Having been involved in youth sports all his life, Scott Lancaster has the credentials to write this book. For a number of years now he has been the National Football League's Senior Director of Youth Football Development. His directive in that position has been to develop a strategy to increase participation in youth football.

Scott's football specialization shows in this book when he talks about only 19% of all middle or junior high schools nationwide offering football programs, and when he gives specific drill progressions such as starting the players six inches away from each other to initially learn tackling and block fundamentals. However, he does indeed move away from a focus on football to consider issues and recommendations for all of youth sports. He strongly believes youth sports are in need of being transformed. As proof of this he cites the alarming fact that 75% of all kids drop out of organized sports by the age of 12. He attributes this attrition primarily to our sports pyramid structure. This arrangement is were parents, coaches, and programs function as feeder systems designed to advance elite athletes. The emphasis is one of developing the best of teams at the expense of masses of hopeful players. The programs are largely evaluated on how many elite players are developed and moved to the next higher team, how many gain college scholarships, how many obtain professional careers. The foolishness of such a focus is shown when he provides figures documenting that less than 1% of kids participating in organized sports today will receive any sort of college athletic scholarship

Many diverse ideas are advanced for the improvement of youth sports. A case is made for getting more play into both practices and game. It is advocated that 5 to 8 year olds have short practices, limited instruction, fun games (no pads, helmets or contact). Nine to 11 year olds should be playing games where the official rules have been changed to speed up play. Rather than games coming down to a final score they should be changed around so there is not such outcome. It is argued that children should be rotated so that they learn to play each position.

This reviewer's expectations are that the reactions to this book will be mixed. Some will see this book as a total retreat from competition and hence will be critical. Others will find it to provide specific solutions to inherent youth sport problems. Whether or not you disagree or agree, these are important issues to consider.

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