* how to keep your child athlete healthy in mind and body
* how to deal with the coach and other parents and help your child handle team pressure
* how to recognize and prevent injuries such as fractures, ligament tears, and repetitive stress injuries
* how to recognize when your child is doing "too much"
* how to judge the impact of daily physical practice on growing bodies

The Young Athlete provides two kinds of guidelines. First, it helps both you and your child keep a sensible perspective on the benefits of organized sports and avoid the "win at all costs" mentality. Through personal advice and anecdotes from his medical practice, Dr. Metzl, a marathon runner, Ironman triathlete, and former college soccer player, helps parents evaluate real-life situations and make decisions. He addresses the concerns of parents who have no experience in sports but want to encourage their children to achieve their utmost potential.

Second, this book focuses on strategies that can help prevent injuries and promote health. Dr. Metzl tells you how to recognize the most common injuries and determine their degree of seriousness. He also discusses the nutritional needs of the developing athlete and the benefits of strength and preventive conditioning before and during the season. The Young Athlete will enable your young athlete to be the best that he or she can be, both on and off the field.

Amazon.com Review
The Young Athlete aims to help the parents of more than 30 million U.S. kids who play organized sports to keep them safe and healthy--physically, socially, and psychologically. The book is not just about sports medicine; in fact, only about one-third of the book addresses avoiding and treating injuries. The rest explores essential issues such as how to be a good sports parent, hallmarks of good coaching, nutrition and nutritional supplements, and keeping values and perspective intact (including topics such as preventing sports from taking over the family's life, good sportsmanship, and ethics).

This book also offers helpful and often provocative insights into the young athlete's world. For example, although most proclaim that cheating is wrong, many athletes, coaches, and parents justify "what can we get away with?" behavior. Checklists, bulleted lists, and quotes from parents about their problems make it easy to skim for pertinent and interesting information about this and many other issues.

Author Jordan D. Metzl, M.D., cofounder and medical director of the Hospital for Special Surgery's Sports Medicine Institute for Young Athletes and a former member of the U.S. Olympic Committee Medical Advisory Board, has been team physician for several schools, so you can be assured of the validity of the book's content. Highly recommended for parents of school-age athletes. --Joan Price