I mean, more power to those two girls, but the story kind of creeped me out -- the 7-hour a day training, the homeschooling, the weight lifting at 11, the obsession. I don't know, it's weird to me.

I'd do whatever it takes to let that man let his kids alone. This sort of stage parenting makes me angry. Britney anyone?

Wait until they get really really good, maybe a few more years, then sell them.

I would say tighten up girls, mama needs the cash!

Seriously, it is strange. I don't know what's worse, grooming two athletes or grooming kids as if they were desperate housewives.

Lori's link makes me more depressed, by far.

The NYT article is pretty blatant in its POV - the controlling, domineering father pushing his kids toward stardom, but I can see how this could be something of a misrepresentation. We hear a lot about the starkids who end up hopelessly messed up, but not so much about the ones who end up successful and well-adjusted. The dad is obviously a pragmatist who understands that skill and talent don't necessarily translate into success, but he also seems like someone who wants to protect the childhood of his kids (though, yeah, often in a micro-managing way) instead of feeding them to the machine.

He might be a toxic control freak, or he might be a pretty good combo of loving dad/smart business manager. I found it touching that he made such an effort to acquire a piano for the daughter who wanted to play. StarMonster Dad would be all, like, "No wasting time on things that don't make you a better golfer! Back to the links!", wouldn't he?

Impossible to say what the truth is, but I thought the slant was pretty heavy-handed, and the fact that this framing appeals to our (current) sense of outrage about how some kids (like the young Britney, natch) have been pimped out by their parents, is a little too convenient.

Soon tournament organizers were asking Robert if he’d let Ginger compete against boys “to level the playing field,” Robert said. “She told me, ‘Daddy, I can beat the boys, too.’ But I didn’t think it was right. So I never let her play against the boys.”

Ok that ticks me off. Let her play the boys. I beat an entire school of boys and went on tour beating other schools when I was in the greatest Volleyball team on earth (we were 12). Never had that much fun EVAH!

they let you win because they wanted to ask you out afterwards and they didn't want to blow their chances