The Cheers and the Tears: A Healthy Alternative to the Dark Side of Youth Sports Today [Paperback]

Shane Murphy (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787940372 | ISBN-13: 978-0787940379 | Publication Date: February 19, 1999 | Edition: 1

The Cheers and the Tears offers parents and coaches sensible advice and healthy alternative approaches to the competitive and stressful world of youth sports.

"Full of practical and helpful ideas for parents who want their child's youth sports experience to be a success. . . . Refreshing, honest, and down to earth."
--Joan Ryan, author, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes; columnist, San Francisco Chronicle

"Shane Murphy understands parents and helps them help their children. His guidance is immensely practical. This book is essential reading for anyone who works with children in sports."
--Christy Ness, Olympic figure skating coach, coached Kristi Yamaguchi to the 1992 Olympic Gold Medal in Women's Figure Skating

"The Cheer and the Tears is terrific! Shane Murphy provides excellent solutions to tough issues. If your child is involved in organized sports at any level, read this book!"
--Sean McCann, sport psychologist, United States Olympic Committee

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Full of practical and helpful ideas for parents who want their child's youth sports experience to be a success. . . . Refreshing, honest, and down to earth." --Joan Ryan, author, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes

"Shane Murphy understands parents and helps them help their children. His guidance is immensely practical. This book is essential reading for anyone who works with children in sports." --Christy Ness, Olympic figure skating coach, coached Kristi Yamaguchi to the 1992 Olympic Gold Medal in Women's Figure Skating

"The Cheer and the Tears is terrific! Shane Murphy provides excellent solutions to tough issues. If your child is involved in organized sports at any level, read this book! --Sean McCann, sport psychologist, United States Olympic Committee

"Shane Murphy has done a great job of identifying and summarizing the key issues of this important component of millions of kids' lives. Not only that, but he does it in an enjoyable and readable fashion. You can tell he writes as both a sports expert and a Dad." --Tom Crawford, director of coaching, United States Olympic Committee

"This is a book for people who care about children and sports. Murphy uses nearly two decades of experience as a sport psychologist to provide a caring, critical, and constructive look at the problems and prospects of youth sports. His insights are timely, insightful, and immediately useful for parents and coaches in interested in a sound foundation for participating positively in the lives of children." --Jay Coakley, sociologist and author of Sport in Society: Issues and Controversies

From the Inside Flap

Put Fun and Development into Your Child's Youth Sports Experience? My son came home in tears and says he wants to quit the team-why?? The team I coach doesn't seem to enjoy the game. How can I make practices and games fun?? When my daughter gets injured, is she playing too hard or getting pushed too hard?? I suspect my son may be taking steroids-what should I do?? Are competitive sports bad for my child? Is being the parent of a competitive youth sport participant bad for me? The Cheers and the Tears offers parents and coaches sensible advice and healthy alternative approaches to the competitive and stressful world of youth sports. "Full of practical and helpful ideas for parents who want their child's youth sports experience to be a success. . . . Refreshing, honest, and down to earth."—Joan Ryan, author, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes; columnist, San Francisco Chronicle "Shane Murphy understands parents and helps them help their children. His guidance is immensely practical. This book is essential reading for anyone who works with children in sports."—Christy Ness, Olympic figure skating coach, coached Kristi Yamaguchi to the 1992 Olympic Gold Medal in Women's Figure Skating"The Cheer and the Tears is terrific! Shane Murphy provides excellent solutions to tough issues. If your child is involved in organized sports at any level, read this book!—Sean McCann, sport psychologist, United States Olympic Committee

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (February 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787940372
• ISBN-13: 978-0787940379
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #802,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This was an outstanding book..., June 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cheers and the Tears: A Healthy Alternative to the Dark Side of Youth Sports Today (Paperback)

Shane did an excellent job at recognizing and capturing the effects that misguided adults(more often than not they're unintended) are having on youth sports programs today. His recommendations on what youth sports organizations can do to improve their programs and what parents can do to improve their children's sports experience are excellent.

Shane's book is a MUST READ for youth sports administrators, coaches, and parents of competitive athletes.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book!, April 4, 2000

By 

David LaPorte - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cheers and the Tears: A Healthy Alternative to the Dark Side of Youth Sports Today (Paperback)

This is a truly remarkable book which gives a balanced view of youth sports today. Dr. Murphy is exactly right, in my opinion, in laying the blame for what problems exist squarely at the feet of the adults. He does an excellent job of analyzing what's good and bad about the roles of coaches and parents. He recommends specific and reasonable ways to keep what's good and minimize what isn't. I'm a coach and league director and chair national meetings on youth sports. I repeated recommend this book to everyone I know in youth sports.