Coach Steve’s Youth Sports Survival Guide: How Parents and Kids Can Get the Most Out of the Experience

So, your son or daughter plays sports. What now? Youth sports has become a $40 billion per year industry, fraught with pitfalls but also boundless benefits our kids can carry with them throughout their lives. How do we find the “right” team, coach and experience? Stephen Borelli (aka “Coach Steve”) and his wife have lived in this realm for a decade and half, and Borelli has become a national authority for his coverage and advice for navigating sports parenting. He draws on his three-decade perspective as a sportswriter as well as expert advice from notable sports figures past and present (many of them parents) from Annika Sorenstam to Andre Agassi, Shannon Miller, Caitlin Clark, Yogi Berra, John Wooden and Ted Lasso to help us get the most out of the journey. This hardcover book is a must-read for parents and athletes of all ages.

In their words

“Youth sports are awesome, but today’s landscape is complicated with many choices for parents. Steve Borelli tackles many important issues in youth sports today. He uses his deep knowledge and contacts to give parents a how-to guide for today’s young athletes.”
— Greg Olsen, former NFL player, current Fox broadcaster and co-founder of the youth sports platform Youth Inc.

“Steve Borelli is the chief chronicler of the largest and most important layer of our sport ecosystem — youth sports. No journalist has ever covered this essential American institution with as much depth, consistency, and care. And at the core is his care for children.” 
— Tom Farrey, former Emmy award-winning sports journalist, author of “Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children,” and founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program

“What distinguishes Borelli and his insights on kids, parents and sports is that he writes from a position of monumental credibility: A national sportswriter keen on the athletic worldview and with access to respected sports figures; a Dad with kids who are continually on the fields of play; and, a youth coach who has to lead and show character and patience and feels the wins and losses with his team. All together, these roles help produce columns from which any kid and sports parent – including me, who had three sons heavily involved in high school and NCAA sports and follows Borelli every week – will benefit.”
— Jeff Nelligan, author of "Four Lessons from My Three Sons - How You Can Raise Resilient Kids” 

“Steve Borelli is changing how we digest the sports ecosystem in this current state of chaos we call sports. Steve shares the rawness of what needs to change and presents solutions for coaches, parents, and athletes to thrive in sports.”
— Larissa Mills, Founder & CEO, The Mental Game Academy