The Instruction Manual will guide your family through its initial recreational sign-up, the transition to competitive club play, a realistic view to the commitment and costs of playing on select travel tournament teams, through the collegiate recruiting process and your chance to play NCAA Sports.
ORLANDO, FL, June 17, 2026 — Parker Publishers today announced a formal publishing partnership with Steven L. Davis, a lifelong athlete, coach, and youth sports mentor from Fort Collins, Colorado, to bring his Instruction Manual, Helping Parents and Players Navigate Youth Sports, to families across the United States.
The announcement marks a publishing acquisition based on decades of youth sports experience rather than academic theory or data modeling.
The partnership comes at a pivotal moment for youth sports in America.
Federal legislators including Senators Booker, Murphy, and Representative Deluzio have introduced legislation targeting investors in youth sports, while Peyton Manning and Stephen Curry’s “Take Back Sports” initiative, backed by ESPN and Disney, has brought the conversation about youth athletics into the national mainstream. Davis’s manual speaks directly to the families and issues at the center of that conversation.
About the Instruction Manual
Helping Parents and Players Navigate Youth Sports is not a motivational book.
It is exactly what the title says it is: an Instruction Manual.
Designed for long-term family use, the manual guides parents, players, and grandparents through every stage of the American youth sports journey, from entry-level U5 recreational soccer to the realities of collegiate recruiting and professional opportunity assessment.
Organized by competitive level, the Instruction Manual covers:
- How to research and select the right youth sports programs at the recreational and competitive club level
- The real financial commitment families face, including cost breakdowns that can total $10,000 or more per child, per year at the competitive club and travel team levels
- Managing expectations, emotions, and frustration at every level of competition, for parents as much as players
- Navigating competitive club tryouts, playing time politics, and coaching quality with practical, tested strategies
- Middle school and high school sports transitions, including how to handle rejection, favoritism, and program politics with character and composure
- A detailed collegiate recruiting roadmap, including when to start, how to market your student-athlete, and how to evaluate Division I, II, and NJCAA programs objectively
- Life after youth sports, and how families recalibrate when the schedules stop
- First-person perspectives from players at every competitive level, single parents, dual-career sports families, and grandparents, all of whom share what working and thriving within youth sports actually looks like day to day
The Instruction Manual is written to address practical aspects of youth sports participation. Davis addresses topics including the challenges that exist in club programs, the pressure placed on kids who are not suited for competitive sports, the financial burden families absorb, the emotional demands placed on parents and players, and the benefits of participating in youth sports at every age level.
About the Author
Steven L. Davis grew up in a small Midwest town outside St. Louis, Missouri, where sports were not an extracurricular activity; they were a way of life. He competed in basketball, baseball, football, track, and cross country at the recreational, competitive club, travel select, middle school, high school, and collegiate levels.
His athletic career reached its highest point on the eve of signing a Major League Baseball contract as a pitcher, a moment cut short by injury. Rather than stepping away from the game, Davis channeled that experience into coaching, mentoring, and advocacy for youth athletes and their families.
As the father of three children, two sons and a daughter, all of whom competed at high levels, and now an actively engaged grandfather to five grandchildren currently in youth sports, Davis writes from extensive personal experience. He has lived every stage of the journey he describes: as an athlete, as a parent, as a coach, and as a grandparent standing on sidelines across the country.
His daughter, a former Division I collegiate soccer player, now coaches youth sports and attends as many as six to eight games per week, coaching and supporting her three boys who participate in basketball, football, soccer, track, and wrestling. She continues to play in an adult soccer league on weekends.
“The challenges, emotions, and frustrations that are experienced by parents, players, and families today are what drove me to write this manual,” said Davis. “I want to share what I know with every family that has a child participating in youth sports. This is based on personal experience, not theory, AI-generated content, or recycled advice. It is what I have lived, coached, and witnessed firsthand.”
Why Parker Publishers Chose to Partner with Steven L. Davis
Parker Publishers has built its reputation on identifying Authors who write from conviction and experience.
“What drew us to Steven and this project is its practical focus,” said Sarah Edwards, Publisher at Parker Publishers. “There are thousands of books about youth sports. We believe there is a need for resources that help families understand what they are getting into and how to navigate the process. Steven addresses those issues through his own experience and perspective.”
Parker Publishers seeks authors who bring relevant lived experience to underserved audiences.
The 60 million children who register for youth sports annually in the United States represent families who are spending an estimated $20 billion per year on programs, gear, travel, and training, often without a clear framework for making informed decisions, managing expectations, or protecting their children’s love of the game.
Helping Parents and Players Navigate Youth Sports addresses those issues directly.
“We don’t publish books that could have been written by anyone,” Edwards added. “We publish books that could only have been written by one person. This is one of those books.”
Publication Details
Helping Parents and Players Navigate Youth Sports by Steven L. Davis is now in active production with Parker Publishers. The manual will be published in 8.5″ x 11″ portrait paperback format, with a durable cover designed for long-term family use. A premium spiralbound heavy gauge wire edition is planned as a future format once initial distribution is established.
A formal release date and distribution details will be announced shortly.
Media Inquiries
Members of the media interested in interviewing Steven L. Davis or Parker Publishers representatives, or requesting advance review copies, should contact:
Sarah Edwards
Parker Publishers
7345 W Sand Lake Rd, STE 210, Office 3266
Orlando, Florida 32819
