Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Mark Hyman's Book Project

Mark Hyman, an attorney and journalist who writes for Business Week and the Sports Business Journal, and who wrote an excellent piece about our blog in 2005, is writing a book on youth sports and the role of adults. The book will be published by Beacon Press and is expected to come out next year. Mark is interested in interviewing former athletes who stopped playing due to injury or burnout. Here are some details and please contact him if you might be able to help:

I am working on a book about youth sports and the role of adults. The book will examine the ways in which parents, coaches and other interested adults have become deeply invested in the sports lives of children. I'll then be asking why and exploring the consequences for kids.

I became interested in the subject when my son Ben suffered a serious elbow injury while playing high school baseball in 2006. Last December, he underwent "Tommy John" surgery - a tendon transplant to replace the damaged ligament in his throwing elbow. He is attempting to play this spring for the George Washington University baseball team. The experience got me thinking seriously, and critically, about my role in his sports activities.

I'm writing to ask for your help. I'm interested in speaking with former youth players (now adults) who played sports intensely and who dropped out early because of an overuse injury or because they burned out emotionally, i.e., lost the desire to continue playing competitively. Often, these are children who specialized in one sport from an early age, sometimes 7 or 8. I'd also be interested in speaking to parents and children who are going through this now. I'd welcome a range of stories - girls and boys; players in many sports.

If you know of someone who might want to be included in the book, please let me know. They can learn more about the project, and about me, at a web site I recently put up, www.markhyman.com.

Thanks for keeping me in mind.

Best, Mark
______________________________________________________________________
Mark Hyman
Baltimore, Md.
www.markhyman.com
Voice 410-664-6435/ Fax 410-664-6095
E-mail Mark_Hyman@Businessweek.com, MHyman@SportsBusinessJournal.com, Balthyman@aol.com
Contributing editor - sports business, BusinessWeek
Contributing columnist - sports law, Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal

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