ESPN correspondent Tom Farrey to speak at Reitz Student Union

October 8, 2009

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Tom Farrey, ESPN correspondent and author of award-winning book “Game On,” will speak Oct. 16 at the University of Florida’s Reitz Student Union.

The veteran ESPN reporter and UF graduate will take attendees on a journey across today’s ever-changing youth sports landscape during his seminar lecture in Room 282. His 2 p.m. speech is sponsored by the College of Health and Human Performance.

“Farrey’s thorough research clearly demonstrates just how interconnected youth sports are with most segments of the sport industry such as college, recreational, Olympic and professional sports,” said Michael Sagas, chairman of the department of tourism, recreation and sport management.

Farrey will discuss various important issues including the appropriate age to start a child in sports, the impact of college scholarship on shaping parental behavior and what role sports and recreation are playing in America’s ongoing battle with obesity.

“Youth sport is the most important institution of all our sports, because it is where the magic begins,” Farrey said. “It is where we learn to love sports, picking up fitness habits and rooting interests that can last a lifetime. But it’s an institution at a historic crossroads, one in which performance often matters more than participation does.”

A regular correspondent with ESPN’s primetime newsmagazine E:60, Farrey has been called a “brilliant investigative reporter” by the Boston Globe, and in 2007, he was one of seven journalists selected among the “100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America” by a panel of experts brought together by the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island.

Farrey also has contributed reporting for Outside the Lines, SportsCenter, ESPN.com and in ESPN the Magazine, where he is a senior writer. Farrey received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UF in 1986.

Farrey’s lecture is part of the ongoing department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management Seminar Series.