Playing the Game: Inside Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League

by Chris Lincoln

Playing The Game offers readers the first detailed, inside look at exactly how the
athletic recruiting game is played by coaches, prospective students, parents,
administrators, admission officers, and even college presidents in the Ivy League
and its Division III counterpart, the NESCAC. Here is the inside story on why this
specialized process has caused so much controversy on campus and off.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0972202668
• ISBN13: 9780972202664
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Nomad Press (VT)
• Length: 257 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Playing the Game

If you have children in junior high school or high school that will be going to college, then do NOT skip reading this book."If asked, 'Want to read a book about the college application process for athletes in the Ivy League?' I am pretty sure that most of the time I would have said "Thanks but no thanks." However if you are a parent with kids that are just like mine -- not likely to play a varsity sport at college -- then check out this book. The book should almost be required reading for the parents of student athletes, and the students as well. One of the interesting themes this book carries is the value and need for a "hook" to get the attention of admissions offices when applying to college. My kids are all great students. They do not have the athletic "hook" that is going to get them lots of attention from college coaches and athletic directors or land them big scholarships. But they will be competing for those admission slots with the kids that do. Mr. Lincoln's book is surprisingly interesting, an easy read, and well written.

An opposing view to Bowen's Reclaiming the Game

Many Ivy and NESCAC presidents reacted like lemmings after Mellon Foundation head Bill Bowen suggested their athletic programs were out of balance, and that athletes get an unfair advantage in admissions. They cut the number of recruits and made all those involved in sports at their schools feel like second class citizens.Too bad they did not read Chris Lincoln's book first.A former recruited athlete at Middlebury, Lincoln looks at the issue from the other side and recounts the challenges and difficulties of taking part in a top sports program at a top school. Through thoughtful interviews one sees that it is possible for athletic departments to be consistent with institutional goals. And that there is still such a thing as a teacher coach, and a scholar athlete.As a parent of an Ivy League athlete, I think Playing the Game provides needed counterpoint to Bowen's thesis. Well worth reading if you are interested in NCAA sports in general, or the Ivies and NESCAC in particular. Essential reading if you have a child considering playing at those schools.

Like Halberstam's The Amateurs

Lincoln's book reminded me of Halberstam's The Amateurs and I recommend it just as highly. Halberstam examined the character and discipline of a handful of rowers and coaches; Lincoln takes a broader view, detailing the methods whereby talented athletes are identified, recruited and then cosseted at Ivy League schools. Both books provide compelling personal stories. Both reveal highly specialized but hidden worlds. And both are about a lot more than sports.In fact, Lincoln--equal parts jock, reporter, ethicist and diplomat--has written a book that can be read with profit from several perspectives. For a young athlete, Playing the Game might be used as a guide to unmarked gates at Harvard, Yale and Princeton. For anyone considering a career as an Ivy recruiter, Playing the Game is a hair-raising foretaste of the stresses to come. Or, if you've ever sought insight into the upper echelons of Wall Street and Washington, where so many Ivy Leaguers flock, try reading this book about squash and lacrosse. Ethical relativity starts early.

A must read for any athlete or coach interested in the Ivies

This remarkably well researched and engaging book reveals the surprising importance of athletics to gain admission to the Ivy League. Chris Lincoln is a talented writer who has chosen as his first effort to tell the story of athletic recruitment practices at places where one might think that it's 'grades first, sports second' . This morsel of commonly held wisdom is thoroughly debunked. The story is told through the eyes of the coaches and players themselves, as well as a sprinkling of the opinions of the folks from admissions departments and administrators(including a few college presidents) that are so frank they have an 'off the record' feel. Bottom line: athletics count, and can count big time no matter what anyone tells you. The complicated and lengthy process of how players are recruited is unveiled, and from this base the author draws an easy to follow path for any athlete wanting to scale the Ivy mountain. If I were a coach or a young athlete with aspirations in that direction, I could hope to find no better resource than this. And I read it in one sitting. The guy can write.