A Chill Parent’s Guide to Carpools, Calendars, Coaches, Club and Corner Kicks
If you’ve ever juggled carpool schedules, searched frantically for a missing shin guard, or spent your weekends navigating the endless maze of soccer fields, Karen Scholl has written a book just for you.
In her debut, Surviving Soccer: A Chill Parent’s Guide to Carpools, Calendars, Coaches, Club and Corner Kicks, Scholl lays bare the beautiful chaos of raising kids in youth sports. While soccer is the stage, parents of baseball, basketball, softball, tennis, or swim kids will see themselves in every chapter. As Scholl shows with warmth and humor, all parents of future star athletes are in the same boat—sometimes with a paddle, sometimes not.
A Parent Who’s Lived It
With two sons in soccer, Scholl knows the territory firsthand. She’s experienced every practice, every parking lot fiasco, every last-minute schedule change, and even the heartbreak of driving three hours only to arrive just in time for a game’s cancellation. The book brims with her lived experience, making it both hilarious and reassuring for anyone currently in the thick of it.
Relatable and Laugh-Out-Loud
The ten chapters are packed with Scholl’s playful lists, quizzes, and vignettes, complemented by over 50 tongue-in-cheek charts, diagrams, and text-message recreations. Highlights include:
- So, You Think That’s Your Schedule: A Game of Chutes and Ladders
- Is Your Kid Ready for Club Soccer…or the Mob?
- Road Rules Need Not Apply: Lessons from the Sports Multiplex Parking Lot
- 21 People to Avoid at the Game
Scholl’s sense of humor shines through as she redefines “family time.” Forget the dinner table—according to her, the car is where the real bonding happens. “My car has been a confessional, a comedy club stage, and a therapy couch,” she writes. Any parent who has shared those unfiltered backseat conversations will nod—and laugh—in agreement.
Why We Need Humor
Soccer parents, especially “soccer moms,” are often the punchline of jokes. Scholl leans into the stereotype, proving that laughter is the best way to survive the long days, missed dinners, and endless laundry. But her writing also carries a gentle reminder: as exhausting as it is, you’ll miss this someday.
Final Thoughts
Part memoir, part survival guide, and all humor, Surviving Soccer is a must-read for anyone currently chauffeuring kids to practices—or for empty nesters nostalgic for the days of folding chairs and muddy fields. It’s the perfect gift for sports parents, coaches, and anyone who could use a laugh in the middle of their hectic season.
Karen Scholl is one of several new Ohio authors joining the Buckeye Book Fair on Saturday, November 1, 2025, at the Greystone Event Center in Wooster. Don’t miss your chance to meet her in person, swap stories, and share a laugh about the wild ride that is youth sports parenting.
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