[Norwich, Vermont] has produced 11 Olympians, all but one since 1984. Such an achievement takes on renewed interest with the Winter Olympics kicking off next week, and it’s at the center of Norwich, Karen Crouse’s splendid portrait of the town and its Olympian performance ... Ms. Crouse says that sports success is a byproduct of how Norwich 'collectively rears its children, helping them succeed without causing burnout or compromising their future happiness' ... [Crouse] is also a gifted storyteller and willing to do the legwork that is needed to collect material. To capture the mystique of Norwich, she didn’t drop in occasionally — she lived there for five months. As a result, her account is imbued with local color and detail ... But Ms. Crouse’s message applies beyond a particular town or state: Rather than micromanage their children, parents should 'act as their guides to charity, well-roundedness, curiosity, perspective, and a healthy life anchored by physical activity.'
The secrets of that kind of athletic achievement are the subject of Karen Crouse’s book Norwich: One Tiny Vermont Town’s Secret to Happiness and Excellence. Crouse, a Times sportswriter disillusioned by drug-enhanced results and joyless competitions, stumbled on Norwich in the midst of her travels with more or less the same stunned enthusiasm with which Ronald Colman, in the movie Lost Horizon, stumbles on Shangri-La ... What we don’t get to see, in Crouse’s account, is the little town nearby, where, as must be the case, everyone coöperates and yet no one is a champion ... In any case, one has the sense that what Crouse has found is not a 'secret' but a well-known effect: unusual excellence emerges within tightly structured local traditions.
New York Times journalist Karen Crouse finds the roots of Norwich’s Olympic success in a simple paradox: Its young athletes are taught that there are more important things than winning ... In Norwich: One Tiny Vermont Town’s Secret to Happiness and Excellence, Crouse describes a local parenting culture that focuses on children’s personal development rather than success ... The lessons of Norwich are inspiring and compelling, but the book also includes occasional instances of truly awful writing. Most often, Crouse’s style is competent and workmanlike. But she is enamored of clichés and sometimes remakes them in cringe-inducing ways ... Another problem: Crouse seems so besotted with the town that it makes one automatically distrust her. Can any town be so perfect? One can’t help but feel Crouse lacks perspective ... She should consider the reality that racially and economically homogeneous small towns increasingly belong to our nation’s past and not its future.
In Norwich: One Tiny Vermont Town’s Secret to Happiness and Excellence, sports journalist and onetime elite swimmer Karen Crouse charts how the town did it ... Crouse notes that though there are working class and some poorer residents, Norwich’s median income is $89,000. But why so many top athletes come out of there comes down to an attitude ... Sports are an integral part of Norwich, but they’re not practiced in the cutthroat way common in other places. As the athletes competed in the Olympics, Norwich cheered them all equally — medalists or not ... 'The Norwich way gives kids ample space to discover their passions and pursue them for their own reasons and at their own pace,' Crouse writes ... And she makes the case that if towns could win medals for doing the right thing, Norwich would take gold.
In Norwich, Crouse captures the soul of a town with a 110-year-old general store that pretty well lives up to its motto: 'If we don’t have it, you don’t need it' ... In the straightforward style of the sportswriter she is, Crouse weaves town history and sports statistics together with heartfelt conversations with the parents and coaches who support all of the community’s children, not just the best of the best ...she uncovers a much more laid-back philosophy: Let kids try a bunch of stuff, celebrate with them when they find activities they enjoy, and love them no matter the outcome ... By the time readers finish Crouse’s account, they may shift from wondering how Norwich does it to asking why everybody doesn’t do it this way.
Karen Crouse introduces us to the Norman Rockwellian town of Norwich, Vermont, and its denizens of hard work, modesty, social equity, and homespun support for its children. Lap this book like the elixir it is to the Trumpian era ignorance of community responsibility for all children, not just the landed gentry ... Crouse turns on its head the philosophy that children are driven to be winners by programmatic dictates and domineering parents, teachers, and coaches ... The Norwichian way trends against the hyper-controlled obsessed parenting of the day and encourages parents to let their children understand the toughness required in the real world. The book is rife with examples of children with learning challenges excelling in this philosophy.
With her small but timely book, Crouse has given parents of young athletes a great gift — a glimpse at another way to raise accomplished and joyous competitors.
Norwich, Vt., emerges as an enviable town out of time in New York Times sports reporter Crouse’s charming first book ...offers a loose blueprint for other communities to follow. Norwich’s agrarian culture, Crouse writes, encourages parents to provide hands-off support for their children in a variety of athletic pursuits... Crouse unpacks all this in chapters that read like individuals profiles of the town’s successful athletes... Short and sweet, this important book highlights what’s wrong with youth sports by focusing on a community that gets it right.
Norwich has the distinction of being a town in which 'one out of every 322 residents is an Olympian.' Crouse examines the story behind this remarkable record of athletic excellence, beginning with a profile of sisters Sunny and Betsy Snite ... Her book is a reminder that in an age that stresses winning at all costs, the true champions of the Olympic world are those who transition into lives as happy and productive adults ... An inspiring story of a unique town.
