Beyond Basketball by Mike Krzyzewski

I am a Physical Education teacher and have coached Cross Country, Track and Field, Basketball, Swimming and Soccer. Through all my experiences with a variety of sports, I have learned that what goes into being a great coach or player is very similar regardless of the sport. Succeeding in any field of life is all about motivation, hard work and keeping true to the values that we as a society determine to be acceptable.

Now that Cross Country is over for everybody and you may have some free time to read, here is my recommendation for a great book that is not about cross country or track but will be beneficial just the same. It's by Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and his daughter Jamie K. Spatola and it's called Beyond Basketball, Coach K's Keywords for Success. In it, they talk about important words in life that are important to all of us and not just in the sports world.

Among the words that are covered but not all are Adaptability, Adversity, Balance, Challenges, Commitment, Courage, Enthusiasm, Family, Integrity, Ownership, Respect, Trust and Work. They define each word and use examples from basketball and their family to further drive the point of each word.

This is a well done book that is a quick read and highly recommended by me. It's no accident that Mike Krzyzewski is one of the most successful basketball coaches ever. I will certainly be rooting for him as he leads the US basketball team in the 2008 Olympics.

Here is the Amazon link to purchase the book (far left) as well as his previous books: