Informative, nourishing reading for parents and coaches and their young charges.
A star athlete provides expert advice for parents and coaches.
In this comprehensive analysis, written with clinical neuropsychologist Keane, Pearce Rampone, “the most decorated female American professional soccer player of all time,” shares her personal experiences on and off the field, as a player and mother of two athletes, alongside coaching tips geared toward young athletes. Although most of the stories involve soccer, the advice is useful for any sport. The authors discuss the importance of having parents refrain from coaching from the sidelines, the idea of signing a mission statement of appropriate conduct for everyone to endorse prior to the season, and the need for open communication on and off the field. They explore body language and how a parent can tell whether a child is enjoying the sport or playing because they feel like they should as well as building confidence, working through performance anxiety, and what to say and not to say on the ride home from a game. Throughout, the authors include anecdotes of young players that bolster their guidance. Bulleted lists and clipboard-type notes are inserted into the text, placing extra emphasis on key points and making it simple for readers to find relevant concepts. The authors also cover the all-important topic of injuries, particularly concussions, and Pearce Rampone shares her own experiences with concussions as well as a checklist of symptoms to watch out for in a person with a suspected head injury. Especially dangerous is “the second concussive blow—more serious injury and prolonged recovery time, sometimes resulting in the loss of an entire season.” As a professional athlete who has been both a winner and a loser and who has played while injured, Pearce Rampone’s counsel on these important topics is easy to assimilate and should be required reading for any coach or parent who wants their child to play sports, regardless of the level.
Informative, nourishing reading for parents and coaches and their young charges.Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5387-5173-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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