Thank you to the publisher, Pan MacMillan, for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Title: Eat Sweat Play
Series: N/A, Stand-alone
Author: Anna Kessel
Publisher: Pan MacMillan
Publication Date: 16th June 2016
Pages: 257
My Rating: 4.5 stars
You're probably thinking, Connie, why are you reading a book about sport? The girl who defiantly stood against PE teachers for 7 years, the girl who played many games of hockey in their school uniform as a punishment for "forgetting their kit," the girl who hated having classes on the top floor sciences rooms because it meant walking up 4 flights of stairs from the sixth form centre?
I know, crazy right. But what might shock you more is the fact I actually enjoy sports, I'm just not very good at them. I've probably played at least every sport at least once in an attempt to excel at it, few were successful, and this book called to me as a lot of the times playing sports, I was the only girl. When I did Judo, I was the only girl for many years until a few more joined just as I was leaving, when I played football on Wednesdays after primary school, I was the only girl. So when I got emailed about reading this book, I was immediately interested.
Anna Kessel is a sports writer for the Guardian and the Observer and is the chair/so-founder of Women in Football, which is where I'd heard of her name before. In this book she talks freely about the taboos of women in sport including Periods and Pregnancy and how women shouldn't be treated any different than men due to our physicality and how we should take control of the opportunities that sport provides.
I thought that this book was incredibly well written. Kessel uses humour to keep the reader interests as she discusses many different issues and positives about the sports world. One of my favourite chapters in the book was about how having a background in sport can make you more confident and successful in the workplace. She didn't put women down in anyway, she actually lifted them up in every instance she could, and that's something that I'm always behind. I loved how she spoke about children, and how they need to be encouraged to participate in whatever they please (at least sports related) and how their gender shouldn't be a hinderance.
We need to teach them [kids] that their bodies are their own, not merely vessels for saucy snapchat pics, but useful, strong, powerful aids to being a successful woman in the modern world.
Another part of this book that I truly loved from the onset was that this book wasn't written by somebody who had played sport their entire lives, in fact, Anna even opens the book stating, "I don't play sport, I bunked PE my whole school life, and if a ball comes anywhere near my face I blink." That instantly sets a warm and humorous tone and you don't feel excluded if you aren't particularly sporty, there is also no terminology that you can't understand and there's no focus on one specific sport, it doesn't exclude anyone or anything.
Just another note on why I enjoyed this book so much: so much Serena William love! How somebody can't support that, I don't know.
QOTD: Do you play any sports? If so, which ones?
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