Chalked Up: Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams
by Jennifer Sey
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
discuss this book
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 186)
Read in June, 2008
The title makes it sound as if this is going to be one of those muckraking, voyeuristic looks at the sport in general (which are, you know, awesome), but it's actually essentially a memoir. The merciless coaches, overzealous parents, eating disorders, etcetera, are by and large her own. Unlike most sports memoirs, it appears to actually have been written in its entirety by Ms. Sey, which definitely has an upside as well as a downside. Just to get the down out of the way, she's obviously a gym...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in October, 2008
recommended to furies by:
ainsley davis-kutscherarecommends it for: anyone who loves gymnastics.
it was a good look inside the world of gymnastics, and showed both the good and the bad. it's heartbreaking to read about how worried jen was about getting older, knowing that the clock was ticking.
jennifer sey was the 1986 national champion.
the way weight and puberty become so ingrained in you - how you actually want to retard your growth because growing in any way changes the way you can move through the air.
it's a good look inside in the world of young gymnastics. the way it su...more
jennifer sey was the 1986 national champion.
the way weight and puberty become so ingrained in you - how you actually want to retard your growth because growing in any way changes the way you can move through the air.
it's a good look inside in the world of young gymnastics. the way it su...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
fans of memoir, gymnastics, family relationships
Most gymnasts and gym fans seem to hate this book because it just sheds even more negative light on the sport. And I see where they're coming from but it's really not that bad on the whole. She does admit at the end that she has a love/hate relationship with gymnastics, and that's completely relatable and honest.
People have also accused the book of being "full of lies" and I don't know how true that is, but she insists this is how she perceived her experience and I believe her. ...more
People have also accused the book of being "full of lies" and I don't know how true that is, but she insists this is how she perceived her experience and I believe her. ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I BEGGED to be put in gymnastics when I was a little kid. My mom never signed me up. Maybe it was because I had BEGGED to be a ballerina, but then quit after 3 months of ballet class. (I only quit because my teacher was 30 and a little overweight, and I had dreamed of a skinny beautiful ballerina teacher.)
I can still do cartwheels to this day. And that is with zero formal gymnastics training. Imagine what I could have done if I'd had lessons.
I met a girl on Saturday at the gym who had be...more
I can still do cartwheels to this day. And that is with zero formal gymnastics training. Imagine what I could have done if I'd had lessons.
I met a girl on Saturday at the gym who had be...more
Like this review?
yes
2 comments
Read in August, 2008
This book caught my eye on the shelf at the library, and since the Olympics just started I thought it would be an interesting insider perspective on one of my favorite events -- women's gymnastics. It was. Jennifer Sey has written a compelling and disturbing memoir about her experiences in the elite gymnastics world in the 1970s and 1980s. This book stressed me out to read, yet I was so intrigued at this subculture of elite gymnastics that I couldn't put it down. Jennifer Sey's experience in...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2008
A very good memoir about gymnastics, this book is written by the 1986 U.S. National Champion, who is now in her late 30s, and it's pretty disturbing (I mean, check out the title!) I felt queasy as I read it, and relieved that my childhood wasn't spent this way. The brutal training, weigh-ins, injuries, stunted growth, perfectionism...I don't know how she could stand it day in and day out. Her parents' marriage basically falls apart, her mom gives up her own life to "support" (and press...more
Like this review?
yes
2 comments
Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone looking forward to the upcoming Olympics
I got really into this book. It appealed to the same part of my drama-digging brain that liked "Dancing on My Grave" by Gelsey Kirkland when I was 13. (Omigod, did anyone else read and obsess over that dumb book?)
Sey's writing is confident and straight-forward, tinged with just the right amounts of self-pity, pride, and pathos. She moves her story right along, teasing the reader with flash-forwards of even more miserable moments in her career/bondage as a gymnast in the 80s.
Se...more
Sey's writing is confident and straight-forward, tinged with just the right amounts of self-pity, pride, and pathos. She moves her story right along, teasing the reader with flash-forwards of even more miserable moments in her career/bondage as a gymnast in the 80s.
Se...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
overachievers, athletes, couch potatoes
with the summer olympics starting in a few weeks, i was excited to read this and gain some insight on what it's like to compete...or at least what it's like to undergo the relentless training required for athletes of this level.
jennifer covers eating disorders, performing (and winning!) with injuries like broken ankles and bleeding hands, moving her family around to accommodate her training, stealing laxatives from fellow gymnasts, and pushing herself beyond any sane limits. her tolerance fo...more
jennifer covers eating disorders, performing (and winning!) with injuries like broken ankles and bleeding hands, moving her family around to accommodate her training, stealing laxatives from fellow gymnasts, and pushing herself beyond any sane limits. her tolerance fo...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
Very interesting book. I read it as a parent - made me think about parents who live through their kids and the various dangers of that. It must be a very hard balancing act though (ha - appropriate metaphor!) - to support your kid, but to maintain perspective. I wonder if it is possible to do both at this level. It would make for a lot less dramatic story though.
I also wonder if it would be different for boys. Of course, being a gymnast requires a postponing of physical maturity. I can't thi...more
I also wonder if it would be different for boys. Of course, being a gymnast requires a postponing of physical maturity. I can't thi...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in May, 2008
I'm not rating this book because I read it for work, but anyone who follows gymnastics would probably be interested in what this author has to say. Jennifer Sey was the 1986 U.S. National Gymnastics Champion. She grew up in the NJ suburbs of Philadelphia and trained at an Allentown gym, the Parkettes. In her memoir, she recounts the verbal abuse she suffered at the hands of her coaches and the eating disorder that was aggravated by that abuse, as well as the twice daily weigh-ins they required. ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2008
I found this an interesting book to start, but feel it was more the shock that kept me going. One of the things I was struck by was that when nervous Jennifer (starting perhaps before she was 8)would gnaw on the inside of her cheek until an ulcer the size of a quarter would develop, it would become infected then her lips would start to puff out. She used to enjoy peeling large sections of skin off from her hands that had become blistered and from hangnails. Also, by the time she was 17 she wo...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I'm a complete sucker for books about women's sports, especially autobiographical ones. Still, I wasn't sure I cared about gymnastics until I picked up this book and read a little. Jennifer Sey's voice drew me in. If you have ever felt the need to be outstanding at a sport, or in turn wrestled with the feeling of never being good enough, you'll gain some insight from her perspective on self and achieving in sport.
This book is also a damning description of the sport, with its eating disorders...more
This book is also a damning description of the sport, with its eating disorders...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
I wanted to read this before the Olympics, anticipating that the revelations of cruel coaches, pushy parents, and heavy laxative use would force me to turn off the TV during my favorite event. Nope. The author comes off as a huge wah-wah, blaming her mom and dad -- who seem pretty darn decent to me -- for much of her misery. As a teenager she was self-involved and annoying, and she continues to whine all these years later about how her glory days messed her up. Jeeze, girl, work in a soup ki...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2008
This is a perfect read for our upcoming Olympics...Author Jennifer Sey was an elite gymnast for about 10 years. She chronicles the scary side of competing in the sport - eating disorders, no life outside the gym, and her body will be forever damaged. I cannot imagine EVER having my kids in this lifestyle - not to mention the parents have no life either with all the carpooling to practices, etc. An even better gymnastics read? "Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Eli...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2008
Some parts of this brought back good memories of my old days as a (not very accomplished) gymnast; other parts just make me relieved that I wasn't very accomplished and could enjoy the flying and competition with only a little self-imposed pressure rather than the tremendous pressure described here. It's a cautionary tale, told with candor - and if a few minor details hadn't interrupted the narrative for me (year of wedding different in text and picture caption?), it would have flown more gracef...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
This was a good time to read this story with the Olympics starting. It is a look behind the scenes from a perspective on a national champion who struggled with the stress, pressure and demands of the sport of gymnastics. It is an eye-opening look at what lies behind the glamor and the pomp. Teen girls who like Patricia McCormick's Cut will like this one.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
3 comments
Read in September, 2008
It's kind of like Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, but a memoir of one girl instead. The 1986 National Champion. All the usual stuff is there: eating disorders, abusive coaches, repeat injuries and then ignoring them. It dragged a little for me in places, but overall it's not bad. She's seriously pretty pissed about gymnastics. It just goes to show once again--stay the hell away from elite gymnastics. Not worth it.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2008
This is a good story, but a tough book to read. Anyone who has dreams of their kid being the next Shawn Johnson should read this simply for the reality check. Jennifer Sey was a national champion, but to what end?
Man, between this book, The Glass Castle and If I am Missing or Dead, I'm on depressing story overload. Someone recommend some comedies to me - quick!
Man, between this book, The Glass Castle and If I am Missing or Dead, I'm on depressing story overload. Someone recommend some comedies to me - quick!
Like this review?
yes
1 comments
Read in September, 2008
This is typical. It's exactly how you think elite gymnasts are treated. What's interesting is it's from the point of view of an elite gymnast from the 80s. She went through some crazy stuff! Plus she doesn't hold back which is cool. She puts people on blast using real names. ;-)
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
This was a very interesting book. It isn't my usual type of book, but I really enjoyed it. However, I'm not sure I'll be able to enjoy watching gymnastics as much as I used to. Well, regardless I feel more informed about a part of the world I never knew about.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
