Rating: 
Summary: A real-life story of an inspirational soccer team
Review: June 9, 1999Watching the Men's World Cup last year quickly taught me that my then 3-year-old daughter old cared not a whit for men, but wanted to see women play. I had taken her to see a girls team play in Santa Rosa in the vague hope that it might somehow turn into a book. I wasn't a sports writer or the author of soccer books. I've always written about things that I find personally compelling, and it struck me that the story of a girls' season could be a moving drama. I also imagined it would be a lot of fun. As a former college player who has loved the game since boyhood, I could think of few things more enjoyable than watching a season of soccer games. I was lucky. It just so happened that the Santa Rosa Thunder team was playing for its first woman coach, Emiria Salzmann, a former All American. The girls were from both sides of town, two teams thrown together. It wasn't clear at all that they'd even talk to one another, let alone win games. More than a year later, I feel fortunate to have been part of this rich, emotional experience. The girls of the Santa Rosa Thunder taught me much about competition, sportswomanship and friendship. The girls, coach and parents graciously allowed me to become part of their community. I got to witness the joyous, emotional meetings before big games as well as the pained ones with parents when things didn't seem to be going as planned. I saw great soccer and the days when back passes spun awry and every shot seemed to hit the crossbar. I talked to the girls about their lives beyond soccer, and the difficulties they faced in fitting in at school and with their peers. Before starting this book I'd read enough to know a little of the enormous obstacles girls face in adolescence. Experts say that sports are a wonderful outlet for girls and boys. Still, I didn't expect soccer to be a miracle drug. But this strong woman coach challenged sixteen girls to bond as a team, to become independent, resilient young women, and in my view, these once ordinary players surprised everyone, including their coach. I have no idea if my daughter will decide she wants to play soccer, let alone compete on a team like the Santa Rosa Thunder. But I hope she finds something like this in life.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read For Soccer Coaches, Players and Parents!
Review: Littman couldn't have picked a better team to write about. What a great choice. The book has everything a coach, player and parent go through during the course of a soccer season. The similarities I found between the Thunder girls and my girls were amazing. The ups the downs the thoughts, actions and consequences are all chronicled here. You will all find something here that strikes a cord. I couldn't put it down, in many ways it was like re-living a season. The girls personalities come to life, how they all deal with the new coach and each other is riveting. The physical pain they endured is a great lesson to soccer players of all ages as to what it takes to become a champion and the sacrifices that must be made to do so. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: The Game
Review: Littman did an admirable job developing the characters' personalities. His depth into the situation withdrew the real game of soccer. Proving his knowldege of the game, his word and term usage created a vivid picture drawing the reader into the book. Continueing to develop the players as the story persists, the situation and plot grows more intense. I commend Littman on his depth and complexity of the game and the struggles of adolescence. The Beautiful Game is definately a must-read for all teenage girls struggling with the frustrations in the game of soccer.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the read
Review: Mr. Littman deserves congratulations for his hours of interviewing and hard work putting together the inspiring story of these Bay Area young girls who came together as a team. I will focus here on a couple of issues that the reader might want to watch for. Much like a university class where the reading list and assignments are better than the professor, so this is an excellent character study from which the perceptive reader will get more than the author seems to grasp. In style, the first half is written in the mode of a soccer game, which I found frustratingly hard to follow and inappropriate to normal prose. Thank goodness for the team photo and names on the back. The latter half settles down and is much easier to follow. Substantively, Mr. Littman seems to believe -- he repeats it at least two or three times -- that the response of these girls to a coach more prone to offering criticism than praise disproves the stereotype that only guys can take criticism. In one sense, this is no revelation: girls have been taking it from their parents and turning out just as well as boys for many thousands of years. In that vein the author misses the point: like children in a family of smart, warm but abusive parents, the girls came together in spite of their young coach's angry personality. The technical skills and training the coach had to offer and the experience of going through it together, including the competition, was what brought these spirited girls together. By the end of the book the author seems to realize that this sort of coaching style won't be accepted much longer by the girls. I think what he fails to confront is that no athlete should have to take harsh criticism and a runaway coaching ego, female or male. Mr. Littman does a good job of describing the young coach's difficult childhood. Unfortunately, he fails to examine how this shaped her personality as the girls faced it and, in fact, how that driving, cold, intolerant personality style is typical of young adults who come from a lower class background where pushing themselves to extremes to succeed is seen as the only way out. Nonetheless, to see the individual and group interplay between technique and interpersonal relationships played out in such detail and with such inspiration makes this a book well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Must Read! esp. parents, teachers, coaches of girls aged 10+
Review: No other book provides such a moving insight into the mind of 13/14 year old girls who are striving to be the best they can be. You don't have to be a soccer fan (though the book will convert you) to both enjoy and learn from this story. You won't be able to put it down and you will not want it to ever end. My first action after reading the book was to e-mail the author to find out how the girls had fared after February '99 (when the book ends). For the sake of this generation of girls, please read this book if you are in any way responsible for or connected with the education, training, or raising of a young lady.
Rating:
Summary: PLEASE READ THIS BOOK
Review: Please read this book. It tells about the story of the under 14 Thunder Girls Soccer Team, and their incredible journey with themselves and their team. It makes your realize that girls can-and will do anything it takes to improve, no matter what anyone says. These girls weren't the best, and they might not have been the most motivated, but they came through when the times were bad. They broke away from the "you play like a girl" mold, and proved that as a team you can achieve anything you want. I am also a soccer player at a high level, including playing for ODP (Olympic development program) and Division 1 college team, and this book shows that not all coaches are "nice", but they are there to help you improve. PLEASE read this book, these girls have something to prove to us all.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book, Bad Subject
Review: The author got very close to questioning the social structure of elite soccer teams and their endless travel schedules, but unfortunately was unwilling to really critique what he was seeing. His complaints about teams like Colorado's Nike and Swoosh (Officially Sponsored !) U-14 teams could turn into an entire book on the misplaced values of our society, but instead sound like partisan whining.
Rating:
Summary: The Beautiful game is a beautiful book ...
Review: The Beautiful Game is a terrific read for the player, coach, soccer fan, soccer parent...anyone who has a love of the game. Fans of other sports will also enjoy the dedication,
determination, and heart, of this team who defeated the odds and
turned around a ragtag group of girls (who didn't originally possess the necessary spirit) to become champions. At times, the players falter (on the field and off), the parents
get out of hand, and the coach gets out of line. How this
group overcomes failure and conquers success is a tale worth reading and will be enjoyed by many..from the 12 year old on up.
Rating:
Summary: An inspiring achievment.
Review: The Beautiful Game is not only a marvelous soccer book, it is also a testament to what youth sports aspires to achieve. Jon Littman captures a different personality for each of the sixteen girls on team and the associated adults. I found myself constantly turning back and forth between the text and the back cover team photo to fix each of the girls in my mind as I read. As a soccer player, a coach, a writer, and a reader, I applaud Littman's effort and hope this book gets the attention it deserves.
Rating: 
Summary: at what price glory?
Review: The better book would be to write about these girls 5 or 10 years from now and ask them to reflect on the season. As the parent of children playing club soccer, I admire the tenacity and spirit these girls displayed. But as another reviewer wrote, it's more likely they bonded in their unity against the coach and her tactics. I kept waiting for the author to delve into the oft-times maniacal world of club soccer, fueled by parents seeking to either re-live or re-invent their own youth. Why else would parents allow their girls to practice in bad conditions that would encourage injury or illness, or let them try to play injured? But the author went along for the ride, writing about these girls as if they were 25 and not 14 (a tough age, soccer or no soccer). Look no further than the back cover with the team photo as evidence that all was not well, even in their finest hour. All the girls and coaches are smiling, except for Kim, the star player. She looks like she's at a funeral. But her dad is smiling ear to ear. I also had a big problem with the author's writing style. Didn't like to use subjects in his sentences. Liked to start his sentences with a verb. Got to be annoying after reading the first chapter. Wished he didn't do that.
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