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Start giftingChalked Up (Updated Edition)
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Learn moreDreams of becoming the next Nadia Comaneci led Jennifer Sey to become a gymnast at the age of six. Her early success and love of the sport propelled her and her family to great sacrifice so that she could become a National Team member and one of America’s elite gymnasts by age eleven. But as she set her sights higher, Jennifer began to change, setting her mental and physical health aside in the name of winning. The coaching culture of extreme cruelty drove Jennifer to self-harming behaviors, extreme injuries, an eating disorder, and depression and the adults in her life who were supposed to protect her failed to intervene, swept up in the dream of an Olympic berth.
Now Sey reveals the tarnish beneath the gold medals in this powerful portrait of intensity and drive, and the way that adults set children’s needs aside in the name of winning. Abusive coaches, manipulative business leaders, and parents blinded by the glory of gold forced Jennifer from the sport to find her own way back to mental health, self-worth, and happiness.
Jennifer’s personal tale exposes the dark side of sport, now well documented in the film she produced, Athlete A. Her personal journey provides hope for those young athletes struggling to find their way back from abuse and neglect at the hands of adults who put their own needs ahead of children’s.
Jennifer Sey is the 1986 National Champion in gymnastics and a seven-time National Team member. She produced the documentary Athlete A and has written for salon.com, the New York Times, and Glamour magazine on the abusive culture in the Olympic movement. She currently serves as the Levi’s Brand President and lives in San Francisco with her husband and four children.
Eileen Stevens is a voice-over actress whose voice can be heard on cartoons, promos, programs for English-language learners, and audiobooks. An Earphones Award–winning narrator, she is also an audiobook director and producer.
Reviews
“Sey’s memoir has sent shock waves through the tightly knit world of top athletes, sparking controversy…She hopes her book might serve as both a wake-up call to a sport that she says she still loves and a lesson to parents whose children enter the world of top athletics.”
“A remarkably candid, unblinking portrait of what it truly takes to become a champion…that may forever alter the way you watch sports.”
“A courageous story befitting a comeback kid.”
“Sey writes with vivid, clear-eyed candor.”
“Fascinating and disturbing…[a] literate and painfully honest sports autobiography.”
“A cautionary tale for children, parents, and gymnastics coaches alike…A book that will scare the hell out of many an aspiring gymnast…[and] makes the book so crucial for stage mothers, malleable preteens, and obsessive teenagers.”
“I am grateful to Jennifer Sey for sharing such an honest account of her experiences as an elite gymnast. She has eloquently and fairly exposed a dark side to our sport that parents have long needed to be made aware of.”
“A cautionary tale to not just athletes, parents, coaches, and judges but to fans of gymnastics…Intense, gripping, and powerful.”
“Twelve years after publication, Sey’s personal story is as powerful an indictment—and as furious a warning as anything you’ll read in sports.”
“Jen’s book is a searing exposé of the dark underbelly of USA gymnastics. Engaging, vulnerable, and profound, Jen uses her own story to demonstrate how abusive environments operate in plain sight and give survivors a voice and hope for healing. I can’t recommend it highly enough.”
“Jennifer Sey was belittled and ostracized by much of the gymnastics community for telling the truth in Chalked Up. Yet she not only weathered every blow, she helped build a movement. A fearless and exacting writer, she continues to hold the abusers and enablers accountable. Sey’s personal story is as powerful an indictment—and as furious a warning—as anything you’ll read in sports.”
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