Introduction: A Race to the Bottom
In which the author embarks on a wild journey through the landscape of the least examined-and most important-institution in American sports.
Los Angeles, Calif. Where the world's largest sperm bank sells the seed of college athletes and the role of genes in the making of jocks gets considered.
Paonia, Colo. Where a toddler's parents wrestle with the legacy of Earl Woods: How young is too young when training a Tiger?
New Britain, Conn. Where a father reads the handwriting on the high school wall: his kid's fight for scarce roster spots begins now, in preschool.
Age 4. Les Red, White, and Blue
Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines, France Where a visit to the world's top soccer academy helps explain why the U.S., with more kids in uniforms than any nation, isn't producing great players.
Age 5. Bling, Bombs, and the Bible
New York, N.Y. Where the origins of youth sports in America, and the line between winning and winning at all costs, gets explored through the experiences of corporate titan Jack Welch.
Concord, Mass. Where the scent of the college scholarship fills the dank air of a rustic hockey rink, shaping the behavior of parents with daughters still in pigtails.
Age 7. Follow the Money, Too
Concord, Mass. Where a surprising truth emerges: NCAA athletic opportunities often go to kids from families with the means to compete in the youth sports arms race.
Memphis, Tenn. Where second-graders fight like roosters for national championships, AAU chieftains rake in the cash, and America's most-played game gets called for traveling.
Age 9. Moscow on the Mind
Washington, D.C. Where the oversight of amateur sports gets reassigned at the height of the Cold War, and the U.S. Olympic Committee begins to fail in its mission to "improve the nation through sports."
Canberra, Australia Where a former penal colony learns to identify and develop athletes better than any other nation, with the aid of an innovative American sports scientist.
Age 11. The Greatest City in America
Baltimore, Md. Where the rise of publicly funded pro stadiums parallels the fall of community sports, and one athlete's annual salary is greater than the entire budget for city recreation.
Age 12. A Spectacle of Innocence
Williamsport, Pa. Where a team from Hawaii restores U.S. superiority at the Little League World Series under a media spotlight that changes the game-and the lives of its child stars.
Bryan, Tex. Where the country's most promising sixth-grade basketball player attempts to navigate the thicket of profiteers and provocateurs who stand between him and his NBA dream.
Miami, Fla. Where a sex crime and grand jury indictment force a community bent on Friday Night Lights glory to ask itself: What's the point of youth and high school sports, anyway?
Palo Alto, Calif. Where the author finds hope for the future of these games we love and a new model for thinking about them: youth sports as a human right.
Why Boys and Girls Play Sports
The Odds of Playing College Sports
