Book Review : The Point After

The Point After - Book Review 

Author: Sean Conley

Reviewed by: Ross Crawford

Since the turn of the century, sports fans have become increasingly fascinated by the concept of behind-the-scenes content on their favourite teams and players.

It’s for this reason releasing an autobiography is a popular option for ex-athletes in retirement or even while still competing. A peek behind the curtain gives fans greater insight into the world of a professional athlete. A lifestyle many of us are unable to achieve and strive to understand what it would be like to live through the often glamorised career of a professional athlete. 

The Point After explores the realities of such a life in the most popular sports league in North America, the National Football League (NFL). Ex NFL kicker Sean Conley seemed to live a life the majority of us can only dream of.

From the outside, most NFL fans will have been jealous of the kicker during his college career with the University of Pittsburgh, and his pro career with the Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets.

Being an NFL Kicker is not an easy job

However, in his book, Conley details the difficulties of being an athlete in the league. The all-in nature of the sport leads to several nagging injuries that end his football career prematurely. The competitive nature of the league gives the NFL its audience, but Conley describes battling through injuries in brutal training camps and the insecurities that come with fighting for one of all only 28 kicker jobs at the time he was in the league.

Conley’s story of loading up on painkillers to work out for pro scouts whilst still in college is an insight into the desperation prospects feel just to get noticed and have a chance of catching on with a team at the pro level. Despite the harm always pushing through pain does to his body, Conley tells us it simply had to be done to make it. 

Conley explains how to make it in the NFL, you have to be 100% football. He describes how empty he felt when his name was not selected in the NFL draft when it came time to leave college. He was signed by the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent soon after, but the initial emptiness of feeling your career is over before it starts is something thousands of college athletes experience annually. The emotional letdown and cutthroat nature of the pro-business is a lot for athletes fresh out of college to come to terms with.

Author Sean Conley with his parents

Taking the High’s with the Low’s

Throughout the book, Conley leaves nothing spared. Taking us through his greatest moments and devastating lows. Giving us a greater understanding of life in the league but also unlimited access to the mind of Conley during some of his most personal memories. There is a genuine high stakes nature to the story for the reader as we root for Conley throughout his constant injury struggles. We want to scream at the stream of coaches in the kicker’s career who don’t seem to care for their player’s health or understand that a simple day off would do wonders for Conley’s injuries and perhaps the team’s success.

However, it’s the lessons Conley learns post-NFL career that give this story a heartwarming end for the reader. But an ending that makes us think about the big picture. After hanging up his cleats, Conley struggles to adapt to “life in the real world,” and explains how the support from his family and his own self-reflection made him realise there is more to life than the NFL.

He sacrificed his body for the sport he loved and gave everything to make it in the league. The initial deflation Conley feels is something we as the reader wonder if many athletes ever recover from as they come to terms with retirement from pro-football.

The Point After - In Conclusion

The Point After makes for an invaluable no-holds-barred insight into the life of an NFL kicker from the beginning, middle to end. The majority all-football portion of the book offers a grounding perspective on the harsh reality that is pro-football. Making Conley’s story a must-read for NFL fans striving for a glimpse into the life of a pro-athlete in the sport.

Perhaps more importantly, the latter stages of the book offer an even more humanising perspective of life after football and the difficulties of finding your way as an ex-athlete.

Buy the book here!