It's Not About the Bra : Play Hard, Play Fair, and Put the Fun Back Into Competitive Sports

Tampa Tribune
Emphasizes teamwork, sportsmanship, leadership and community service.

San Jose Mercury News
Chastain’s book will appeal to all parents.

Book Description

When Brandi Chastain famously stripped off her jersey to celebrate her World Cup-winning penalty kick, the gesture represented not only the essence of athletic triumph but the joy of a competitor who knows how to play hard and still have fun. Now, in It's Not About the Bra, Chastain steps out from behind her iconic image to deliver an important wake-up call to competitive youth sports, which has gone increasingly out of control.

Drawing on anecdotes from her own storied career as well as those of her coaches and celebrated teammates (Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, and others), Chastain tackles the thorny issues of sportsmanship, gamesmanship, and parental involvement gone too far. She teaches young athletes how to develop leadership skills, find (and become) role models, and give something back to their team and community. Her timely message is about rediscovering our respect for the game, for teammates and adversaries, for coaches and refs, and, especially, for the players themselves, because without these values "the game breaks down and the joys of competition are lost."

From her struggle to rebound from consecutive knee surgeries to excruciating losses in NCAA, World Cup, and Olympic competition to her recent battle to make the team she loves, Chastain discloses both the good and bad ways she's personally dealt with adversity and reminds us what it truly means to be a "class act" on and off the field.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When soccer star Brandi Chastain famously stripped off her shirt to celebrate her tournament-winning penalty kick in the 1999 Women's World Cup, she unleashed a global debate about Title IX, women's sports and the controversial mix of feminine power and beauty. Now, with It's Not About the Bra, the player nicknamed Hollywood takes aim at another important topic: How can we put the fun back in competitive youth sports?

It's not just about fun and games anymore. Parent now pay hundreds (and even thousands) of dollars for their children to compete. Young players increasingly bear the burden of their parents' well-intentioned but unrealistic aspirations for their success. All this tension has spilled out onto American playing fields in the form of poor sportsmanship, trash-talking, win-at-all-cost attitudes, and, in the worst cases, humiliation and violence.

World Cup champion and gold medalist Chastain readily admits that her toughest assignment is being a mother to her soccer-playing stepson, Cameron. Interweaving biographical threads from her own life, Chastain addresses issues that relate to both parenting and to playing the game at all levels--from rec league to elite teams--and provides creative and inspirational solutions to the vexing problems that face parents of competitive athletes.

In It's Not About the Bra, Chastain shares her thoughts on finding the joy in competition and pursuing your potential on the playing field of life. With insights from a host of her celebrated teammates, she cleanly tackles the tough questions cleats down.

SYNOPSIS