Download PDF Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters, by Joan Ryan
Today book Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan we offer right here is not kind of usual book. You know, reviewing now doesn't indicate to manage the printed book Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan in your hand. You could get the soft file of Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan in your device. Well, we mean that the book that we proffer is the soft file of guide Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan The material and all points are exact same. The distinction is just the kinds of guide Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan, whereas, this condition will specifically pay.
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters, by Joan Ryan
Download PDF Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters, by Joan Ryan
Utilize the sophisticated technology that human establishes now to find the book Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan effortlessly. But first, we will ask you, just how much do you love to read a book Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan Does it constantly up until finish? Wherefore does that book review? Well, if you truly love reading, attempt to review the Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan as one of your reading compilation. If you only read guide based on need at the time as well as incomplete, you need to try to like reading Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan first.
It is not secret when connecting the creating skills to reading. Reviewing Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan will certainly make you get even more resources and sources. It is a manner in which could boost how you ignore and comprehend the life. By reading this Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan, you can more than just what you obtain from other publication Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan This is a famous book that is released from famous author. Seen kind the writer, it can be relied on that this publication Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan will give several inspirations, concerning the life and also encounter and also everything inside.
You could not should be uncertainty concerning this Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan It is easy method to get this book Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan You can merely see the distinguished with the web link that we supply. Right here, you can acquire the book Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan by on the internet. By downloading and install Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan, you can locate the soft data of this book. This is the exact time for you to begin reading. Even this is not printed publication Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan; it will exactly provide even more benefits. Why? You might not bring the published book Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan or only stack guide in your house or the workplace.
You can carefully include the soft documents Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan to the gadget or every computer unit in your office or house. It will certainly help you to still proceed reviewing Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan every time you have spare time. This is why, reading this Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan does not offer you problems. It will give you essential sources for you which wish to begin creating, blogging about the comparable publication Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of Elite Gymnasts And Figure Skaters, By Joan Ryan are different book area.
From starvation diets and debilitating injuries to the brutal tactics of tyrannical gymnastics guru Bela Karolyi, "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" portrays the horrors endured by girls at the hands of their coaches and sometimes their own families. An acclaimed expose that has already helped reform Olympic sports -- now updated to reflect the latest developments in women's gymnastics and figure skating -- it continues to plead for sanity, safety, and an end to our national obsession: winning at any cost.
- Sales Rank: #221482 in Books
- Published on: 2000-08-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .75" w x 5.25" l,
- Binding: Paperback
- 288 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Sports columnist Ryan presents an expose of the physical and psychological suffering endured by young Olympic hopefuls.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
YA?In an attempt to focus attention on the high price paid through pain, pressure, and humiliation to become an Olympic champion, Ryan has researched the stories behind some of the young female superstar gymnasts and figure skaters. The extraordinary cost to these young women in body, mind, and spirit is dramatized through the intense subculture dominated by gyms, trainers, parents, and sports officials who press for excellence and success without regard to the health and well-being of those involved. This anecdotal account serves as a warning to all those engaged in competitive sports that children should not be sacrificed to adult egos and the thrills of victory. A book to be pondered by coaches, parents, and young people.?Mary T. Gerrity, Queen Anne School Library, Upper Marlboro, MD
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ryan, an award-winning columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, offers disturbing anecdotal evidence indicating that women's gymnastics and figure skating are physically and psychologically damaging to a majority of participants with realistic Olympic aspirations. Ryan's emphasis is on gymnastics; figure skating is a cutthroat sport, to be sure, and it encourages bulimia, but compared to gymnastics, it's almost pristine. Ryan documents that between the years 1976^-92, the average U.S. Olympic gymnast became a year younger, six and one-half inches shorter, and 23 pounds lighter. The sport not only attracts tiny girls, it manufactures them: these days the demanding physical requirements of championship women's gymnastics can only be met by prepubescent, very light, very flexible girls. Control their weight through intimidation, delay the onset of puberty via exhaustion and starvation, and voila{ }! You've got little girls forever. But by delaying puberty, one also inhibits the production of estrogen, which is essential for adult bone density. There are now former gymnasts in their twenties with the bone density of 90-year-olds. Equally damaging is the obsession with weight passed on to young gymnasts by their coaches. Onetime Olympic hopeful Christie Henrich weighed less than 50 pounds when she slipped into a coma in July_ 1994 and died. Ryan portrays the gymnastic training of Olympic hopefuls as systemic, sanctioned child abuse. It's a nightmare vision that may forever change one's image of those herculean efforts by such Olympian pixies as Olga Korbutt and Mary Lou Retton. Expect this shocking expose{‚}to attract major media attention. Wes Lukowsky
Most helpful customer reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
EENY...MEENY..TEENY...WEENY...
By lawyeraau
This is a terrific book on the state of woman's gymnastics and, to some extent, figure skating, though the primary focus of the book is on gymnastics. It focuses on the enormous demands made upon these young athletes by coaches, trainers, officials, and parents. Some of those demands are so unrealistic as to border on child abuse. There are athletes who are starve themselves, who develop life threatening eating disorders, who perform dangerous maneuvers in the quest for the gold, and who sometimes end up dead or devastatingly injured as a result.
There is a lot of backstage dish in the book that is interesting. True life stories, some of which are heartbreaking, flesh out the allegations asserted by the author. The emphasis on being tiny and elfin has had enormous impact on elite female gymnasts. One sees the difference in just by looking comparatively at the women's U.S. Olympic gymnastic teams from 1976 and 1992. The photographs in the book best illustrate this and the comparison bespeaks volumes. Elite gymnastics went from being a woman's sport to a girl's sport, as the author has sagely noted, and the photographs corroborate that assertion.
Moreover, while some measures have been taken, such as raising the age for Olympic competition in 2000 from fifteen to sixteen, at the same time the minimum level of difficulty has increased, making an already dangerous sport more dangerous. Remember, elite gymnastics is a sport fraught with the potential for devastating spinal cord injuries. The author recounts a number of these heartbreaking injuries and the circumstances under which they occurred, leaving the reader to ask oneself, "Just what were these coaches thinking?
The pressure that some of these girls and young women endure is truly unbelievable. The demands upon them are often unrealistic, stunting not only their physical development, but their social and emotional development, as well. Competing with serious injuries, while taking potent drugs for the excruciating pain, is simply not commensurate with a sensible athletic regimen.
Parents who are living their dreams through their children are often as dangerous as unscrupulous and unqualified coaches. Many force their children to compete merely to satisfy their own desires for personal glory, badgering and berating their offspring every step of the way. Coaches, likewise, have their own dreams. Everyone wants to produce Olympians, but at what cost?
This is a an excellent book with a lot of information, both anecdotal and empirical. When purchasing the book, however, be sure to get the latest edition, as it has been updated with information on the state of gymnastics as of the year 2000. It also contains 24 pages of photographs, including 8 new pages for the updated edition.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
The truth always hurts
By M. Jay Babb
As a gymnastics fan, there's always been two sides of me: On the one hand I enjoy watching little girls flip over, and fly in the air-things that you and I would never think of trying our selves. On the other hand-I've been concerned over the years about what these girls go through to make it to the elite or olylimpic levels. In 1994 when Christy Henrich died as a result of eating disorders. That's when I begin asking some serious questions about the sport.
One thing that needs to be made VERY clear: Ryan was NOT dealing with what is called recrational gymnastics, Doing gymnastics for fun and fitness. It can be a rewarding sport for chidren. What Ryan DOES deal with is the elite or olylimpic levels of the sport.
It documents the disturbing training methods of Bela Karloli. I've been concerned about this for a long time-but now the truth is told-and the truth hurts. It also documents the belittling coments that coaches often say to the gymnasts about weight. This often triggers an eating disorder. This is sickening. Coaches like Karloi would just like to blame parents for these problems. While parents do play a role, it's the coaches coments made to gymnasts that triggers it. So coaches needs to held reponsible for it.
Ryan tells it like it is-she pulls no punches. This is not an anti-gymnastics book. It's instead a disturbing document of the training methods of coaches and forcing them to compete with injuries.
Then there's the disgusting story of the second Trial that was held to determine the 1992 olympic team that resulted in Kim kelly being voted off the team. Kim Kelly did not have the Ideal body type of a gymnast-and USA Gymnastics(Then called United states gymnastics federation)were concerned that she would not get high enough scores because she was not the little girl like the others were. This is WRONG and lets hope that it doe not happen again.
This edition includes an update on the state of gymnastics up to 2000. While progress has been made in making the sport safer, Ryan notes that there's a long way to go.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Shocking, yet informative
By Kelley A. Bergamo
I liked this book from the minute I picked it up to read it. I just couldn't put it down. I had no idea what these girls go through just to win an Olympic medal. Those coaches, whose names I won't mention, need to be ashamed of themsevles. If they could see the lives they ruin with their abuse, maybe they would stop and think. If you think you want to put your child into ice skating or gymnastics, read this book. You may change your mind...
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters, by Joan Ryan PDF
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters, by Joan Ryan EPub
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters, by Joan Ryan Doc
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters, by Joan Ryan iBooks
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters, by Joan Ryan rtf
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters, by Joan Ryan Mobipocket
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters, by Joan Ryan Kindle
