Beautiful Game: Sixteen Girls and the Soccer Season That Changed Everything

( 3 )
Pick Up In Store

Pick Up in Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Paperback (1ST PERENN)
$11.78
BN.com price
$14.99 List Price (Save 21%)
Marketplace (New and Used)
from
$0.01
$14.99 List Price (Save 100%)
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
All (48)  
Used (40)  
New (8)  
Close
Sort by
Page 1 of 5
Showing 1 – 10 of 48 (5 pages)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
OwlsBooks-TRM
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(22568)

Condition:

New — never opened or used in original packaging.

Like New — packaging may have been opened. A "Like New" item is suitable to give as a gift.

Very Good — may have minor signs of wear on packaging but item works perfectly and has no damage.

Good — item is in good condition but packaging may have signs of shelf wear/aging or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Acceptable — item is in working order but may show signs of wear such as scratches or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Used — An item that has been opened and may show signs of wear. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Refurbished — A used item that has been renewed or updated and verified to be in proper working condition. Not necessarily completed by the original manufacturer.

Good
Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
GreatBuyBooks-WA
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(18248)

Condition: Good
Buy from the best: 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship today!

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$0.99
(Save 93%)
Avenue Book & Co.
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(1248)

Condition: Very Good
PAPERBACK Very Good 0380808609 100% Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed.

Ships from: Fort Wayne, IN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$0.99
(Save 93%)
Alibris NV
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(20386)

Condition: Very Good
2000-08-22 Trade Paperback Very Good Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 304 p.

Ships from: Sparks, NV

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$1.00
(Save 93%)
oncesoldtales
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(2447)

Condition: Good
A used copy. Pages are somewhat worn. Cover worn. Worn edges and corners. Binding solid and tight.

Ships from: Kent, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$1.99
(Save 87%)
Free State Books
Seller since 2012

Feedback rating:

(1010)

Condition: Very Good
Book shows a small amount of wear - very good condition! Free State Books. Never settle for less.

Ships from: Halethorpe, MD

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$1.99
(Save 87%)
MotorCityBooks
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(5054)

Condition: Very Good
Book has appearance of only minimal use. All pages are undamaged with no significant creases or tears. With pride from Motor City. All books guaranteed. Best Service, Best ... Prices. Read more Show Less

Ships from: Brownstown, MI

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$1.99
(Save 87%)
Blue Cloud Books
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(2521)

Condition: Acceptable
Blue Cloud Books ??? Hot deals from the land of the sun.

Ships from: Phoenix, AZ

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$1.99
(Save 87%)
GreenEarthBooks
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4878)

Condition: Like New
Only slightly differentiated from a new book. Undamaged cover and spine. Pages may display light wear but no marks. Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth ... Books. Read. Recycle and Reuse! Read more Show Less

Ships from: Portland, OR

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$1.99
(Save 87%)
Yankee Clipper Books
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(3924)

Condition: Acceptable
Sail the Seas of Value

Ships from: Windsor, CT

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
Page 1 of 5
Showing 1 – 10 of 48 (5 pages)
Close
Sort by

Overview

Once nobody noticed Santa Rosa's Thunder. They were a ragtag team of girls who wanted to play soccer, and no one took them seriously. Their male coach expected little from his "ladies, " and their mediocre performance convinced them he was right.

Then a kind of miracle happened. Emiria Salzmann, Thunder's new coach, a top player herself, knew what it took to win—discipline, relentless drills, thigh-burning sprints, and an inspired passing game. The girls hated it, but their coach never let up. Tough and determined, she showed them what it felt like to be winners—and they loved it. As the momentum grew with a string of victories, the girls thrived on the ...

See more details below
Sending request ...

More About This Book

Overview

Once nobody noticed Santa Rosa's Thunder. They were a ragtag team of girls who wanted to play soccer, and no one took them seriously. Their male coach expected little from his "ladies, " and their mediocre performance convinced them he was right.

Then a kind of miracle happened. Emiria Salzmann, Thunder's new coach, a top player herself, knew what it took to win—discipline, relentless drills, thigh-burning sprints, and an inspired passing game. The girls hated it, but their coach never let up. Tough and determined, she showed them what it felt like to be winners—and they loved it. As the momentum grew with a string of victories, the girls thrived on the competition, believing they had the right stuff to become champions.

They were right! With spirits soaring, Thunder won its league on the last day of the season and headed for the state cup, emerging not just as powerful athletes but as strong, confident, emotionally healthy human beings—champions in the game of soccer, and in the game of life.

Editorial Reviews

Booklist
An exciting book, filled with team spirit, similar to In These Girls Hope Is A Muscle.
Los Angeles Times
This is a season inside, an honest look at a girls elite soccer team...worth reading whether you are a soccer player, a soccer parent, or both.
More Reviews (5) Fewer Reviews
San Francisco Examiner
A well-balanced journey that celebrates sports, girlhood, and determination.
Sports Illustrated for Women
Required reading! You'll cheer for the girls...and may even shed a tear. Best of all, you'll have found a new set of teammates without breaking a sweat.
USA TODAY.com
This is a story that should be passed along, girl to girl, mother to mother, dad to dad.
USA TODAY.com
This is a story that should be passed along, girl to girl, mother to mother, dad to dad..
Library Journal
Littman, an investigative journalist who has written two books on computer hackers, takes his title here from Brazilian soccer great Pele, who described soccer as "That beautiful game I love so well." In this excellent book, Littman describes what happens when a former college soccer star becomes the coach of a rather nondescript girls' soccer team in Santa Rosa, CA, and tries to lead the team to a championship, a goal they have never achieved. In this well-written, readable story, Littman follows the Santa Rosa Thunder closely throughout the season, detailing the highs and lows and showing that the difference in intensity between men's and women's sports is becoming blurred--the coaching techniques of the Thunder coach appear to be as strict as those of many men's coaches. This fine book deserves wide readership among both young female athletes and their parents. Recommended for public and school libraries.--William O. Scheeren, Hempfield Area Sr. H.S. Lib., Greensburg, PA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780380808601
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 8/28/2000
  • Edition description: 1ST PERENN
  • Pages: 304
  • Sales rank: 295,567
  • Series: Harper Perennial
  • Product dimensions: 5.31 (w) x 8.00 (h) x 0.68 (d)

Meet the Author

Jonathan Littman is the author of three previous books, including The Fugitive Game and The Watchman, and his articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Forbes, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other publications. A former college soccer player (on Berkeley's nationally ranked NCAA playoff sqaud), he is the father of two young daughters. He lives in the Bay Area.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One
Tryouts

Elbows out and ready, the girl with the piercing eyes and apple cheeks figured she had an edge, maybe two. Jessica Marshall could play goalkeeper as well as field positions, and unlike the others, she actually knew the coach, and thus knew her elbows would count. But looking out at the sea of ponytails bobbing up and down on the vast grassy field, Jessica could also do the math. Out of the forty thirteen- and-fourteen-year-old talented girls at the tryouts, over half wouldn't last the week.

The air was crisp that April afternoon. Though a freeway way bustled just a couple of hundred yards to the east, the only sound on the field was the swish of the grass underfoot, the lulling patter of the balls swinging between the players, and the symphony of breaths that rose like a tide. If this was a stadium, its walls reflected the community in which it stood. To the north loomed a destroyer sized aluminum-sided warehouse, fronted by a fence bearing the names of local sponsors who had put up a few hundred bucks to plug their businesses: Downey Tire Center, Terchlund Law Offices, Round Table Pizza, and the local paper, the Press Democrat. Weeds choked the vast empty acreage beyond the fields, and to the west end, facing the freeway, towering eucalpytus trees promised some afternoon shade. The only amenities were a tiny blue wooden snack bar and a Porta Potti. Belluzzo Fields, they called it, the center of youth soccer in the Northern Californian city of Santa Rosa.

It was a city defined in great part by what it was not. Santa Rosa was not the prosperous and refined city of San Francisco, which lay more than fiftymiles to the south. Nor was it the languorous wine country of Napa, just thirty miles to the east over the hills. Santa Rosa was an old town by western standards that was enjoying a little boom.

You could find the past in the Sonoma County Fairgrounds just a couple miles up the road from Belluzzo, where they still held Mexican dances and competitions for cows, horses, sheep, and goats. But the future was everywhere. High-tech companies had migrated north to Santa Rosa, and the town had largely shed its agricultural roots as it quickly mushroomed to nearly 150,000 people. Traffic often choked the two-lane freeway that linked Santa Rosa with the San Francisco Bay area to the south and Oregon to the north. Many parents zigzagged home from practice on side streets, fed up with the congestion. Developments were springing up all over. New homes were crowding the once rural Highway 12, which ran east to Sonoma and Napa, or west to the bucolic old town of Sebastopol, famous for its apples.

Coach Salzmann barely said hello, and certainly didn't smile. All they knew about Salzmann, they'd read in the brief letter alerting them to the tryouts for the Eclipse under-fourteen girls' team, one of over twenty squads sponsored by the Santa Rosa United Youth Soccer club. They'd been asked to bring the usual, "shin guards, cleats, water, a ball," but they hadn't quite known what Salzmann meant by "whatever else it takes for you to play your best." The letter had trumpeted the typical sports platitudes, goals Salzmann considered essential: "Dedication, Work Ethic, Discipline, Attitude, Competition, and Fun."

Jessica's deep-set eyes made the dishwater blond look as if she were squinting, questioning the world. A mouthful of braces made her self-conscious about smiling. Fun wasn't a word Jessica would use to describe the ordeal. The letter outlined how they would be put through skill work, testing their dribbling, passing, shooting, juggling, and fitness, and finally matching them up in scrimmages. This was a test, not only of their "technical performance," but also of their commitment. Salzmann made clear that effort would count plenty, suggesting they arrive fifteen minutes early to jog and warm up before practice started.

"I won't have any favorites," Coach Salzmann told the girls sitting on the grass on the first day of the three-day tryouts. "Just because someone was on last year's team doesn't mean they'll make it this year."

Lateness wouldn't be permitted. Interruptions were not taken lightly. Players engaged in giggling and chatting at their own risk. Coach Salzmann wasn't merely looking for the best players. Salzmann wanted the most coachable players, girls who, whether or not they realized it yet, were hungry for hard training.

None of this was any surprise to Jessica. She'd watched Salzmann crank three goals in a college game, get crumpled by a defender, and continue playing as if it were nothing more than a scratch. Jessica had played for Salzmann at a summer camp, and won a measure of respect by beating her share of boys. But Jessica also knew Salzmann's reputation for toughness was deserved. Talent wasn't enough in Salzmann's eyes.

Three months before, back in rainy January, Jessica had begun her own preparation. Her father, a pastor at Santa Rosa Christian Church, awakened her before dawn for the short drive to the local junior college. There, for an hour before the start of school, Jessica ran wind sprints and the stadium bleachers until her thighs burned. Behind the speed work was an old coach, an old dig. For Jessica had tried out for the elite Eclipse Class I team the previous year, and thought she'd shown well enough to make it again, just as she had two years running. Then she got the call. She was at home watching TV with her more gifted teammate and friend Shannon, a tall, chocolate-skinned girl with the olive-shaped eyes of a doe.

"I'm sorry, you didn't make the team," said the Eclipse coach, abruptly hanging up before Jessica could mumble a reply.

"What was that?" Shannon asked softly.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 3 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(2)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

Sort by: Showing all of 3 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 24, 2001

    Girl Power 110%

    THIS IS THE BEST BOOK IN THE WORLD! It is inspiring and not only teaches you about soccer, but life in general. Littman is a genius!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted August 16, 2001

    An inspiring story

    This book has documented an inspiring story. As the soccer team struggles through all the set backs, the players and the coach both grew tastically and emontionally. I would have given this book 5 stars if I have not read the two chapters. (But don't miss the last page.) The story itself is 5 stars for sure. Sometimes, the 16 players can be confusing. But it's not hard to remember them with their faces on the book's cover. I would personally recommend this book to any coach in any sport. Male or Female. (But for male readers, beware of the purple cover. Reading a purple book in public will draw some attention.) From my own 3yr of coaching exp, it's hard to draw the fine line when to be tough or just a friend. This book gives me a baseline on when to be tough as a coach.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 4, 2000

    An excellent book for soccer moms and dads!

    Littman's story of the 16 club soccer players from Santa Rosa is an excellent read for anyone with competitive soccer players. The book details the ups and downs of club soccer as the girls develop both on and off the field.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Sort by: Showing all of 3 Customer Reviews
If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit