Dr. Dan interviews husband-and-wife team Jean Linscott, Ph.D. and Kenneth Ruoff, Ph.D.about their new book What is the Goal?: The Truth About the Youth Sports Industry. With Dr. Dan, Dr. Ken and Dr. Jean explore how the current youth sports industry, pay-to-play sports, and the quest for prestige can cause unintended harm to young athletes and their families. 

This episode explores how children and parents can both experience the pressures of belonging to a sports team along with feeling the need to have a "return on investment" and how this can lead to resentment, poor mental health, and injuries that can stop a career before it even starts. 

Dr. Dan, Dr. Jean, and Dr. Ken also ask: since sports can be a ticket into prestigious schools are the benefits worth the risks? 

Kenneth Ruoff, Ph.D., is a professor of history at Portland State University and the author of several award-winning books. From the perspective of a historian, he is astonished, in comparison to what he experienced as a kid, at how drastically different a youth-sports environment his family has faced these past two decades. He was a member of 

the 1987 Harvard College Men’s Soccer Final Four team. 

Jean Linscott, Ph.D., is a clinical child psychologist. She has been working professionally with children and families for over thirty years in hospital-based, clinic, and private-practice settings.  She and Kenneth Ruoff are the parents of three athletes who are veterans of the Youth Sports Industry.

For more information visit: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-is-the-goal-jean-linscott/1145009474?ean=9798990114302 

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