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Chalked Up: Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams |
Author: Jennifer Sey
Published: 2008-05-01 |
List price: $24.95
Our price: $17.72
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As of: January 06th, 2009 12:55:09 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Know Thyself
I give this book a five star rating. In a direct, bold, intense and captivating style, Sey shows young girls and women one important thing--How to know thyself.
In this coming of age memoir, she shows all of us with such deep conviction, how to cultivate a strong sense of identity, trust, and certainty in ourselves.
I read the book in three days. I knew nothing about the world of gymnastics, but it wasn't just about that, it was about a young woman who found her way to her goals and dreams, but more importantly found her way back to her true self in the face of victory and defeat.
Fabulous
I was a level 10 gymnast who after a career ending and potentially life threatening injury was forced to retire-bored and itching to once again be apart of the sport that had consumed my childhood almost in its entirety I decided to do the "unthinkable" try cheerleading. It eventually took me to University of Maryland where I was apart of winning three national championships. SO when it comes to gymnastics I have a good grasp and know the affects it can have on the person mentally and physically. Using this book for two major projects (1. my senior thesis which determines if I graduate or not and 2. a project for a leadership class where we examine elements of sport, women in sport, pressure of sport, ups and downs of winning, and everything in between) I can attest to the wonderful job she did writing it.
It is my pleasure to highly recommend this book to any and everyone. Whether or not you are or were c involved in gymnastics or have never set foot in the gym-you can read this book and learn so much about not only the life of an extremely talented and successful gymnasts, but numerous important life lessons. It is beautifully written with tremendous detail and description. The book not only will give you the chills, but really shed some light to a lot of the topics that are overlooked in aesthetic sports. I admire her bravery and the support her family has given her while putting her best and worst memories in print.
Thank you Jennifer Sey for having the courage to write such a magnificent piece-
Honest look at the realities of elite gymnastics
I found this to be an incredibly honest look at one gymnasts experience within the world of elite gymnastics. She took responsibility for her own drive, her feelings, her shortcomings, her life. Where some may say she is mean spirited and finger pointing, I think that Jen Sey told HER story in her own words. It is what it is. People need to stop trying to make into something it was never intended to be. It's not an expose, or an attempt to shame the world of gymnastics. It's just brutally honest. It's a wonderfully written story of determination and heartache. Jen Sey is human, as are her parents and teammates and coaches. We all have dark and ugly moments. Jen was more than honest about her own.
Of course this book is going to cause a massive uproar in the world of gymnastics. There is an unspoken pact amongst gymnasts and coaches to keep these shameful little secrets in the dark. Anytime anyone dares to shed some light on the truth, cries of "LIAR" ring out...or more condescendingly "Oh she is known to exaggerate". It's pretty typical. The negative review of this book from Jen Sey's own teammate is a classic example of a secrecy that rivals that of the mafia! Coaches do not to be limited in their arsenal of "motivational" techniques. They may not throw chairs at their gymnasts or publicly berate them, but they want option if need be. They don't want parents to get wise to the ways of the highest level of this sport. It's not profitable. Sad but true.
I can say this without malice b/c I was also involved in elite gymnastics. My coaches weren't as bad as the notoriously harsh Parkette's coaches, but they weren't much better either. There ARE doctors out there who are willing to put the "investment" in the injured athlete before the gymnast. There ARE coaches who use humiliation and mental mind games to shape and control their gymnasts. It happens. It's real.
Instead of calling Jen a liar, I would suggest that people really allow themselves to accept the truth of her story. It's not EVERYBODY'S story. It's Jen's...and sadly a lot of others. Nobody is harder on a gymnast than she is on herself. It took a lot of courage for Jen Sey to write this memoir. It took the courage of a gymnast!
Well done Jen. Healing is a lifelong process for all of us. This was a great step in that process and undoubtedly will help others. I know it has and continues to help me!
Honest to a fault
Jennifer Sey earned gymnastics' individual National Championship in 1986 culminating years of hard work, endless sacrifice by her family and injury and self deprivation. Chalked Up, Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams is an insider's view of the world the whole Sey family inhabited during those years of striving. It is also a confirmation of many of competitive gymnastics' dirty little secrets...the eating disorders, the relentless pressures, coaches with suspect motives, the abdication of parental control and the win at all cost mentality. The Seys could have been any upward striving family and when Jennifer showed an affinity for gymnastics they were caught up in her possibilities. I doubt any of them realized the costs both monetary and emotional. We are privy to Sey's almost constant struggles with her body, her coaches, her family, her fears and injuries. She is very up front about her constant striving to obtain perfection and dominate her sport. She is also very open about the way she used her sport as a shield from other aspects of growing up. She writes with a real sadness about the realization of the costs to her parents' marriage, her mother's self esteem, her brother's own path. What makes this book so fascinating is although Sey acknowledges her path wasn't healthy and left lasting damage....this reader suspects she wouldn't vary if given the chance to redo those years again.
Educational and shocking
I saw Jennifer Sey speak and then read her book. Very interesting look at this sport. Also good insight on how to handle it when you have a very competitive child who naturally wants to excel - what should a parent do? Enable? Disappoint? Might not be a right answer but good to know one person's honest story.
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