Customer Reviews

Playing the Game: Inside Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Lincoln's book reminded me of Halberstam's The Amateurs and I recommend it just as highly. Halberstam examined the character and discipline of a handful of rowers and coaches; Lincoln takes a broader view, detailing the methods whereby talented athletes are identified, recruited and then cosseted at Ivy League schools. Both books provide compelling personal stories. Both reveal highly specialized but hidden worlds. And both are about a lot more than sports.

In fact, Lincoln--equal parts jock, reporter, ethicist and diplomat--has written a book that can be read with profit from several perspectives. For a young athlete, Playing the Game might be used as a guide to unmarked gates at Harvard, Yale and Princeton. For anyone considering a career as an Ivy recruiter, Playing the Game is a hair-raising foretaste of the stresses to come.

Or, if you've ever sought insight into the upper echelons of Wall Street and Washington, where so many Ivy Leaguers flock, try reading this book about squash and lacrosse. Ethical relativity starts early.

This remarkably well researched and engaging book reveals the surprising importance of athletics to gain admission to the Ivy League. Chris Lincoln is a talented writer who has chosen as his first effort to tell the story of athletic recruitment practices at places where one might think that it's 'grades first, sports second' . This morsel of commonly held wisdom is thoroughly debunked.

The story is told through the eyes of the coaches and players themselves, as well as a sprinkling of the opinions of the folks from admissions departments and administrators(including a few college presidents) that are so frank they have an 'off the record' feel. Bottom line: athletics count, and can count big time no matter what anyone tells you.

The complicated and lengthy process of how players are recruited is unveiled, and from this base the author draws an easy to follow path for any athlete wanting to scale the Ivy mountain. If I were a coach or a young athlete with aspirations in that direction, I could hope to find no better resource than this.

And I read it in one sitting. The guy can write.

If you have children in junior high school or high school that will be going to college, then do NOT skip reading this book.

"If asked, 'Want to read a book about the college application process for athletes in the Ivy League?' I am pretty sure that most of the time I would have said "Thanks but no thanks." However if you are a parent with kids that are just like mine -- not likely to play a varsity sport at college -- then check out this book. The book should almost be required reading for the parents of student athletes, and the students as well.

One of the interesting themes this book carries is the value and need for a "hook" to get the attention of admissions offices when applying to college. My kids are all great students. They do not have the athletic "hook" that is going to get them lots of attention from college coaches and athletic directors or land them big scholarships. But they will be competing for those admission slots with the kids that do.

Mr. Lincoln's book is surprisingly interesting, an easy read, and well written.

A great learning tool for anyone connected with a high school athlete looking to play sports in college. Unfortunately, I read this too late to help. Just witnessed first hand a scenario whereby a "solid commitment" did not materialize at an Ivy - putting a student athlete in a very precarious spot. To the reviewer claiming that Lincoln was "creating a controversy and scandal that does not exist", I can personally tell you that Lincoln is right on the mark. I have already re-read the book and advocate that all who are ever thinking about entering the recruiting process should take detailed notes.

Many Ivy and NESCAC presidents reacted like lemmings after Mellon Foundation head Bill Bowen suggested their athletic programs were out of balance, and that athletes get an unfair advantage in admissions. They cut the number of recruits and made all those involved in sports at their schools feel like second class citizens.
Too bad they did not read Chris Lincoln's book first.
A former recruited athlete at Middlebury, Lincoln looks at the issue from the other side and recounts the challenges and difficulties of taking part in a top sports program at a top school. Through thoughtful interviews one sees that it is possible for athletic departments to be consistent with institutional goals. And that there is still such a thing as a teacher coach, and a scholar athlete.
As a parent of an Ivy League athlete, I think Playing the Game provides needed counterpoint to Bowen's thesis. Well worth reading if you are interested in NCAA sports in general, or the Ivies and NESCAC in particular. Essential reading if you have a child considering playing at those schools.

Lincoln's book reminded me of Halberstam's The Amateurs and I recommend it just as highly. Halberstam examined the character and discipline of a handful of rowers and coaches; Lincoln takes a broader view, detailing the methods whereby talented athletes are identified, recruited and then cosseted at Ivy League schools. Both books provide compelling personal stories. Both reveal highly specialized but hidden worlds. And both are about a lot more than sports.

In fact, Lincoln--equal parts jock, reporter, ethicist and diplomat--has written a book that can be read with profit from several perspectives. For a young athlete, Playing the Game might be used as a guide to unmarked gates at Harvard, Yale and Princeton. For anyone considering a career as an Ivy recruiter, Playing the Game is a hair-raising foretaste of the stresses to come.

Or, if you've ever sought insight into the upper echelons of Wall Street and Washington, where so many Ivy Leaguers flock, try reading this book about squash and lacrosse. Ethical relativity starts early.

As an Ivy League grad and the parent of a prospect (well, maybe a long shot), I found this book to be very informative about the somewhat broken recruiting and admission process in the Ivy League. The details of the secretive Academic Index, the unbalanced financial aid scene, the bass-akwards "likely" letters and the suspect Harvard recruiting antics (Whiffy will be shocked, shocked!) are all revealed by Lincoln. He uses the actual words of the participants including the coaches, presidents, admissions directors, college counselors, parents and students to tell some great stories and reveal how it all works. I learned a lot about NESCAC (the Little Ivy) too. Good book.

An excellent book for high school students and their parents interested in Ivy League and even NESCAC schools and how sports recruiting at those schools works. I learned about "likely letters", "supports" and other details that are otherwise difficult to learn, even from the coaches.

My only reservation is that with Harvard's recent decision to stop early admissions, and I assume others will follow, the book will need updating to reflect the changes in sports recruiting due to this.

I will admit to being skeptical about this book at the outset. I don't like unsympathetic characters and, in this day and age, few people have greater senses of entitlement than the young who are academically gifted or athletically endowed - or both!

But my hat is off to Mr. Lincoln, his book illuminates most of these young high achievers with a sympathetic light, showing how these high achievers are arbitrarily dragged through a maze of social engineering created by Ivy league admissions' bureaucrats, a process tacitly and often explicitly endorsed by their peacock presidents. George Orwell would be proud!

Having been raised in the shadows of Dartmouth College forty years ago, I remember when Ivy League schools had very competitive athletics and their coaches were held in high esteem across the nation. Surely something systemic must have happened to undermine this all of this success. Now thanks to Mr. Lincoln, I know the answers. An unexpectedly interesting read.

I have a high school senior son who is looking to participate in college sports after graduation and I was looking for a book that would help provide some understanding of the whole Ivy recruiting process. This book provided great insight into the Ivy recruiting process from both the college coaches and administrators perspective. It provides the insight though true experiences of athletes, coaches and administrators. It also sheds light on the conflicts within the Ivy League about the process.