or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
More Buying Choices
45 used & new from $2.59

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Soccerhead: An Accidental Journey into the Heart of the American Game
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

Soccerhead: An Accidental Journey into the Heart of the American Game (Paperback)

~ (Author) "As the wolf pack closes in, the Mosquito lies in wait..." (more)
Key Phrases: youth coaches, youth athletics, youth soccer, United States, New York, New Jersey (more...)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

List Price: $14.00
Price: $11.90 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $2.10 (15%)
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 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Wednesday, November 11? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
23 new from $3.83 22 used from $2.59

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Hardcover -- $9.97 $0.01
  Paperback $11.90 $3.83 $2.59

Frequently Bought Together

Soccerhead: An Accidental Journey into the Heart of the American Game + How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization + The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer
Price For All Three: $38.29

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Soccerhead: An Accidental Journey into the Heart of the American Game by Jim Haner

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer by David Goldblatt

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Soccer in a Football World: The Story of America's Forgotten Game (Sporting)

Soccer in a Football World: The Story of America's Forgotten Game (Sporting)

by David Wangerin
5.0 out of 5 stars (2)  $13.57
The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer

The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer

by David Goldblatt
4.5 out of 5 stars (6)  $16.32
The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup

The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup

by Matt Weiland
4.4 out of 5 stars (15)  $13.45
Bloody Confused!: A Clueless American Sportswriter Seeks Solace in English Soccer

Bloody Confused!: A Clueless American Sportswriter Seeks Solace in English Soccer

by Chuck Culpepper
3.7 out of 5 stars (32)  $10.04
Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism.

Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism.

by Andrei S. Markovits
4.4 out of 5 stars (21)  $15.48
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The year his son turned six, Haner was shanghaied by a group of local parents into coaching the College Park Hornets, a scrappy group of boys (and one girl) finding their legs on the pee-wee soccer fields outside Washington, D.C. His book charts his ensuing obsession with the sport in language as brisk as the game. Between weekly matches, Haner, a Baltimore Sun writer, pores over books, visits fabled soccer homelands and interviews legends to uncover the American heart of this foreign game. Although Native Americans played a version of soccer with a deerskin ball, the sport really took root in the U.S. in the 1930s, when immigrant workers played in raucous leagues. Walter Bahr, who took the winning shot against the English in a 1950 World Cup game, tells Haner how his team of blue-collar laborers stunned some of the world's best players. But Haner learns the essence of the sport from his kids. Watching them play, he sees how fluidity, creativity and trust reign in this simple game. After the Hornets lose a county championship, Haner concludes, "There is a God... and he gave us soccer at the dawn of time so that we would never forget who is in charge." (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


From Booklist

*Starred Review* As soccer's popularity grows in the U.S., conventional wisdom holds that the game is a recent arrival, perhaps a product of globalization. Haner tells us that what we're seeing is not new, but a reprise--and that soccer first blossomed during a much earlier phase of globalization: America's early-twentieth-century flood of immigration. An award-winning writer for the Baltimore Sun, Haner started out as a football fan, not a soccerhead. But he became a full-fledged fanatic after taking a step American dads and moms take every day: he became a coach. Frustrated by his tactical failures and intrigued by tales of tough U.S. textile workers taking on Europe's best teams, Haner's quest for knowledge led him to coaching success and one hell of a good book. His enthusiasm and good humor is infectious, the history is genuinely interesting, and anyone who doubts that soccer games between nine-year-olds can be chronicled with the same verve and intensity of professional or collegiate sports need look no further. And, with the 2006 World Cup fast approaching, this is remarkably timely. Belongs with Franklin Foer's How Soccer Explains the World (2004) as a must-read for people puzzled by soccer's popularity. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: North Point Press (April 3, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0865477337
  • ISBN-13: 978-0865477339
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #481,608 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category: (What's this?)

    #89 in  Books > Sports > Coaching > Soccer

More About the Author

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

Visit Amazon's Jim Haner Page

Inside This Book (learn more)


Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
The Soccer Coaching Bible by National Soccer Coaches Associatin of America
 


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
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn 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

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars So, you want to coach Soccer, your kid plays soccer..., April 17, 2006
Folks, soccer is different. You will learn, the author learned. You want to coach and you do not know soccer. OK, welcome to the club. Before you start, learn what it is really all about - PARENTS, KIDS, REFS, relationships... And then we will get to the GAME of SOCCER.

It will come, you will learn the game. The big picture; what is really going on across our country - is in this book. Read it.

Read the book, get the kids to play hard, and love the game.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Vivid and entertaining...even for non-soccerheads, May 7, 2006
By Michael S. Dobson (Bethesda, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Funny, realistic, intelligent and beautifully written. I'm a "draftee" soccerhead, thanks to my son. Thanks to Jim Haner, I have an understanding of what this game is about. More importantly, I gain from him the understanding of what the game looks like from the inside. Jim writes about soccer kids with the same passion other writers save for major league athletes, and makes those kids live in your imagination. His description of individual soccer games alone is worth the price of admission, but his study of the game's history and analysis of the strategy (more Sun Tzu, less Clausewitz) has added immeasurably to my understanding of what happens on the field. I should add that Jim Haner has been my son's soccer trainer, and he's as dynamic and alive on the field as he is on the printed page. A wonderful read.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Humorous and accurate, April 27, 2006
Jim's style of writing is captivating and comedic. Being myself an assistant coach, and a parent of youth players, I found his antecdotes very similar to my own experiences. His research of the sport provides a goldmine of information for anyone who wishes to learn the roots of the sport in the USA, or its rich but little known highly competitive history amongst migrant cultures flocking to America. A must read for the parent or coach alike as Jim shares its all too common experiences.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


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

5.0 out of 5 stars great book
This is a great easy read for anyone who has kids playing youth soccer and is interested in the history of the sport in the United States. Read more
Published 7 months ago by P. Wright

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressively, and Obsessively Written
A great parallel narrative, jointly tracking the familiar tales of youth soccer's takeover by the mania of club systems (along with a shrewd critique of parents' naive assumptions... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Eric Wilson

4.0 out of 5 stars Promising start and consistent quality
Basically this is an excellent description of a novice to the soccer world learning its vaules and benefits. Read more
Published on January 13, 2007 by Robert M. Argo

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book for coaches, parents, soccer lovers
Wow. I am thoroughly impressed with this book. I have played soccer since I was 12, and at 30 am now starting to coach and referee. Read more
Published on September 28, 2006 by J. Yun

2.0 out of 5 stars You've read this one before
The problem with Jim Haner's Soccerhead is that he may be writing about a sport that's new to Americans, but he's using it to tell an old story in an old way. Read more
Published on September 15, 2006 by Michael J. Dittman

4.0 out of 5 stars Good start for the aspiring youth soccer coach.
Nice job blending the fun and frustrations of coaching with the history of soccer in this country - which is a much richer history then I would have guessed. Read more
Published on August 11, 2006 by Farmer John

5.0 out of 5 stars Like a film noir comedy ...
Haner is a genuine hard-bitten gumshoe reporter, the kind of guy who's battled sleazoid pols and his own bosses, and written great stories along the way. Read more
Published on July 1, 2006 by T. Davidson

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent read
This is an excellent soccer book. It's one that every Weekend warrior soccer coach will love.
Published on June 14, 2006 by J. Wright

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and fascinating mix
A story about a team, a history of the game in the U.S., a coach's odyssey, a rumination on what youth sports have become ... "Soccerhead" has it all. Read more
Published on May 7, 2006 by G. Yorke

Only search this product's reviews



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
   




Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:









i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.