de Lench, Brooke C.

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de Lench, Brooke C.

PERSONAL:

Children: three sons (triplets).

ADDRESSES:

Home—Concord, MA. E-mail—delench@momsteam.com.

CAREER:

Lecturer, writer. MomsTeam.com (online publication), founder and editor-in-chief, 2000—. Founder of Team of Angels (charitable organization). Lecturer and guest on radio and television programs. Formerly worked in advertising and marketing. Member of board of directors, Teams of Angels. Member of board of advisors, Institute for Preventive Sports Medicine and Matthew Colby Head Injury Foundation. Guest on numerous TV programs.

AWARDS, HONORS:

International Institute of Sports Ethics fellowship, 2002.

WRITINGS:

Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports, Collins (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Brooke C. de Lench has extensively researched and lectured on the life of parents whose children are involved in organized sports. As a former ranked squash player, a mother of triplet sons who were involved in sports, and a former youth sports coach, she has a great deal of personal experience in the field, as well. Her interest in youth sports and the parents involved with it led her to create MomsTeam.com, a Web site dedicated to providing useful and encouraging information for parents of young sports participants, on issues ranging from health and safety to nutrition and psychology.

De Lench advocates parental involvement in youth sports and sets some guidelines for how parents can be involved most constructively in her book Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports. She suggests ways in which parents can extend the parenting skills of the home to the playing field. Individual chapters are devoted to special coaching considerations for girls, playing safely, encouraging good nutrition, and dealing with cases of abuse. Mary Frances Wilkens, a reviewer for Booklist, called de Lench's book "thoughtful" and "valuable." It was also critiqued by Christina Wantz Fixemer, a writer for Wantz upon a Time Book Reviews, who described Home Team Advantage as a "wonderful resource" that "should be required reading for coaches and staff."