Lady Tigers in the Concrete Jungle

August 26, 2019
The power of sports is amply on display in this feel-good story about a dedicated teacher’s efforts to change lives by forming a softball team. Baer (I Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends) tells the story of Chris Astacio, who overcame multiple obstacles before he became a phys ed teacher at the South Bronx’s Jordan L. Mott Middle School in 2012. Chris suffered from severe anxiety from childhood after his sister died, and he later was diagnosed with and survived stomach cancer. Realizing his dream to teach, he eagerly accepted the position at Mott, despite endemic violence inside the school itself. With little support from the administration and no real knowledge of the sport, Chris started a female softball team. His quixotic effort eventually caught on, and some of the school’s hardest cases joined, and ultimately assumed leadership roles (Rashell, the school’s “meanest, scariest girl,” eventually became captain). Baer doesn’t sugarcoat the journey, noting the tensions coaching created in Chris’s marriage as she recounts how successfully the girls developed through his dedicated tutelage (former student Heaven was accepted to several colleges, while another, Johanna, plays professionally). Readers will be riveted by this story of a heroic teacher and coach.

Starred review from September 1, 2019
Bronx native Chris Astacio was raised in a tough neighborhood where he withstood bullying and suffered panic attacks. Just as he was settling into married life and taking college classes, he received devastating news?the death of his sister and his own diagnosis of stomach cancer. He survived, completed college, and landed a job teaching physical education at Mott Middle School, named one of New York City's 12 Most Dangerous schools. With no coaching experience and zero budget, he launched a girl's softball team, the Lady Tigers. Coach Astacio recognized the dire need for these largely Hispanic girls, who were growing up in extreme poverty, surrounded by drugs and gang violence, to have a healthy (and safe) outlet into which they could channel their anger and energy. That anger is palpable on the page, and the girls' language is often shocking. But in Coach Astacio they found a father figure, a role model who was able to instill rules and order. Baer does a marvelous job of bringing to life this story of an unassuming coach who turns quitters into believers. This is an honest and raw look at living in a gang-ridden community where safe haven is found in the confines of a sports program. An empowering story of sisterhood.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)