|
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: $12.47
You Save: $12.48 (50%)
New (23) Used (3) from $12.47
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 4696
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)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. 100% money back guarantee. All books shipped from Strand Bookstore, New York City, USA.
|
| Editorial Reviews:
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.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Honest, insightful and very necessary May 11, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I just finished Chalked Up. It is extraordinary. What could have come off as a predictable indictment of a sport is actually a rare journey into the minds of young people who have the uncommon focus and drive to achieve greatness at a young age. While the negative factors mentioned in the sub title are presented and discussed realistically, it is Ms. Sey's willingness to explore her own culpability as a driven athlete that make this book relevant to a much broader audience than former gymnasts and gymnastics enthusiasts. Not everyone's child will strive to be amazing at a young age. But, how fortunate to have a book that reinforces the importance of communicating with your child and helping provide big picture perspectives to children until they are old enough to make informed decisions that will affect their long-term mental and physical health. Ms. Sey is a courageous and gracious woman and writer.
 An incredible page turner -- a wonderful coming of age story May 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I couldn't put this book down! Even though I knew the outcome of Sey's Olympic ambitions, I read it in one siting anxious to know how the story ended. Well beyond a report on the sport of gymnastics, this biography is a must read for anyone who's ever dreamed of being the best -- at anything. Through her incredible candor, Sey illuminates the destruction that can come from ever striving to be the best at all costs. This is a terrific coming of age story for anyone, at any age.
Coming of age story anyone can relate to... May 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Although I never was an elite gymnast, Jen Sey's story was both powerful, inspiring and relatable. This book is a good read for anyone who has ever struggled to feel they were "good enough". It is a true "coming of age" story that doesn't shy away from many painful truths about adolescence and parenting and well worth the read.
Why all the fuss? May 7, 2008
2 out of 4 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 5 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
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
