Book spotlights impact of prep football

Some educators and observers question the value of athletics at the secondary school level. They cite corrupt and abusive coaches, the negative impact of obsessive parents and the tendency toward placing more emphasis on athletic accomplishment than academic achievement as principal reasons for de-emphasizing, if not eliminating, such sports as football and basketball.

But Bill Lightle, a Georgia high school teacher, current coach and former high school player, strongly disagrees with these contentions, and his written a book defending high school football and its importance. Made or Broken: Football & Survival in the Georgia Woods (Phenix & Phenix) is the ideal book for those fans ready for the start of high school football in Tennessee and many other states. It offers a memoir of Lightle