|
Chalked Up: Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams
|
List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $16.47
Your Save: $ 8.48 ( 34% )
Recent Price Activity
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
 *Eligible orders over $25 ship free
Manufacturer: William Morrow
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.44092
EAN: 9780061351464
ISBN: 0061351466
Label: William Morrow
Manufacturer: William Morrow
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: 2008-05-01
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: 2008-04-22
Studio: William Morrow
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
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 Americas 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 childrens lives.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Comment: I was a level 10 gymnast who after a career ending and potentially life threatening injury was forced to retire-bored and itching to once again be apart of the sport that had consumed my childhood almost in its entirety I decided to do the "unthinkable" try cheerleading. It eventually took me to University of Maryland where I was apart of winning three national championships. SO when it comes to gymnastics I have a good grasp and know the affects it can have on the person mentally and physically. Using this book for two major projects (1. my senior thesis which determines if I graduate or not and 2. a project for a leadership class where we examine elements of sport, women in sport, pressure of sport, ups and downs of winning, and everything in between) I can attest to the wonderful job she did writing it.
It is my pleasure to highly recommend this book to any and everyone. Whether or not you are or were c involved in gymnastics or have never set foot in the gym-you can read this book and learn so much about not only the life of an extremely talented and successful gymnasts, but numerous important life lessons. It is beautifully written with tremendous detail and description. The book not only will give you the chills, but really shed some light to a lot of the topics that are overlooked in aesthetic sports. I admire her bravery and the support her family has given her while putting her best and worst memories in print.
Thank you Jennifer Sey for having the courage to write such a magnificent piece-
Customer Rating:
Summary: Honest look at the realities of elite gymnastics
Comment: I found this to be an incredibly honest look at one gymnasts experience within the world of elite gymnastics. She took responsibility for her own drive, her feelings, her shortcomings, her life. Where some may say she is mean spirited and finger pointing, I think that Jen Sey told HER story in her own words. It is what it is. People need to stop trying to make into something it was never intended to be. It's not an expose, or an attempt to shame the world of gymnastics. It's just brutally honest. It's a wonderfully written story of determination and heartache. Jen Sey is human, as are her parents and teammates and coaches. We all have dark and ugly moments. Jen was more than honest about her own.
Of course this book is going to cause a massive uproar in the world of gymnastics. There is an unspoken pact amongst gymnasts and coaches to keep these shameful little secrets in the dark. Anytime anyone dares to shed some light on the truth, cries of "LIAR" ring out...or more condescendingly "Oh she is known to exaggerate". It's pretty typical. The negative review of this book from Jen Sey's own teammate is a classic example of a secrecy that rivals that of the mafia! Coaches do not to be limited in their arsenal of "motivational" techniques. They may not throw chairs at their gymnasts or publicly berate them, but they want option if need be. They don't want parents to get wise to the ways of the highest level of this sport. It's not profitable. Sad but true.
I can say this without malice b/c I was also involved in elite gymnastics. My coaches weren't as bad as the notoriously harsh Parkette's coaches, but they weren't much better either. There ARE doctors out there who are willing to put the "investment" in the injured athlete before the gymnast. There ARE coaches who use humiliation and mental mind games to shape and control their gymnasts. It happens. It's real.
Instead of calling Jen a liar, I would suggest that people really allow themselves to accept the truth of her story. It's not EVERYBODY'S story. It's Jen's...and sadly a lot of others. Nobody is harder on a gymnast than she is on herself. It took a lot of courage for Jen Sey to write this memoir. It took the courage of a gymnast!
Well done Jen. Healing is a lifelong process for all of us. This was a great step in that process and undoubtedly will help others. I know it has and continues to help me!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Honest to a fault
Comment: Jennifer Sey earned gymnastics' individual National Championship in 1986 culminating years of hard work, endless sacrifice by her family and injury and self deprivation. Chalked Up, Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams is an insider's view of the world the whole Sey family inhabited during those years of striving. It is also a confirmation of many of competitive gymnastics' dirty little secrets...the eating disorders, the relentless pressures, coaches with suspect motives, the abdication of parental control and the win at all cost mentality. The Seys could have been any upward striving family and when Jennifer showed an affinity for gymnastics they were caught up in her possibilities. I doubt any of them realized the costs both monetary and emotional. We are privy to Sey's almost constant struggles with her body, her coaches, her family, her fears and injuries. She is very up front about her constant striving to obtain perfection and dominate her sport. She is also very open about the way she used her sport as a shield from other aspects of growing up. She writes with a real sadness about the realization of the costs to her parents' marriage, her mother's self esteem, her brother's own path. What makes this book so fascinating is although Sey acknowledges her path wasn't healthy and left lasting damage....this reader suspects she wouldn't vary if given the chance to redo those years again.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Educational and shocking
Comment: I saw Jennifer Sey speak and then read her book. Very interesting look at this sport. Also good insight on how to handle it when you have a very competitive child who naturally wants to excel - what should a parent do? Enable? Disappoint? Might not be a right answer but good to know one person's honest story.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Truth
Comment: Jennifer Sey is telling her story. She is not preaching nor is she telling you to remove your child from the sport of gymnastics. Although a painful side of gymnastics, which so many of us are scared to acknowledge, it is a reality in the elite world of gymnastics. Twenty two years after winning the national title, a crown that all elite gymnasts dream of, Sey still struggles with a love/hate gymnastics relationship. Before judging Sey, stating that your gymnast is perfectly happy in the gym and that this book is false, it's important to note that this book documents ELITE gymnastics, a very different world than that of your level six gymnast.
As a former gymnast, coach, and avid fan, I can confidently tell you that the experiences that Jennifer Sey discusses continue today. I believe that education has positively influenced a majority of US coaches, however, it is important to recognize that a number of the unethical training methods used in the 80's have not been eliminated. Parkettes Gymnastics, owned by Donna and Bill Strauss continue to run their elite program, mirroring a concentration camp (with the exception of the gas chambers). The experiences of Jennifer Sey are not isolated, as thousands of gymnasts over the past 20 years share similar stories. I feel confident in guessing that a majority of those gymnasts come from Allentown, PA. And don't be so naive to imagine that sex scandals between gymnast and coach were only a trend of the 80's.
A must read for die hard gymnastics fans. The casual fan must read with the understanding that Sey is not suggesting that her experiences takes place in all gyms, at all levels, to all gymnasts. Allow Sey to share her story with you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
