More Than Just a Game: How the Youth Sports Industry Is Changing the Way We Parent and What to Do about It

How parents can learn to navigate the billion-dollar industry and profit-driven system of youth sports that frequently ignores the needs of kids.

In More Than Just a Game, the authors provide--in many compelling first-person stories--original research about parental attitudes and struggles and much-needed perspective regarding what has become a billion-dollar youth-sports industry. They examine the most pressing issues in the world of youth sports, including:

• How taxing athletics can be developmentally for children.
  
• The financial impact the ever-popular travel teams have on families.
  
• Excessive time commitments and expectations.
  
• The conundrums and challenging decisions the families of young athletes’ face.
  
• Inherent disadvantages of being an underprivileged young athlete or one who identifies as transgender.
  

In exploring these topics, the authors connect the patterns in the behavior of the adults they observed to broader trends in our society. They also provide parents with the information they need to understand the contemporary youth-sports industry--to see the bigger picture--and help them make conscious and more informed decisions for their children that are consistent with their core values. Concrete suggestions are highlighted about things like how to identify the appropriate team for a child, how to select activities that will help young athletes develop emotional and physical resilience, and ways that parents can create balance in their children’s lives.

Ultimately, the authors’ eye-opening research gives youth-sports parents a grounded perspective that will help their kids find success on and off the field.

Christopher B. Bjork, PhD, is professor of education and coordinator of teacher education at Vassar College and former director of the Asian Studies Program. His research interests include international comparative education, educational reform, teacher education, and youth sports.
He is the author of Indonesian Education (Routledge, 2008) and editor or coeditor of many other books, including Japanese Education in an Era of Globalization, Education and Training in Japan; Educational Decentralization; and Taking Teaching Seriously. His most recent book, High Stakes Schooling, was published by the University of Chicago Press (2015). He has also written dozens of journal articles and book chapters. As a Faculty Athletics Representative at Vassar, Dr. Bjork attends Athletics Department meetings and workshops, interviews candidates for coaching positions, and weighs in on decisions about awards for athletes. In the world of youth sports, he has served as a travel team soccer and Little League baseball coach.

William Hoynes, PhD, is dean of the faculty and professor of sociology and former director of both the American Studies Program and the Media Studies Program at Vassar College. Hoynes is a cultural sociologist whose research explores contemporary media and culture in the United States, with a special focus on the relationships among journalism, the structure of the media industry, and practices of democratic citizenship. Dr. Hoynes has written widely about the media industry in the United States and is author of several award-winning books that have withstood the test of time. He has contributed chapters to more than a dozen titles and written reports, journal articles, and book reviews. He has been a board member of the Rhinebeck Little League for more than fifteen years and is a former board member of the Rhinebeck Soccer League. He has served as a travel team baseball and soccer coach and volunteer assistant high school basketball coach.