How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids' Sports--and Why It Matters
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Narrated by:
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Abby Craden
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By:
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Linda Flanagan
About this listen
"A really brilliant book" — Malcolm Gladwell
Longlisted for the Porchlight Business Book Awards 2022
A close look at how big money and high stakes have transformed youth sports, turning once healthy, fun activities for kids into all-consuming endeavors—putting stress on children and families alike
Some 75% of American families want their kids to play sports. Athletics are training grounds for character, friendship, and connection; at their best, sports insulate kids from hardship and prepare them for adult life. But youth sports have changed so dramatically over the last 25 years that they no longer deliver the healthy outcomes everyone wants. Instead, unbeknownst to most parents, kids who play competitive organized sports are more likely to burn out or suffer from overuse injuries than to develop their characters or build healthy habits. What happened to kids' sports? And how can we make them fun again?
In Take Back the Game, coach and journalist Linda Flanagan reveals how the youth sports industry capitalizes on parents’ worry about their kids’ futures, selling the idea that more competitive play is essential in the feeding frenzy over access to colleges and universities. Drawing on her experience as a coach and a parent, along with research and expert analysis, Flanagan delves into a national obsession that has:
- Compelled kids to specialize year-round in one sport.
- Increased the risk of both physical injury and mental health problems.
- Encouraged egregious behavior by coaches and parents.
- Reduced access to sports for low-income families.
A provocative and timely entrant into a conversation thousands of parents are having on the sidelines, Take Back the Game uncovers how youth sports became a serious business, the consequences of raising the stakes for kids and parents alike—and the changes we need now.
©2022 Linda Flanagan (P)2022 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Searing indictment of the current state of youth sports . . . It’s all too easy for parents to recognize that there’s a problem, but it’s much harder to swim against the societal current on your own. Here’s hoping Flanagan’s book helps kickstart a movement.” —ALEX HUTCHINSON’s 2022 Sweat Science Holiday Book List, Outside Magazine
“Take Back the Game is a profoundly important book. Every parent needs to read it.” —MALCOLM GLADWELL, host of the podcast Revisionist History
“This book is for anyone who has ever found themselves spending entire weekends at youth soccer events and asked, ‘Why?’” —NEW YORK POST, Best Books of 2022
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When Kevin Garnett shocked the world by announcing that he would not be attending college - as young basketball prodigies were expected to do - but instead would enter the 1995 NBA draft directly from high school, he blazed a trail for a generation of teenage basketball players to head straight for the pros. That trend would continue until the NBA instituted an age limit in 2005, requiring all players to attend college or another developmental program for at least one year.
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Bad pronunciation
- By K. Spearman on 07-03-16
By: Jonathan Abrams
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Run to Overcome
- The Inspiring Story of an American Champion's Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream
- By: Meb Keflezighi, Dick Patrick
- Narrated by: Jon Gauger
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Meb Keflezighi is all about hope and second chances—starting with his very survival. The child of a small African country ravaged by a brutal war, Meb arrived in America with nothing but the clothes on his back, speaking no English and never having raced a mile. So how did he end up an A student, one of the most celebrated and respected athletes of his generation, and winner of the 2009 New York City Marathon?
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You gotta love Meb! - but...
- By CynK on 01-29-13
By: Meb Keflezighi, and others
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A Game Plan For Life: The Power of Mentoring
- By: John Wooden, Don Yeager, John Maxwelll
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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After eight books, many of them best sellers, A Game Plan for Life is the one closest to John Woodens heart: a moving and inspirational guide to the power of mentorship. The first half focuses on the people who helped foster the values that carried Wooden through an incredibly successful and famously principled career, including his college coach, his wife, Abraham Lincoln, and Mother Teresa.
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Great!
- By David on 04-01-15
By: John Wooden, and others
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Against the Grain
- A Coach's Wisdom on Character, Faith, Family, and Love
- By: Bill Courtney
- Narrated by: Bill Courtney
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In Against the Grain, Bill Courtney shares his convictions on the fundamental tenets of character, commitment, service, leadership, civility, and others that, in his decades of success as an entrepreneur and educator, have proven to be the keys to a winning and meaningful life and career.
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An amazing man
- By Richard Langel on 03-04-24
By: Bill Courtney
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You Are Not Special
- ...And Other Encouragements
- By: David McCullough Jr.
- Narrated by: David McCullough Jr.
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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A profound expansion of David McCullough, Jr.’s popular commencement speech - a call to arms against a prevailing, narrow, conception of success viewed by millions on YouTube - You Are Not Special is a love letter to students and parents as well as a guide to a truly fulfilling, happy life. By acknowledging that the world is indifferent to them, McCullough takes pressure off of students to be extraordinary achievers and instead exhorts them to roll up their sleeves and do something useful with their advantages.
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The Teacher is Wise
- By E. Pearson on 09-22-16
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Junior Seau
- The Life and Death of a Football Icon
- By: Jim Trotter
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau is widely considered one of the best linebackers ever to play the game. A 10-time All-Pro and 12-time Pro Bowl selection, Seau was picked for the NFL's All-Decade Team in the 1990s. His incredible career spanned two decades, during which time he played for the Chargers, Dolphins, and Patriots. In 2012, at the age of 43, Seau committed suicide with a gunshot wound to the chest. News of his death sent shockwaves through the NFL.
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Outstanding Book!!!
- By Sherry Jones on 01-08-16
By: Jim Trotter
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Beyond Basketball
- Coach K's Keywords for Success
- By: Mike Krzyzewski, Jamie K. Spatola
- Narrated by: Mike Krzyzewski
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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For Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of the Duke University men's basketball team, certain words have special importance and force. Coach K uses them every day to energize, motivate, and teach his players how to be winners on the court and in every aspect of their lives. Now, in Beyond Basketball, he offers 40 short, hard-hitting audio essays that will educate and inspire. Each is centered on an important keyword and illustrated with anecdotes from his personal experiences.
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A little disjointed
- By Cathy Morison on 11-22-11
By: Mike Krzyzewski, and others
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Uncommon
- Finding Your Path to Significance
- By: Tony Dungy, Nathan Whitaker
- Narrated by: Tony Dungy
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
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Super Bowl-winning coach and number-one New York Times best-selling author Tony Dungy has had an unusual opportunity to reflect on what it takes to achieve significance. He is looked to by many as the epitome of the success and significance that is highly valued in our culture. He also works every day with young men who are trying to achieve significance through football and all that goes with a professional athletic career, such as money, power, and celebrity.
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Great Men's Bible study product
- By DG on 12-14-19
By: Tony Dungy, and others
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Outcasts United
- An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference
- By: Warren St. John
- Narrated by: Lincoln Hoppe
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
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Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents the lives of a diverse group of young people as they miraculously coalesce into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating portrait of a fading American town struggling to accommodate its new arrivals.
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great story, lackluster narration
- By CRE on 02-19-13
By: Warren St. John
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Getting to Neutral
- How to Conquer Negativity and Thrive in a Chaotic World
- By: Trevor Moawad, Andy Staples
- Narrated by: Russell Wilson, Ciara
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
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It’s easy to be positive when everything is coming up roses. But what happens when life goes sideways? Many of us lapse into a self-defeating negative spiral that makes it hard to accomplish anything. Getting to Neutral is a step-by-step guide that shows listeners how to use mental conditioning coach Trevor Moawad’s innovative motivational system to defeat negativity and thrive.
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The Story Behind This Book
- By OroPreto on 01-31-22
By: Trevor Moawad, and others
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Attitude
- Develop a Winning Mindset on and off the Court
- By: Jay Wright, Michael Sheridan, Mark Dagostino, and others
- Narrated by: Michael Sheridan
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
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In this behind-the-scenes look at the making of a champion, the coach of the Villanova University men's basketball team shares his competitive and cooperative philosophy along with lessons from his coaching career and the story of his personal road to success.
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Nova Nation !
- By Anonymous on 11-16-17
By: Jay Wright, and others
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Teach Your Children Well
- Parenting for Authentic Success
- By: Madeline Levine PhD
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Parents, educators, and the media wring their hands about the plight of America's children and teens - soaring rates of emotional problems, limited coping skills, disengagement from learning - and yet there are ways to reverse these disheartening trends. Teach Your Children Well acknowledges that every parent wants successful children. However, until we are clearer about our core values and the parenting choices that are most likely to lead to authentic, and not superficial, success, we will continue to raise exhausted, externally driven, impaired children.
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I wish this book had been published years ago
- By AvidReader on 09-07-12
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The Missing Ring
- How Bear Bryant and the 1966 Alabama Crimson Tide Were Denied College Football's Most Elusive Prize
- By: Keith Dunnavant
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
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Very few institutions in American sports can match the enduring excellence of the University of Alabama football program. Across a wide swath of the last century, the tradition-rich Crimson Tide has claimed twelve national championships, captured 25 conference titles, finished 34 times among the country's top ten, and played in 53 bowl games.
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Fantastic
- By John Rogers on 03-29-18
By: Keith Dunnavant
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Empower
- Conquering the Disease of Fear
- By: Tareq Azim, Seth Davis
- Narrated by: Tareq Azim, Cary Hite - Introduction
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
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From finding common ground with warlords, introducing the Taliban to change, and working with NFL greats such as Marshawn Lynch, this uplifting memoir and “study of resilience” (General Paul Selva, United States Air Force) from coach and personal development expert, Tareq Azim, will help you build a relationship with fear and embrace your own power.
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Beyond Proud.
- By Sophia A. on 09-12-24
By: Tareq Azim, and others
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My tipping point…for audio
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What listeners say about Take Back the Game
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sharm
- 01-13-23
Insightful, Meaningful and Impactful
This book expresses everything I’ve felt is so detrimental in youth sports these days and contains good ideas for dealing with them Excellent narration also.
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- M. Ayotte
- 10-19-23
Terrific narrative of a troubling matter
So well done! Personal stories mixed with statistics and facts. And, best off all, offers solutions for some of the issues parents and coaches face today. Thank you for your voice!
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- Christina Engelbrecht
- 08-31-23
Important book for parents of youth athletes
The content of this book is riveting and extremely important for parents, and all involved in youth sports, to hear and contemplate. However, the reader was miscast. She has less inflection than Siri; her interpretation of phrases is stilted, like a dispassionate robot. Sometimes, she reads a sentence and sounds caught off guard to have gotten to the end of it, like she didn't understand what she was reading, or didn't rehearse the content. These moments should have been re-recorded as they are jarring to the listener. If it were not for the well-written content, I would have quit listening because of the poor interpretation of that content by the actress. I know the book is well-written because I can hear the turn of phrase through the robotic voice, and I wish a warmer actor could have interpreted it. This is the kind of experience that kept me away from audio books for many years - expressionless reading of words on a page, losing the humanity of the author.
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- Joshua Billington
- 09-02-23
Must Read for any Youth Sports Parent or Coach
Great dive into how far off course we’ve gone with youth sports with some ideas on how to get back on track.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-14-24
Terrific Book
All youth sports parents and coaches should read this book. Really makes some excellent observations and recommendations on youth sports today.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-25-24
Kid sports are a mess
The book does a good job of explaining the problem and aiming the reader at Resources like the Aspen Institute. It seems to be less strong on solutions that would actually fix the problems.
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- Austin Cy
- 08-20-23
great
the next level from Micheal Lewis's personal story. glad to see more information on kids sports. parents need to see all sides of this
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- L Tominaga
- 11-02-22
Read this book with a grain of salt
Makes a lot of good points about the dangers of focusing on only one sport year round and starting at earlier ages. Explains the economics of the rise in club sports and the conflict with high school athletics. However the description of coaching and coaches focuses on the the worst examples. Although acknowledging the benefits of sports, fitness, and competition, sports today are depicted so negatively that I was left with the idea that having my children in organized sports is placing them at risk for physical and psychological harm.
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- Grace's mom
- 09-15-22
Terrible narration
This narrator reads the book as though it’s a novel. Such distracting inflections and vocal fry.
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1 person found this helpful