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Raising Our Athletic Daughters: How Sports Can Build Self-Esteem and Save Girls' Lives
Now in paperback, the first book to document how participating in sports changes young girls' lives during the difficult years of adolescence.
From high-profile women's professional leagues to high-school-level champions, girl athletes are acheiving record breakthroughs. Witness, for example, the first spectacular season of the WNBA, or the celebrated victories of women's teams at the 1996 Olympics. The female athlete is a new media darling especially beloved of today's teenage girls, who are almost as likely to have pictures of Rebecca Lobo, Mia Hamm, or Gabrielle Reece on their walls as posters of Leonardo DiCaprio.
So it seems paradoxical that many books and studies attest to a truly sobering picture of girls' lives. With her book Reviving Ophelia , Mary Pipher was only the latest in a string of theorists to describe the dramatic ways in which girls loose self-esteem during the critical years of adolescence, contributing to eating disorders, drug problems, and chronic depression in many young women. In Raising Our Athletic Daughters , journalists Zimmerman and Reavill set out to talk with girls and their parents about how sports can transform girls' lives. Here are firsthand stories from the inner cities and rural playing fields across the nation, offering compelling evidence that participation in athletics makes an extraordinary difference in the lives of young girls, from reducing pregnancy rates and substance abuse to increasing college attendance. Raising Our Athletic Daughters is a clarion call for all those eager to help their children succeed and level the playing field, at last.
From high-profile women's professional leagues to high-school-level champions, girl athletes are acheiving record breakthroughs. Witness, for example, the first spectacular season of the WNBA, or the celebrated victories of women's teams at the 1996 Olympics. The female athlete is a new media darling especially beloved of today's teenage girls, who are almost as likely to have pictures of Rebecca Lobo, Mia Hamm, or Gabrielle Reece on their walls as posters of Leonardo DiCaprio.
So it seems paradoxical that many books and studies attest to a truly sobering picture of girls' lives. With her book Reviving Ophelia , Mary Pipher was only the latest in a string of theorists to describe the dramatic ways in which girls loose self-esteem during the critical years of adolescence, contributing to eating disorders, drug problems, and chronic depression in many young women. In Raising Our Athletic Daughters , journalists Zimmerman and Reavill set out to talk with girls and their parents about how sports can transform girls' lives. Here are firsthand stories from the inner cities and rural playing fields across the nation, offering compelling evidence that participation in athletics makes an extraordinary difference in the lives of young girls, from reducing pregnancy rates and substance abuse to increasing college attendance. Raising Our Athletic Daughters is a clarion call for all those eager to help their children succeed and level the playing field, at last.
255 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
About the author
Jean Zimmerman
15 books76 followersThroughout her writing career Jean Zimmerman has published both nonfiction and fictional works that center around the changing role of women in America.
In Tailspin (Doubleday, 1995) she wrote about intrepid Navy fighter pilot Kara Hultgreen. Ballsy soccer players were the subject of Raising Our Athletic Daughters (Doubleday, 1998, with Gil Reavill). She covered heroic female homemakers in Made From Scratch (Free Press, 2003). The Women of the House (Harcourt, 2006) allowed Zimmerman to portray New Amsterdam fur trader extraordinaire Margaret Hardenbroeck. She brought larger-than-life beauty Edith Minturn out of obscurity in Love, Fiercely (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012). She also created intrepid fictional heroines from earlier eras in The Orphanmaster (Viking, 2012) and Savage Girl (Viking, 2014).
To promote her books Zimmerman has appeared on “The Today Show,” NBC; “Good Morning America,” ABC; “CBS Evening News With Dan Rather”; “Talk of the Nation,” National Public Radio; “The Diane Rehm Show,” National Public Radio; “New York & Company With Leonard Lopate,” WNYC; “To the Best of our Knowledge,” Wisconsin Public Radio and others. She also spoken before audiences at historic sites, libraries, museums, book clubs and other venues.
An honors graduate of Barnard College, Zimmerman earned an MFA in writing from the Columbia University School of the Arts and published her poetry widely in literary magazines. Her awards and prizes include an Academy of American Poets Prize in poetry, 1985; a New York Foundation for the Arts grant in poetry, 1986; Books for a Better Life Award, finalist, 1998, for Raising Our Athletic Daughters; Washington Irving Book Selection of The Women of the House; Washington Irving Book Selection of The Orphanmaster; Westchester Library Association prize, 2007, for The Women of the House; Original Voices Selection, Borders, 2006 for The Women of the House.
She lives with her family in Westchester County, New York. Zimmerman’s blog, Blog Cabin, can be found at jeanzimmerman.com.
In Tailspin (Doubleday, 1995) she wrote about intrepid Navy fighter pilot Kara Hultgreen. Ballsy soccer players were the subject of Raising Our Athletic Daughters (Doubleday, 1998, with Gil Reavill). She covered heroic female homemakers in Made From Scratch (Free Press, 2003). The Women of the House (Harcourt, 2006) allowed Zimmerman to portray New Amsterdam fur trader extraordinaire Margaret Hardenbroeck. She brought larger-than-life beauty Edith Minturn out of obscurity in Love, Fiercely (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012). She also created intrepid fictional heroines from earlier eras in The Orphanmaster (Viking, 2012) and Savage Girl (Viking, 2014).
To promote her books Zimmerman has appeared on “The Today Show,” NBC; “Good Morning America,” ABC; “CBS Evening News With Dan Rather”; “Talk of the Nation,” National Public Radio; “The Diane Rehm Show,” National Public Radio; “New York & Company With Leonard Lopate,” WNYC; “To the Best of our Knowledge,” Wisconsin Public Radio and others. She also spoken before audiences at historic sites, libraries, museums, book clubs and other venues.
An honors graduate of Barnard College, Zimmerman earned an MFA in writing from the Columbia University School of the Arts and published her poetry widely in literary magazines. Her awards and prizes include an Academy of American Poets Prize in poetry, 1985; a New York Foundation for the Arts grant in poetry, 1986; Books for a Better Life Award, finalist, 1998, for Raising Our Athletic Daughters; Washington Irving Book Selection of The Women of the House; Washington Irving Book Selection of The Orphanmaster; Westchester Library Association prize, 2007, for The Women of the House; Original Voices Selection, Borders, 2006 for The Women of the House.
She lives with her family in Westchester County, New York. Zimmerman’s blog, Blog Cabin, can be found at jeanzimmerman.com.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 31, 2023
Highly recommend for parents expecting a daughter or have young daughters.
October 4, 2014
sports can build self-esteem and save girls lives. It can do that in many ways such as keeping them busy. If you keep them busy they will stay out of drama ,so on and so fourth. The author in this book i believe is trying to tell us that supporting your daughters can make a big differences. I say that because the title is raising our athletic daughters.
In the beginning of this book it talked about a girl who likes to run and does cross country. The problem with this girl is she loses her momentom. For example in the book it says she feels like she the worst player or sometimes don't even know why she does the sport.
However, in the book they mention how certain activites in and outside of school can effect the girls. some examples are like drugs, smoking , etc. . Sharon Farber gives examples and also tallies up some stent athletes response. Also she takes written surveys that are annoymos to see the percentage of what they say.
In conclusion i like this book . I like it because it gave a variety of sports and there own situations. However this book also stated some key points. One key point that i got out of the book was to not loose your confidence. Loosing your confidence can help your oppenent. I also would recommend this book to students who play sports because it helps them know certain facts about being in a sport.
In the beginning of this book it talked about a girl who likes to run and does cross country. The problem with this girl is she loses her momentom. For example in the book it says she feels like she the worst player or sometimes don't even know why she does the sport.
However, in the book they mention how certain activites in and outside of school can effect the girls. some examples are like drugs, smoking , etc. . Sharon Farber gives examples and also tallies up some stent athletes response. Also she takes written surveys that are annoymos to see the percentage of what they say.
In conclusion i like this book . I like it because it gave a variety of sports and there own situations. However this book also stated some key points. One key point that i got out of the book was to not loose your confidence. Loosing your confidence can help your oppenent. I also would recommend this book to students who play sports because it helps them know certain facts about being in a sport.
June 22, 2011
My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.
April 7, 2010
An upbeat and optimistic, if generic, survey of shifting gender paradigms in sports culture. "Raising Our Athletic Daughters" deftly and sensitively navigates the issues of prejudice, abuse and ultimate success in competitive female athletes. The book is practical as much as theoretical and anecdotal, even if slightly behind the times. I wanted more sociological theory, but that is a minor gripe.
August 28, 2008
Excellent book about the challenges our daughters face in society today and how sports can help them build their self esteem. This would be a great read for parents of girls as well as coach's and anyone else who works with girl athletes.
October 22, 2008
Our book dedicated to our daughter
March 30, 2017
Slightly outdated, but full of good anecdotes and tips for parents and coaches to encourage girls to be involved in sports.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews