Coming Out to Play

October 15, 2014

In this empowering autobiography, professional soccer player Rogers describes his experiences as the first openly gay player on a major league soccer team, the L.A. Galaxy. Midfielder Rogers was a soccer phenomenon from a young age, and his quickness repeatedly made him one of the best players on the field. However, the burden of hiding his sexual orientation led to bouts of depression, especially during his first international move to Holland to play for SC Heerenveen in 2006. Having been raised in a devout Catholic environment, Rogers agonized that his family would not accept his sexuality. Further, he was not convinced that he could be both a professional soccer player and an openly gay man. He carefully explains the nervousness he experienced before writing the blog post that would change his life forever--the one explaining his true identity--and how he never dreamt how positive the response would be. VERDICT Rogers's debut is great inspiration for people of all ages struggling with shame and grappling with identity issues with regard to sexuality or otherwise. Those who enjoy memoir and stories of people who overcome difficulty will embrace this account.--Valerie Hamra, New York, NY

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2014
In May 2013, just three months after coming out, soccer pro Rogers made history as the first openly gay man to play in a top U.S. sports league. That it even happened seems almost accidental: the deeply closeted Rogers never set out to be an activist and, in fact, at first believed that coming out would mean the end of his playing career. What strikes the reader here is Rogers' ordinarinessa gifted athlete, obviously, but otherwise a young man like so many others. And that, of course, is at the heart of most coming-out stories, as readers of all orientations recognize that they really are just like us. For reading interest, one wishes that Rogers might have been a little wilder at heart, but, as he makes clear, much of his flat or straight affect developed as a defense mechanism to hide his true self from his family and teammates, whose rejection he deeply feared. Capably told and cowritten, this is a good book, not a great one, but it's an undeniably important story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)