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Chalked Up: Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams | 
 enlarge | Author: Jennifer Sey
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $11.97
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Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 4613
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0061351466
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.44092
EAN: 9780061351464
ASIN: 0061351466
Publication Date: May 1, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
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Product Description
The true story of the 1986 U.S. National Gymnastics champion whose lifelong dream was to compete in the Olympics, until anorexia, injuries, and coaching abuses nearly destroyed her Fanciful dreams of gold medals and Nadia Comaneci led Jennifer Sey to become a gymnast at the age of six. She was a natural at the sport, and her early success propelled her family to sacrifice everything to help her become, by age eleven, one of America's elite, competing at prestigious events worldwide alongside such future gymnastics' luminaries as Mary Lou Retton. But as she set her sights higher and higher—the senior national team, the World Championships, the 1988 Olympics—Sey began to change, putting her needs, her health, and her well-being aside in the name of winning. And the adults in her life refused to notice her downward spiral. In Chalked Up Sey reveals the tarnish behind her gold medals. A powerful portrait of intensity and drive, eating disorders and stage parents, abusive coaches and manipulative businessmen, denial and the seduction of success, it is the story of a young girl whose dreams would become eclipsed by the adults around her. As she recounts her experiences, Sey sheds light on the destructiveness of our winning-is-everything culture where underage and underweight girls are celebrated and on the need for balance in children's lives.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Why all the fuss? May 7, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Like Jenn and Betty who have already posted their reviews, I was a Parkette with Jen Sey from 1985-1987. Before Jenn and I moved in with J. Sey, we lived with some other girls in Jessica's (who has also posted) parent's house (who took in boarders living away from home). Jessica was already in college by the time I got there in 1985.
I can tell you from first hand experience that what we ate was monitered and sometimes reported to the Strausses. The only thing we were allowed to have without asking was water. It was just the way it was and we all accepted it because like Jen, we all wanted to be champions. The things that Jessica claims are outright lies happened after she had left. She claims to have talked to 20 girls who trained with us during that time but she certainly hasn't talked to me (or Jen, Tracy, Betty, etc).
In her review and her comments on NPR (which seemed pretty scripted to me), Jessica gets very caught up on specific examples Jen gives (like Mr. Strauss throwing a chair "AT" a gymnast). I mean, what are you saying Jess, that he did throw a chair, but just in her general direction...so it wasn't that big of a deal? Also, the announcement over the loudspeaker about a young gymnast's 2 lb weight gain and telling her she's going to look like her obese mother if she wasn't careful. Come on...those of us who were there remember how much grief she used to get about her parents size.
What I don't get, as one reviewer said above, is why all the outrage? This is Jen's story. Many of us lived it right along side with her (although it's fascinating how much we actually isloated ourselves from each other during that time...even though we were all living together and going through the same stuff). I think those who are taking such umbrage to the book are missing the bigger picture. Nobody who was there during that time can possibly refute the fact that there was an extremely unhealthy emphasis on our weight. The only nutritional guidance we ever received was to eat less. All of us were terrified of the weigh-in (I remember being one of the many girls spitting in the sink, taking their bras and barretts off and actually trying to cry to loose water weight in the locker room before we got weighed). We WERE berated and shamed about our weight...that is a fact.
I think the message in Jen's book is pretty clear. All of us who were there CHOSE to be there. Chose to accept the good and the bad that came with being a Parkette during that time period. The questions she raises, in telling her story, about the role of coaches and parents are important to think about. We were willing to make the sacrifices because we wanted to succeed. Since I was living away from home my parents only knew what I chose to tell them...which wasn't very much. If I had told them some of the things that went on, I wonder what they would have done. Would they have yanked me out of there kicking and screaming? That's what I was afraid of and that's why I never told them. Could the adults in our lives (both coaches and parents) have done better...yes.
Finally, Jen has not contradicted herself in interviews. She has always maintained that this is her story and not meant to be an indictment of the sport itself. Her facts are fine...I was there, I remember. Jen, I'm proud of you...it had to a difficult story to put down on paper. And Jessica, if you, and any other of the twenty former Parkettes you mention, want to tell "your" story...write your own damn book!
my own truth May 6, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Just wanted to say how honest and truthful this book seems to me, having lived and trained with Jen at the parkettes...gymnastics was a tough sport, simple and true...then add pressure from parents, coaches, judges, and America, how can one NOT have something to say about their experience? Reading this book made me look back with compassion at the life we used to lead and the amount pain and suffering we endured...however, with all of that said, it is also true that we experienced so much goodness and success that has helped us become better adults...I think every gymnast, mom, coach, human being should understand that we all go through our own battles...if we cant be honest and open in our feelings and our experiences, especially with our parents, than what else is there? I have been able to learn and grow so much from my past and I would not have changed a thing about it...and at the same time I can acknowledge what was "unhealthy" and what I would not pass down to my children. I am grateful for the tough lessons gymnastics has given me and I can tell that Jennifer Sey feels she is the women today because of her past. Thank you, Jen, for being so brave and putting your story into words...whether one agrees with it or not, I think we all can get something out of the lessons you have learned.
J
A Riveting Memoir May 6, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was drawn to Jennifer Sey's book because, like many young women, I was - and still am - enamored with women's gymnastics. What kept me from putting the book down was Ms. Sey's self-awareness and honesty as she painted what was, for her, the perfect storm of a childhood: an extremely driven and perfectionistic child, extremely self-sacrificing parents that wanted to support their daughter's dream - to the extreme, an extreme sport where emotionally and physically immature girls contort their bodies performing extremely difficult routines and extreme coaches that use passive-aggressive techniques and manipulation to draw the champion out of a prepubescent girl. At no point in Sey's memoir did I read her experience as the norm in women's gymnastics - just the rare and brutal extreme.
Of the four elements that came together: child, parents, sport, coaches - each one brought the "win above all else" attitude to the mix to create a recipe for disaster. Had even one of those elements been taken down a notch, maybe had more of a "as long as you're having fun" motto, Sey's experience would have been different. I know this because I had three of the extremes in place but the fourth - my parents - recognized the storm brewing and quickly changed the course of the ship.
Like Sey, I was seeking perfection in everything I did - if I wasn't the number one student, front and center at the recital, the fastest runner, your BEST friend - I was a loser. If you were off cue during a performance, I would push you out of my way. When all the neighbor kids were stuffing their faces with candy on Halloween, I was separating, counting and graphing my stash and comparing the findings to last year's data. I had started gymnastics at eight years-old and by 10, I was one week into classes four days-a-week when my parents pulled the plug on gymnastics. I don't have any memory of my parents saying we wouldn't go to the gym anymore so I can only assume when they said so it must have been a relief.
I can remember my mom comforting me as I cried myself to sleep - worried that my teacher would hate me because I got one wrong on a test. I remember my parents always telling me to relax, not to worry, you're taking it too seriously. Maybe seeing my behavior juxtaposed with my sister's (18 mos. younger) highlighted to my parents that I needed to be monitored - make sure I didn't get into anything to the extreme. They, like many other parents at the gym, were told I was "the next Mary Lou Retton." The coaches knew I was highly competitive and would coax me into attempting new stunts with a seemingly innocent "come on, you're not going to let Tara show you up, are you?"
Maybe I wasn't as good as Sey at hiding my behavior from my parents? Maybe having a sister close in age made my behavior stand out as unhealthy? Maybe my parents weren't willing to pass up dinner at the table with family? Even for those who did not compete in the sport of gymnastics or have a child that does, Sey's book is a beautiful and engaging memoir sure to leave you with the desire to make sure your child has a healthy relationship with sports.
Finally a book telling a story about the same thing I went through May 6, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
To anyone that has any doubts about this story, I am more than capable of backing it up. I also know several other teammates that had the same experiences and would be willing to speak in support of the book. What I went through physically and emotionally in only two years at Allentown was enough to affect me for the next 22 years. There are gyms that do not treat their gymnasts badly. But these things do happen and they shouldn't. If parents were more aware and involved, a lot of these things would not happen. Some parents do know and go right along with it. I was totally naive and so were my parents. I didn't speak up when I should have and I now I am really satisfied that this story has come out.
 Gymnastics' version of "A Million Little Pieces" May 5, 2008
9 out of 20 found this review helpful
This book is gymnastics' version of "A Million Little Pieces."
More than 20 years ago, I trained at Parkettes at the same time as Jennifer Sey, with the same coaches and the same teammates. I was a junior elite national champion and like Ms. Sey, graduated from Stanford University. Ms. Sey's story is barely recognizable to me.
There are inaccuracies and factual errors in the book that lead me to believe Ms. Sey wrote a story that is based only loosely on reality. Since finishing the book, I have reached out to many of the former gymnasts named within and asked if the details Ms. Sey recalls reflect their recollection. Their responses have been uniformly "no." While none of us would deny that we experienced challenges and hardships during our years as nationally competitive gymnasts, we find it shocking that this account has been published as a work of non-fiction.
I think it is vital for readers to understand that this is her perception of the events that transpired, as a memoir generally is. However, several incidents that took place either with respect to, or in the presence of, her former teammates cannot be substantiated by these teammates. In fact, it appears that she has not done even the most basic fact-checking. Any decent memoirist still has an obligation not to fictionalize the past, nor wholly fabricate or wildly embellish details. Incidents involving twice daily weigh-ins, Mr. Strauss throwing a folding chair AT a gymnast, and Mrs. Strauss broadcasting over a loudspeaker that a gymnast's weight-gain will lead to her looking like her mother, are outright lies.
Sadly, Ms. Sey has confirmed in interviews that she did not intend for the book to generate meaningful analysis of the sport of gymnastics, which it clearly does not. Rather, she seems more intent on creating a sensational account, branding former teammates, other gymnasts and coaches and inviting readers to react in horror, pity and disgust. She appears to revel in the opportunity to publicly discredit many of the people in her early life, with descriptions so utterly mean-spirited that the reader is shocked by the supposed candor. In her most recent interviews on the book, she contradicts herself and back-peddles on the more outrageous claims the book makes regarding charlatan doctors, eating disorders and sexual abuse. Perhaps someone has advised her of the real possibility of libel claims.
What Ms. Sey describes as a "coming of age story" is more of an exercise in purging the past through a selective recounting of tales of horror that lends itself more easily to commercial success. It is unfortunate that she does not seem to have evolved beyond the wholly self-consumed and self-centered paradigm that she describes in her story.
I am disappointed that gymnastics failed Ms. Sey, but Ms. Sey has failed her fellow gymnasts even more so by her efforts to misrepresent the sport as a whole.
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