Inside Youth Sports: An Expert's and Athlete's Guide to Health, Fitness, Competition and Better Play

Discover what every athlete--and parent-- needs to know about the youth sports industrial complex, from training and injuries to developing bodies and navigating league politics, through the eyes of a father-daughter team that has been in your shoes.

Over the last two decades, the youth sports market has quietly risen from a cottage industry to one with a valuation of nearly $40 billion. While the industry thrives on the aspirations of children - and their parents - towards college scholarships, it is well-known that reaching that level is rare. Organized sports benefit individuals and society in a myriad of ways, yet youth athletes and their parents often struggle with the financial, physical, and personal costs provided by well-meaning yet misguided influencers in the space.

Inside Youth Sports is an in-depth dive into youth sports, the playing experience, and the science behind the muscles, mechanics, and minds of developing kids. Featuring alternating narratives between Buel D. Rodgers - an international leader in the field of muscle biology - and his daughter, Meilani - an elite youth athlete who competed at the national level in soccer and track - this instructive and insightful guide explores the physiology and psychology of child and adolescent athletes, how youth athletes manage the emotional burden and individual challenges of competition as well as the people, places and market surrounding play. Complex biological processes like puberty, the biology of gender, muscle and exercise physiology as well as rehabilitation myths and mythologies are carefully and tactfully detailed for a broad lay audience. Detailed interviews with legendary coaches Anson Dorrance and Geno Auriemma, the winningest soccer and basketball coaches in NCAA history, offer further strategies for parents and players alike.

For every parent, coach and athlete looking for a more scientific understanding of growing bodies, injuries, the far-reaching benefits of sport and its impact on our psyches, coaching philosophies, and how to navigate the often-complicated interpersonal world of youth sports, Inside Youth Sports is an invaluable guide.


Author: Buel D. Rodgers,Meilani Y. Rodgers
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 03/17/2026
Pages: 248
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.57d
ISBN: 9781493091225

About the Author
Buel D. Rodgers, PhD, is an international leader in the field of muscle biology and regenerative medicine. He is also the CEO of AAVogen, a biotech company that develops gene therapeutics for muscle diseases. He started the company after 17 years in academia when four family members were diagnosed with severe muscle wasting and has devoted his career to fighting these debilitating and terminal diseases. He was a tenured Full Professor and has held faculty positions in Pediatric Endocrinology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and in Molecular Biosciences at the Washington State University where he also directed the Washington Center for Muscle Biology. He is the winner of multiple awards for research, teaching and mentoring and is a prolific author of research articles, book chapters, patents and academic white papers. He lives in Rockville, Maryland.

Meilani Y. Rodgers is an elite youth athlete and has competed at the national level in track and soccer. She is also an aspiring writer and inspiring young feminist who offers a candid and relatable perspective of experiences that typify youth, high school, and collegiate sports.