Girls Can Play

Robert Strauss says he doesn’t remember many of the sports games his two daughters have played over the years. But there are a few that stand out, including a basketball game in which his younger daughter Sylvia led her team in scoring.

“At the end of the game, I came and put my around arm her and congratulated her for being the high scorer,” Strauss says. “I said, ‘The only problem is, it was with one point.’ They lost 44-1 and somebody made the mistake of fouling her as she was putting up the last shot of the first half and she made one of two from the foul line.”

Strauss is a sports writer whose work has appeared in “Sports Illustrated” and “The New York Times,” so it makes sense that a strange game would be one he remembers. But that loving joke also explains the attitude about being the parent of two girl athletes. His first book, “Daddy’s Little Goalie: A Father, His Daughters & Sports” (Andrews McNeal Publishing, $19.99) is a breezy, 160-page memoir about sports and parenting, published in April. Strauss will host a book talk and signing at Labyrinth Books in Princeton on June 15.

The book gives readers a parent’s-eye-view of watching two daughters participate in the storied and competitive world of sports in Haddonfield. There are thrilling moments, like when he and his wife see their older daughter’s name on a board near the high school gym’s scoreboard listing the names of the players on the girls varsity basketball team. Upon seeing it, Mr. Strauss’ wife says to him, “You could die right now, couldn’t you?”

And there are less glamorous moments, like that 44-1 game. As any parent of a young athlete can tell you, youth sports can be tense. There’s a desire to see a child succeed on the court or field, and concern for them when they fail. And then there is the occasional screaming parent who can ruin a game for everyone.

But Strauss sees far more good than bad in kids participating in sports. One of the best things about it is that gives parents an opportunity to share something with their kids.

“If (your daughter) is on a softball team, she’s got 20 games in two months,” he says. “So you can be with her 20 times while she’s doing an activity that you can be a part of even if you’re not coaching it. And there’ll be the one game where she hits the home run that wins the game and there’s going to be the other game where she trips over second base and scrambles back and has cuts all over her and you’ll remember that too.’

A key moment for Strauss came when his older daughter was five and sat with him as he watched a 76ers game and said something sports being only for boys.

“It was that moment that made me realize that I had to be the dad of a girl,” he says. “And it was going to be a little different than being the dad of a boy.”

That moment led to him taking his daughter to a girls' high school basketball game (she was more enamored with a pretzel than the game) and eventually both of his daughters played organized sports.

“It gave me a connection to my kid that was visceral.," he says. "I always played sports and I always watched sports. In a lot of ways, the main thing was just to be together and this is a way to be together.”

Of his own athletic prowess, Strass says he was just barely able to play freshman basketball and rugby at a Division III school. But he managed to make a living writing about sports. He also teaches writing as an adjunct at the University of Pennsylvania.

He says the book came about because he constantly talked about his daughters and a friend suggested he start writing about his experiences. After 30 years of writing for newspapers and magazines, he appears to have gotten the book-writing bug.

"I laugh because I say I’ve written tens of thousands of newspaper and magazine articles, probably as many as anyone alive it seems,” he says. “But you go to a party and say you’re writer and somebody says, 'What book have you written?' For years, I’d say, ‘no’ and deflect, and now I’ve written a book.”

The difference between a book and an article was illustrated by something Michael Lewis, the author of “Moneyball” and “The Big Short” told him.

“He says what’s amazing about a book is you can bounce it,” Strauss says. “It’s in your hands, it’s there. A magazine story, it’s three pages, if you tore it out, it would flow to the floor.”

He says that after years of kidding about writing “the great American fragment,” he hopes to write more books.

“I loved writing a memoir and I love talking about it,” he says. “How bad can it be when somebody interviews you and you’re talking about your kids?” 

Strauss will host a book discussion at Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau St., Princeton, on June 15 at 6 p.m. For information, call 609-497-1600. For information about “Daddy’s Little Goalie,” go to www.andrewsmcmeel.com.