Games Girls Play: Understanding and Guiding Young Female Athletes

by Caroline Silby Ph.D., Shelley Smith

Overview

A Reviving Ophelia for soccer moms: Games Girls Play gives parents advice for encouraging their daughters to participate in sports and making sure their experiences as athletes are empowering. Sports psychologist and former nationally ranked figure skater Caroline Silby teaches parents how to find the right sport for their young daughters and helps them tackle hurdles that affect older atletes. Using real-life examples, Silby prepares parents for the obstacles that female athletes face and offers solutions for handling everything from the stresses of competition, to motivation problems, to self-esteem issues, to difficult coaches, to eating disorders, to sexual harassment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312271268
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/05/2001
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Caroline Silby, Ph.D., M.Ed., holds a doctorate and master's degree in sports psychology. She specializes in performance enhancement with adolescent athletes and has worked with Olympic champions in gymnastics and figure skating. She serves on the United States Olympic Committee and with the United States Figure Skating Association. She consults and teaches at the University of Delaware and the University of Virginia. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Shelley Smith is an award-winning journalist and formerly a contributor to Sports Illustrated. She now covers a range of subjects for ESPN, including the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball, and the NCAA Final Four. She lives in San Pedro, California with her daughter.

Editorial Reviews

Practicing sports psychologist Silby, who serves on the United States Olympic Committee, and ESPN journalist Smith direct this book toward the parents of teenage girls who, although sharing many sports issues with boys, also have specific concerns, such as decreasing assertiveness and ambivalence over physical maturation. Silby discusses many topics (e.g., What if a coach plays favorites? ) and portrays many of her case studies, complete with dialog. The authors devote much attention to helping the young female athlete differentiate between what can and can t be controlled and provide mental exercises (e.g., self-talk, reframing, and imagery) to help her performance. Though somewhat academic in tone, the book provides advice that will help parents and girls benefit from sports in the ways espoused by Jean Zimmerman and Gil Reavill s Raising Our Athletic Daughters (LJ 11/1/98). A good addition for large public libraries. Kathy Ruffle, Coll. of New Caledonia Lib., Prince George, BC Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

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