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Press/Reviews
- Broadcast Press Release: When Competition Becomes too Competitive
A coach's portrayal of parental involvement in youth sports
- AP Press Release: Parents Destroying Youth Sports
Parental involvement leads to violence
- Olympic AP Press Release: "Are Olympic Athletes Bad Influences?"
- Record Breeze, Blackwood, NJ January 26, 2006 - Feature: " Voorhees author pens his first novel..."
- Voorhees Trend Leader February 1, 2006: "Local Author Releases Book on Sports Rage"
- Northeast Times, February 8, 2006 - Feature: "The Dark Side of Youth Sports"
- Courier Post, February 10, 2006 - Chuck Gormley column: "Author explores depth of anxiety in youth sports"
- Courier Post, February 12, 2006 - Feature: "Authors tell their own stories"
- Audio: Author Donald W. Albertson reads from Catch a Rising Star.
- Cincinnati Post, February 17, 2006 - Feature: "Parents, coaches can be combustible mix"
- South Jersey Magazine, March, 2006 - SJ Reading: "All in the Game"
- Review: Book Loons
- Audio: On April 3, 2006 Donald appeared as a guest on WHYY 91 FM Morning Edition with Brenda Jorett to discuss the issue of parental obsession in youth sports. WHYY's Dr. Dan Gottlieb joined in the discussion. http://www.whyy.org/news/gottlieb.html
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As I read this work my mind went back to the many football games and baseball games that I attended with my sons in their youth and I wondered how guilty I was in pushing my children where they did not want to go in these competitive sports. From birth we teach our children to do the best they can and sometimes we go overboard pushing them beyond their limits. In this book, Catch a Rising Star, we meet Tom and his son Marc who are thrust headlong into a game where winning maybe losing and losing maybe exactly what should happen.
From the beginning of Marc's life Tom pruned him to be a football star, but Tom never considered the factors of life that would play into his decision for the future of his son.
As life progressed, Marc indeed was superior to other children in this game, but Marc lacked the spark that was required to take it to the limit and Tom almost destroyed his son and family by foolishly trying to light the spark that was not there.
In this book our author explores the unrealistic expectations that many parents pile upon their children in sports and the destruction these actions can cause. The storyline pulls you in and craft-fully the author illuminates the part over zealous parents with an agenda of their own play in the life of our children's sports; often to their destruction.
This is an eye-opening read done in an entertaining way and one that all parents, coaches and those who overshadow our children in any competitive area should read.
Senior Reviewer
MidWest Book Review
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A MUST READ for every parent/grandparent!
The author compels and challenges the reader to look within ourselves to determine what expectations and goals we place upon our children - and most importantly, for what reasons. As a woman, after reading this amazing book, I gained a greater understanding of a male perspective I never thought about before - which is not to say I agreed with it(!), but it was eye-opening. This book is entertaining, educational and thought provoking. Oprah would love this one!
(Philadelphia)
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Catch a Rising Star probes the phenomenon of sports parent and sports rage, something that has been all too evident in junior sport in the last couple of decades.
This book will certainly give anyone a modicum of understanding of what drives the sports parent, and will leave many a reader feeling a mix of emotions for Tom - anger, sympathy, compassion and even a small spark of recognition ... after all, what parent does not want their child to succeed? However, it should be borne in mind that our children are not our reincarnations; they have their own hopes and aspirations, and parents should not live their lives vicariously through the achievements of their offspring.
-Sally Selvadurai, Reviewer
Book Loons Reviews | |
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What, if anything, will free this family from the adult game of youth sports?
What does it take to be a rising star and just how much effort should be expended on such a goal? What's the cost? Who will fight for the protection and integrity of these star players? These questions lurk behind and under the scene of every sports field where one finds parents screaming and screeching, bellowing, and cursing their children toward a victory! Donald W. Albertson has written a potent novel about the reality of just what is happening in the hearts, minds, and spirits of both players and families who cannot face failure of “the game.” Read it and call it as it really exists; but even more, read it and learn from it – before it is too late!
It's just a game, isn't it? So very well done, Donald W. Albertson!
- Viviane Crystal,
Senior Reviewer
Crystal Reviews | |
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Somewhere along the line, he just forgot to ask his son if it was his dream too.
Tom Anderson’s son Marc is destined for greatest. At only twelve years old, this young boy has an amazing arm that carries his otherwise mediocre team. So long as the boy has the right guidance and the right team to enhance his skills Marc will definitely become a superstar quarterback. So when a scout for a better team wants to give Marc the shot of a lifetime, Tom is willing to sacrifice almost anything: his marriage, time with his daughter, and even his son’s health.
Anyone who has participated in sports or has children who participate in sports has probably met a man like Tom Anderson. He’s not an evil man who purposefully pushes his child beyond his limits. Instead, he just sort of got caught up in the dream of his son attaining something he never had the chance to accomplish. Somewhere along the line, he just forgot to ask his son if it was his dream too.
-Tami Brady, Reviewer
TCM Reviews | |
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Many parents never realize the destruction they cause to a child's growing stages when they pressure them too hard. Unfortunately all too many parents of youth sports players neglect and abuse their children to compensate for their lack of physical prowess or failed dreams. Sadly many fathers of youth athletes are similar to Tom Anderson; an obsessed sports parent who lost his chance at sports glory and is living through the talent of his quarterback son, Marc. By over-training his son and pressuring him to join an elite youth football league, Tom neglects his soccer-playing daughter, Katie who might just be a better athlete than Marc.
One of the first pieces of adult fiction to cover the topic of sports rage and obsessed youth sports parents. The author's characters are true to life and will even have readers thinking of similar characters in their own lives. Nice job Donald.
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