Alive and Kicking: When Soccer Moms Take the Field and Change Their Lives Forever
In the suburban enclave of Montclair, New Jersey, as in so many communities around America, there was nothing new in the sight of mothers driving their minivans to soccer practice. What was new was that these women were driving to their own practices instead of dropping off their kids and watching from the sidelines. For the generation that grew up before Title IX's mandate of equal athletic opportunity, the field of play was a male preserve; girls watched and cheered. The lessons that sports are supposed to teach -- team spirit, overcoming adversity, playing to win without rancor or anger -- were restricted to this young boys' network; how could women help win the Battle of Waterloo when they'd been kept off the playing fields of Eton?
The women of Montclair were mostly of that pre-Title IX generation, and many of them had never played competitive sports in their lives. In Alive and Kicking, Harvey Araton follows these women through their turbulent first two seasons. He turns his keen sportswriter's eye onto the battles, both on the field and in the psyche, that these women wage as they try to play a sport without compromising their values. He also shows the divisions that wrack the league when a slightly younger generation gets involved in the games, a generation raised without ambivalence about beating an opponent, willing to take a dangerous chance for a winning goal, even if it means running over the woman in their way. But most of all he describes the women who gain in confidence and ambition, like one of the league's pioneers, who finds the strength to leave a tired marriage, buoyed by her accomplishments on the field -- as well as the few who find themselves left behind by the achievers, those for whom this exposure to sport will leave the scars known to all who've been the last to be selected for a pickup game.
The rise of women's sports -- symbolized by the ecstatic reaction to the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team -- has been a significant change in the social landscape. This thoughtful, thought-provoking book examines the questions that should underlie this radical change, but too often have not: As sports change women, can women change sports? Is the male play-to-win model the only one that works? Does it work? Through the experiences of these smart, mature women, we learn much about the workings of games and societies -- and the difficulty of questioning patterns so deeply entrenched that we barely know we can question them at all.
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Harvey Araton joined the New York Times as a sports reporter and national basketball columnist in 1991 and became a "Sports of the Times" columnist in 1994. He is the author of numerous books, including When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the Old Knicks. His work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, GQ, ESPN The Magazine, Sport, Tennis, and Basketball Weekly. Born in New York City in 1952, he is a 1975 graduate of the City University of New York. Araton lives in Montclair, New Jersey.
Julie Foudy
co-captain, U.S. Women's National Team
Harvey Araton is the ultimate Soccer Husband. His book is filled with inspiring tales of real women who discovered the joys of sports later in life. I can't wait to share this book with my teammates!
Robert Lipsyte
"The New York Times"
Araton's smart, compassionate, personal touch brings to life one of the most thrilling sports stories of our time: grown women finding their grooves and learning to kick butt on the long-denied fields of play. Soccer moms may change governments, but when they tie on their own cleats, they can change the world.
Mary Carillo
HBO, CBS, and TNT Sports
"Alive and Kicking" is a terrific book, one that shows what it's like for women to discover what their bodies can do, how it feels to be vital, active, and competitive -- and how glorious it is to be comfortable in your own body. These mothers are growing as athletes and people at the same time; it's everything any mother would wish for her own children, and now they're having it for themselves. What could be prettier than that?
Christine Brennan
"USA Today" sports columnist, author of "Inside Edge" and "Edge of Glory"
Harvey Araton has written a magnificent book chronicling a fascinating moment in our history -- the time when women who always were told they could not play sports finally found out that they could. When you read "Alive and Kicking," you will marvel at the vast changes that are occurring on the American sports landscape, personified by an incredible group of forty-something women. I wasn't sure whether to cheer for them or cry with them. In the end, I did both.
Christine Brennan "USA Today" sports columnist, author of "Inside Edge" and "Edge of Glory" Harvey Araton has written a magnificent book chronicling a fascinating moment in our history -- the time when women who always were told they could not play sports finally found out that they could. When you read "Alive and Kicking, " you will marvel at the vast changes that are occurring on the American sports landscape, personified by an incredible group of forty-something women. I wasn't sure whether to cheer for them or cry with them. In the end, I did both.
Mary Carillo HBO, CBS, and TNT Sports "Alive and Kicking" is a terrific book, one that shows what it's like for women to discover what their bodies can do, how it feels to be vital, active, and competitive -- and how glorious it is to be comfortable in your own body. These mothers are growing as athletes and people at the same time; it's everything any mother would wish for her own children, and now they're having it for themselves. What could be prettier than that?
Julie Foudy co-captain, U.S. Women's National Team Harvey Araton is the ultimate Soccer Husband. His book is filled with inspiring tales of real women who discovered the joys of sports later in life. I can't wait to share this book with my teammates!
