<div dir="ltr"><div>All, Please find below and attached Alan Zaremba's review of Jennifer Etnier's <i>For the love of the game.</i></div><div>Thanks</div><div>Duncan</div><div><br></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"" align="center"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Review<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"" align="center"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"" align="center"><i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Coaching for the Love of the Game</span></i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">—Jennifer Etnier.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"" align="center"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">University of North Carolina
Press<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"" align="center"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"" align="center"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Alan Zaremba<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"" align="center"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Northeastern University<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"" align="center"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Coaching
for the Love of the Game </span></i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">is
a book for coaches who work with young athletes.<span> </span>The author contends that the key to coaching
success is acknowledging that the reason kids play sports is to have fun.
Consequently, that foundational plank should be the basis for all coaching
activities and decisions.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There
are several strengths to the book. It is highly readable; addresses several
issues that pertain to coaching; and also discusses matters that are peripheral
to coaching but important nevertheless, like dealing with different types of
parents.<span> </span>Another value is that the book
has interactive components. Readers are given questions to respond to and there
is space in the book for answers to be written down. While the book is not a
workbook, these fill-in sections require the serious reader to consider and
articulate perspectives on coaching issues.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In
addition, the author takes on—head on--right from the beginning the problematic
tendency to judge coaching success on the basis of team wins and losses.<span> </span>Dr. Etnier is committed to undermining the
notion that winning is a meaningful criterion for determining coaching success.<span> </span>The book has two major components; and one envelopes
the other. The over-arching one is the author’s central argument: “If you want
to be a great coach, then it’s not about your won loss record…Being a great
coach requires that you put…athletes’ development as people above all else when
you are working with them.” The other component of the book includes sections
about coaching perspective and technique that facilitates “putting athletes’
development as people above all else when you are working with them.”<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There
are parts of the book that could be valuable or at least interesting for coaches
at all levels, but the author directs the book towards youth coaches, and—it
seemed to me--towards those who are just beginning to coach.<span> </span>It reads a bit like a primer for novices or
perhaps a remedial for those who have had an initial bumpy year or two and need
some guidance about how to proceed.<span> </span>The
chapters dealing with gender differences, young athletes’ parents, and
specialization vs. diversification may be particularly helpful.<span> </span>Also, Dr. Etnier includes activities and
drills that may be valuable to young coaches who are looking for specific ways
to improve or restructure practices.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">I have
some constructive criticisms.<span> </span>There are
citations to support claims throughout the book, but the support is
spotty.<span> </span>There are times when citations are
supplied and other times when it is puzzling why one comment has a citation and
other similar comments do not.<span> </span>In one
section about diversification vs. specialization the author lists Michael
Jordan, LeBron James, Alex Morgan, Annika Sörenstam and Wayne Gretzky as
athletes who as youths pursued multiple sports.<span>
</span>For some reason there is a citation for the statement about Morgan but
nothing for the others.<span> </span>I’m not sure Morgan’s
activity needs a citation, but if it does so do the others. There is a very
interesting anecdote the author’s dissertation adviser relayed regarding youngster
motivation for participating in sports. However, there needs to be some evidence
provided beyond the anecdote to support the conclusion the author derives from
the anecdote. <span> </span>Early in the book the
author comments that at a big ten institution only 2 per cent of athletes earn
sports scholarships but 70 percent earn academic scholarships. That stat seemed
particularly odd to me so I went and checked the source cited. He did indeed
make the claim.<span> </span>However, I went to other
sources and discovered that the 70l% figure is misleading.<span> </span>It is possible that at some schools 70% of
students or higher get some form of financial aid based on academic achievement,
but this aid could be relatively minor. It is misleading to suggest that the 2%
athletic scholarship stat can be meaningfully juxtaposed with the alleged 70% who
may obtain some support based on academic achievement.<span> </span>What might be meaningful to make this point
is a stat regarding the percentage of students on academic scholarships that
are full rides vs the percentage of athletic scholarships that are full rides.
Or the percentage of students on athletic scholarships that provide for a
majority of university costs, vs the percentage of students on academic
scholarships that provide that same or similar amount.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The
author is to be commended for taking on squarely what she calls “the elephant
in the room” that is, the idea that winning is central to coaching success. I
can remember as a high school freshman basketball player being stunned when walking
into an away gym’s locker room I saw the oft cited (and oft misused) Vince Lombardi
comment <i>Winning Isn’t Everything. It’s the Only Thing</i> plastered in a
huge banner around the entirety of the locker room.<span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Winning
is, of course, not “the only thing” and promulgating this philosophy can be
detrimental to young athletes’ enjoyment of games. <span> </span>In fact, Lombardi did not really mean that
winning is the only thing. The author points this out by citing another quote
of Lombardi’s “Winning isn’t everything, trying to win is everything.”<span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dr.
Etnier comments that the second quote is a “more suitable mantra” but her
argument throughout the book does not support that “trying to win is
everything.”<span> </span><span> </span>She contends that striving to have fun is everything.
Focusing on the love of the game is the only thing.<span> </span>Yes, defining success only in terms of
winning as opposed to improvement is unhealthy, but it is natural to be happy
when one wins. I walk around the park near my home and when little leaguers who
haul around bats about their own size are victorious they sure seem happier
than those who did not prevail.<span> </span>It is
natural to enjoy winning and for winning to be a motivator for continued
activity in sports.<span> </span>Attempting to deprogram
that requires walking into a stiff headwind and, while I liked the book’s approach
and consider it to be a necessary antidote to one dimensional coaching, I think
acknowledging the power of winning toward the end of sports enjoyment needed to
be acknowledged more explicitly.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Overall,
the book has merit and I am glad I read it.<span>
</span>There were times when the tone sounded a bit patronizing as if the
readers were the children and not the coaches of children, but that was not
consistent throughout the book. I think the book will be of value for those who
have just started out and want some ideas about what works to improve coaching and
what facilitates playing and coaching sports for the love of the game.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"" align="center"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"" align="center"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"" align="center"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span> </span></span></p>
</div><div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Remember to smell the roses as you recumber past<br><br>Duncan R. Jamieson, Ph. D.<br>Professor of History<br>Book Review Editor<br><i>AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature</i><br>Ashland University<br>Ashland, OH 44805<br>USA<br></div></div></div></div>