Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I started this book with an expectation that it would be a long magazine article, turned into a book. Instead, I found a richly detailed story about basketball, expectations, and real people in the world of sports.
The story is about more than a star recruit and a coach... this book is about the system of development, where athletes are given small perqs, and coaches collaborate in a system that rewards up and coming, young, very young players. Each step is logical, from shoe contracts to help with homework, from summer camps to being named a starter at a young age.
This book shows what is missing, which is the perspective. Being a good junior player is like being given a lottery ticket. Yet we communicate to these young people that they have nearly won the lottery, that they are special, that they have a chance at the brass ring. Each person -- the parent, the coach, the player, the school administrators -- give their tiny message of unwarranted optimism, of perspective-less encouragement, on a path that is quite unlikely to lead to riches and millions.
The writing is very good, the research is deep and layered, the stories told from many perspectives. At times, reading this book, you want to take the young players aside and give them a more accurate world view -- this book helps you understand that this is what is lacking, entirely, among the well-meaning coaches, high schools, players, camps, shoe companies, and the basketball-industrial complex.
Every coach and every player should read this book to understand the world of basketball within which they live.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Play Their Hearts Out: A Coach, His Star Recruit, and the Youth Basketball Machine
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