Amazon.com: Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports (9780060881634): Brooke de Lench: Books
Home Team Advantage and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$3.75 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports
 
 
Start reading Home Team Advantage on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports [Paperback]

Brooke de Lench (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

Price: $14.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 2 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Monday, February 27? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Paperback, Bargain Price $5.98  
Paperback, September 5, 2006 $14.95  

Book Description

September 5, 2006

Over the past decade, the stakes in youth sports have reached startling heights; the pressure to win often eclipses the desire to have fun. Sports injuries have increased tenfold; aggression on and off the field—between kids, parents, and coaches—is at a fever pitch; and drug and alcohol use among young athletes is on the rise. While there are plenty of books that help the best-intentioned parent, most of them are written by men, for men. They do not address concerns specific to mothers, nor empower them to confidently step onto the out-of-control playground to assume whatever role they choose—spectator, advocate, administrator, coach, fund-raiser, or team mom.

Home Team Advantage is an essential resource manual that will inspire women to confidently tackle some of the issues preventing their kids from enjoying sports. Brooke de Lench authoritatively covers issues ranging from ensuring playing time and confronting out-of-control coaches to countering the "winning at all costs" mentality. Packed with real-life anecdotes and information from experts, Home Team Advantage provides constructive, practical, and forward-thinking advice to help mothers understand the critical role they can play in putting the words fun, game, and play back into youth sports.


Frequently Bought Together

Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports + 101 Ways to Be a Terrific Sports Parent : Making Athletics a Positive Experience for Your Child + Just Let The Kids Play: How to Stop Other Adults from Ruining Your Child's Fun and Success in Youth Sports
Price For All Three: $42.77

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together


Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

As the mother of triplet boys, de Lench knows plenty about being a spectator at youth sports events. What she offers here is a thoughtful account of how mothers can use the strengths they routinely engender in their children at home to help them succeed on the field, on the court, or in the pool. She makes a good case for more motherly involvement in youth sports, noting that while mothers are naturally intuitive, even-tempered, and caring, they don't necessarily have to sacrifice all the elements that make sports such a male-dominated endeavor, such as competition, drive, and tenacity. De Lench outlines her strategies for Mom-involvement clearly and includes helpful chapters on coaching girls, dealing with abuse, avoiding injuries, making sound nutritional choices, and other common topics sure to be helpful to parents of sports-playing kids. Some of her rules might be a little inflexible (such as allowing only three hours of practice per week for children under 12), but all families will find something useful in this valuable book. For parents and coaches of children of all ages. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

An invaluable resource...superbly informative and educational...for not only every sports mom, but educator and parent as well. (Robert C. Cantu, M.D., Neurosurgeon, Co-Director Neurological Sports Injury Center Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. Author of Neurological Head and Spine Injuries. )

A book every family needs to have and utilize to keep their children safe and off the field. (David Janda, M.D., Orthopedic Surgeon, Director of the Institute of Preventative Sports Medicine. )

For those with a stake in those children who are involved in sports, de Lench is important reading. (Paul Bearmon, M.D., Emergency Room Physician, President of "Keep 'em All Playing" )

This immensely readable book assembles brilliantly the most important lessons learned from parents, respected athletes, educators, physicians, trainers and coaches. (Eli Newberger, M.D., Professor at Harvard Medical School and author of THE MEN THEY WILL BECOME )

Her stories refresh my hope for the future of youth sports. Her book is just what sports moms desperately need. (Shari Young Kuchenbecker, Ph.D., author of RAISING WINNERS )

Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial (September 5, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060881631
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060881634
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,027,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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

 

Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars SPORT MOTHERS (FATHERS, COACHES, and SCHOOL Administrators) READ THIS BOOK, September 26, 2006
This review is from: Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports (Paperback)
I am a mother in my early 40's to five sports active children, a graduate of an Ivy League college and graduate school with a degree in psychology. I also played soccer in college. I state these facts hoping to give some validity to my opinion.

I read this book over the weekend after hearing author de Lench speak on a radio show in Arizona last week. This book is incredible!!! Finally a person who is NOT afraid to hang it out there about the abuse that IS going on in youth sports all across this country. She has identified and obviously done an amazing amount of research on the spectrum of abuse in youth sports; sexual, physical and YES emotional abuse. We all know it is happening--now we know what to do about it without further harm to our children by coach centered coaches.

Unlike a few of the other books available for sports parents, Ms. de Lench is the first youth sports parenting expert who writes from the heart (lots of great personal stories) and from the head (she works with sports parents every day). She did not write the book before her children played sports or even during their early years. She wrote it at the end of their college careers. For me there is nothing like tapping into the mind of a veteran sports mother for the deep wisdom and seasoned advice.

This easy to read yet sophisticated book should be given out by every pediatrician when every mother asks the question, "should my child play organized ball" ---the answer is empathically YES--as long as you know exactly what to expect and how to prevent serious injury, abuse and the typical problems that plaque the culture. Home Team Advantage will arm you with everything you need to know to be a successful sport parent. High Fives on this book!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars CRITICAL INFORMATION FOR SPORTS PARENTS, November 28, 2006
This review is from: Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports (Paperback)
I am raising five sports active kids and was intrigued enough to suggest and select Home Team Advantage as my book clubs (five fellow female attorneys) November read. Between us we have 21 children ages 6-19, who have been or for the most part are, in sports programs. We are each litigators practicing outside of Philly.

I speak for the group: If you are a mother or a father and you have children in sports you really ought to read this book. It may help save a kid's physical and emotional life if you do. We each agreed that the author is incredibly forward thinking in the way she synthesized her first hand in-the-trenches information, data and research to provide us with the big picture, especially with the chapters on politics, abuse, injury prevention and how to improve the culture of youth sports. Her depth of information and breadth of knowledge quite frankly is pretty brilliant and damn gutsy. We could not put the book down. Well written and ample interesting first hand stories. As a collective group we could relate to just about everything she wrote about. We talked for hours on each of her chapter topics. de Lench has the answers for all of our questions and concerns.

One negative; we each agreed that the phrase "hardwiring" (the new Politically Correct term for hormones) was used in place of hormones too often and gets a bit old. It did, however, inform us to the empirical data out there on the fact that boys in sports are very different than girls. Something we knew but could not confirm until reading this book.

Very enlightening read for anyone raising athletic children.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars This book is a Game Plan, September 13, 2006
This review is from: Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports (Paperback)
When my wife bought this book I was intrigued. I was one of those guys who thought that it was up to mothers to drive their kids back and forth to and from sports, pack snacks and fundraise but that was about it. After reading Home Team Advantage, I realized I was dead wrong: there is a whole lot moms can and should be doing beyond simply chauffeurs; that perhaps if we included womens's perspective, our kids would be having more fun playing sports. I am the director of a youth football league and will encourage all of the coaches to read this book-- simply put it is a blueprint for a succesful season.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews










Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
youth sports system, equal playing time rule, youth sports organizations, youth sports experience, youth sports today, preseason meeting, youth athletes, jock culture, existing club, early specialization, female athlete triad, youth sports program, team administrator
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Little League, United States, Leonard Sax, Mia Hamm, World Cup, Olympic Games, Scott Lancaster, American College of Sports Medicine, Angela Ruggiero, Colleen Hacker, New England, Boston Globe
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:





Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject