Good Summer Reading recommendation...

I am currently reading the book listed below about former Iowa wrestling coach, Dan Gable. I am always interested in what makes champions tick no matter the sport. Gable for those of you that have never heard of him won an Olympic gold medal in the '72 Olympics in freestyle wrestling. Following his dominating victory, Gable went on to coach the Iowa Hawkeyes and set coaching standards that will be hard to duplicate. His teams won the Big 10 titles in every season that he coached. They also won 16 NCAA titles (remarkable number for one coach in any sport). Whether you are a wrestling fan or not, it's a good read and highly recommended.

MUST HAVE running books for your library

If you are a true student of the sport of running, here are my picks for books that you must have in your own personal library so that you can have them at your disposal at any time.

I also included the last book I just finished reading, Pistol, an incredibly detailed look at the life of "Pistol" Pete Maravich, one of the greatest basketball players ever who's life ended much to early at the age of 40.




Of course there are other books that could be included so if you have a must read of your own, please add it in the comments section below.

Merry Xmas everybody!

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: