Thirty Days with America's High School Coaches

Book excerpt: High school coaches shape millions of lives. These 30 short and inspiring stories show the diversity of approaches by coaches nationwide in building athletes' hearts, minds and bodies to form successful teams, strong individuals and future leaders. The coaches profiled in this book come from every corner of the nation and every socio-economic setting, highlighting how they combine imagination, a selfless commitment to their athletes and a strong internal compass. In this book, you will find true stories of coaches who lead male and female athletes in a wide variety of sports. "From these interviews and vignettes come narratives that will keep coaches going-even on days when players are ready to quit. They will quench the thirsts of professionals eager to drink from a well of peers' stories. They pack practical insights for how to build the trust and confidence that teenagers deeply crave and need," writes veteran journalist G. Jeffrey MacDonald in this book's Foreword. "Although the book is explicitly about coaching high school sports, it delivers many a transferable insight for parents, teachers, pastors and others who'd like to engage the teens in their lives more effectively. Who couldn't use more of that?" Duncan Newcomer, the Lincoln scholar who wrote the first volume in this series, Thirty Days with Abraham Lincoln, also emphasizes this book's broad and timely appeal. "There is an audience of good people doing deep work with young people, their bodies and their spirits, that is character building, virtue raising and soul-making. They will find in this book and its stories the truths they live and would want told, and they will tell others. " That's because Martin Davis so thoroughly understands the challenges high school coaches, players and their families face every day, writes University of Denver professor Brian Gearity in his Preface to this new book. "I'm a hardcore professor of sport coaching. I write a lot of long research papers with big words, which most people don't read. For over a dozen years now, I've taught college students what, why and how to coach. Now, I'll be using the stories in this book to show what sport coaching is all about. We will discuss the culture, time period, and psychology of the coaches and the storytellers in this book." Thirty Days with America's High School Coaches also comes with a complete Discussion Guide, which breaks down the book into themes and sections readers can discuss with friends, colleagues in sports, and people across the community.