Sports Coaching/Training Mall: Books, Memorabilia, Resources, Supplies, Tools, Videos

With Bleachers John Grisham departs again from the legal thriller to experiment with a character-driven tale of reunion, broken high school dreams, and missed chances. While the book falls short of the compelling storytelling that has made Grisham a bestselling author, it is nonetheless a diverting novella that succeeds as light fiction.

The story centers on the impending death of the Messina Spartans' football coach Eddie Rake. One of the most victorious coaches in high school football history, Rake is a man both loved and feared by his players and by a town that relishes his 13 state titles. The hero of the novel is Neely Crenshaw, a former Rake All-American whose NFL prospects ended abruptly after a cheap shot to the knees. Neely has returned home for the first time in years to join a nightly vigil for Rake at the Messina stadium. Having wandered through life with little focus since his college days, he struggles to reconcile his conflicted feelings towards his former coach, and he assays to rekindle love in the ex-girlfriend he abandoned long ago. For Messina and for Neely, the homecoming offers the prospect of building a life after Rake.

Physically a narrow book, Bleachers is a modest fiction in many respects. The emotional scope is akin to that of a short story, with a single-minded focus on explorations of nostalgia and regret. The dialogue, especially that of Neely's friend Paul Curry, is sometimes wooden as characters recall Messina history in paragraphs that were perhaps better left to the narrator. But Grisham has otherwise written a well-made, entertaining--if a bit sentimental--story. --Patrick O'Kelley

Author: John Grisham
Paperback: 192 pages
Company: Delta (2007-05-29) (2007-05-29)
ISBN: 0385340877
List Price: $12.00
Amazon Price: $6.50
Used Price: $5.20

Training for Speed, Agility, and Quickness: Special Book/DVD Package

Paperback: 255 pages
Company: Human Kinetics Publishers (2005-08-15)
ISBN: 0736058737
List Price: $21.95
Amazon Price: $14.11
Used Price: $13.86

Co-Active Coaching, 2nd Edition: New Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and, Life

A newly revised edition of the book that helped define the coaching profession, Co-Active Coaching captures the essence of what it takes to design and maintain successful, collaborative, and empowering coaching relationships. The authors describe in detail their flexible and adaptive model-placing the client's agenda at the heart of the coaching partnership, define the skills required for success, provide dozens of sample coaching conversations, and a power-packed Coach's Toolkit of over 35 exercises, questionnaires, checklists, and forms to make these proven principles and techniques eminently practical and immediately actionable.

Author: Laura Whitworth, Karen Kimsey-House, Henry Kimsey-House, Phillip Sandahl
Paperback: 336 pages
Company: Davies-Black Publishing (2007-02-25)
ISBN: 0891061983
List Price: $39.95
Amazon Price: $24.97
Used Price: $23.72

Your First Triathlon

Every year thousands of people decide to take on a sprint triathlon for the first time. Now USA Triathlon and USA Cycling certified coach Joe Friel provides a complete guide to finishing that first triathlon. The same principles and training methodology that the pros and committed triathletes rely on are presented here in language that a beginner can easily understand. Friel maps a course to prepare for a sprint-distance triathlon in 12 weeks, with five hours of training each week, plenty of rest, and the beginnings of a lifestyle marked by a commitment to health and fitness and personal growth. Your First Triathlon provides the training plans, workouts, checklists, and instruction that first-timers need. Joe Friel is known for his thorough approach and with his help, what may have begun as a challenge to complete a sprint triathlon will grow into a love for this demanding yet rewarding sport.

Author: Joe Friel
Paperback: 240 pages
Company: VeloPress (2006-05-12)
ISBN: 1931382859
List Price: $18.95
Amazon Price: $10.69
Used Price: $10.50

Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life

Tony Dungy's words and example have intrigued millions of people, particularly following his victory in Super Bowl XLI, the first for an African American coach. How is it possible for a coach--especially a football coach--to win the respect of his players and lead them to the Super Bowl without the screaming histrionics, the profanities, the demand that the sport come before anything else? How is it possible for anyone to be successful without compromising faith and family? In this inspiring and reflective memoir, Coach Dungy tells the story of a life lived for God and family--and challenges us all to redefine our ideas of what it means to succeed. Includes a foreword by Denzel Washington and a 16-page color photo insert.

Author: Tony Dungy, Nathan Whitaker
Hardcover: 301 pages
Company: Tyndale (2007-07-10) (2007-07-10)
ISBN: 1414318014
List Price: $26.99
Amazon Price: $11.25
Used Price: $8.55

Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood

Joe Ehrmann, a former NFL football star and volunteer coach for the Gilman high school football team, teaches his players the keys to successful defense: penetrate, pursue, punish, love. Love? A former captain of the Baltimore Colts and now an ordained minister, Ehrmann is serious about the game of football but even more serious about the purpose of life. Season of Life is his inspirational story as told by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jeffrey Marx, who was a ballboy for the Colts when he first met Ehrmann.

Ehrmann now devotes his life to teaching young men a whole new meaning of masculinity. He teaches the boys at Gilman the precepts of his Building Men for Others program: Being a man means emphasizing relationships and having a cause bigger than yourself. It means accepting responsibility and leading courageously. It means that empathy, integrity, and living a life of service to others are more important than points on a scoreboard.

Decades after he first met Ehrmann, Jeffrey Marx renewed their friendship and watched his childhood hero putting his principles into action. While chronicling a season with the Gilman Greyhounds, Marx witnessed the most extraordinary sports program he'd ever seen, where players say "I love you" to each other and coaches profess their love for their players. Off the field Marx sat with Ehrmann and absorbed life lessons that led him to reexamine his own unresolved relationship with his father.

Season of Life is a book about what it means to be a man of substance and impact. It is a moving story that will resonate with athletes, coaches, parents -- anyone struggling to make the right choices in life.

Author: Jeffrey Marx
Hardcover: 192 pages
Company: Simon & Schuster (2004-08-24)
ISBN: 0743269748
List Price: $19.95
Amazon Price: $6.23
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Wooden

Coach Wooden's remarkable 10 national basketball championships in 12 years at UCLA speak for themselves. In Wooden, the coach--quiet, thoughtful, and introspective throughout his distinguished career--finally speaks forhimself, and he's well worth hearing. Wooden is a modern chapbook of inspiration and good sense that reveals the hard-court philosopher behind it as a man of character, conviction, decency, and straightforwardness. There are no complex ideas, just little beams of light filtered through anecdotes that project the kinds of simple, immutable truths that in the end touch nothing but net.

Author: John Wooden
Hardcover: 201 pages
Company: McGraw-Hill (1997-04-01)
ISBN: 0809230410
List Price: $18.95
Amazon Price: $7.98
Used Price: $2.49

Science of Hitting

As a boy, all Ted Williams wanted was to be the best hitter there ever was. Through his storied tenure with the Red Sox, he pretty much got his wish. He not only hit, he knew how to hit; there was no keener, more devoted, more articulate student of the art. The Science of Hitting is his comprehensive book of wisdom and anecdote, a baseball bible that offers clear, concise, well-illustrated, fundamental information on how to hit a baseball and, just as important, how to think about hitting a baseball. Williams's first commandment is "Get a good pitch to hit," and, in one of baseball's most dramatic teaching tools--a photograph that divides his strike zone into 77 baseballs, seven wide by 11 high--Williams projects what he would hit at each pitch location, from .230 on the low-outside strike to .400 in what he called his "happy zone," the heart of the plate belt high. In 1941, that happy zone was obviously ecstatic; Williams hit .406 that year, the last to break the magic .400 barrier.

Author: Ted Williams, John Underwood
Paperback: 96 pages
Company: Fireside (1986-04-29)
ISBN: 0671621033
List Price: $16.00
Amazon Price: $8.97
Used Price: $5.40

Runner's World Run Less, Run Faster: Become a Faster, Stronger Runner with the Revolutionary FIRST Training Program (Runners World)

Finally, runners at all levels can improve their race times while training less, with the revolutionary Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) program.

Hailed by the Wall Street Journal and featured twice in six months in cover stories in Runner’s World magazine, FIRST’s unique training philosophy makes running easier and more accessible, limits overtraining and burnout, and substantially cuts the risk of injury, while producing faster race times.

The key feature is the "3 plus 2" program, which each week consists of:

-3 quality runs, including track repeats, the tempo run, and the long run, which are designed to work together to improve endurance, lactate-threshold running pace, and leg speed

-2 aerobic cross-training workouts, such as swimming, rowing, or pedaling a stationary bike, which are designed to improve endurance while helping to avoid burnout

With detailed training plans for 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon, plus tips for goal-setting, rest, recovery, injury rehab and prevention, strength training, and nutrition, this program will change the way runners think about and train for competitive races.

Amby Burfoot, Runner’s World executive editor and Boston Marathon winner, calls the FIRST training program "the most detailed, well-organized, and scientific training program for runners that I have ever seen."

Author: Bill Pierce, Scott Murr, Ray Moss
Paperback: 272 pages
Company: Rodale Books (2007-05-15) (2007-05-15)
ISBN: 159486649X
List Price: $16.95
Amazon Price: $7.49
Used Price: $7.38

The Triathlete's Training Bible (2nd Edition)

This new edition of The Triathlete's Training Bible covers all of the specialized training needs of triathletes, including completely updated nutrition, recovery, and weight training information. The book also contains seasoned advice on the mental aspects of training. Author Joe Friel shows how to achieve greater fitness by examining personal strengths and weaknesses, and devotes individual chapters to planning, racing, rest, and recovery. Appendices include annual training plan worksheets and suggested swim, bike, run, and combined workouts.

Author: Joe Friel
Paperback: 368 pages
Company: VeloPress (2004-02-09)
ISBN: 1931382425
List Price: $22.95
Amazon Price: $13.36
Used Price: $11.98

Coaching Youth Basketball: The Guide for Coaches & Parents

The Guide for a Fun and Successful Basketball Season!

Do you need some guidance before you start coaching this basketball season? Coaching Youth Basketball, 3rd edition gives you everything you need to make this season a success. It covers all of basketball's fundamentals and gives coaching tips for every aspect of the game including:

Â· dribbling and passing skills
Â· proper shooting technique for all types of shots
Â· offensive concepts and plays for beginner and intermediate players
Â· defensive tactics for getting the ball back
Â· the responsibilities of centers, forwards, and guards
Â· how to work together as a team

You'll also find template practice plans you can adjust for your own use, step-by-step drills and plays, conditioning ideas, first aid information, and an explanation of the game's rules. Plus, a glossary and skills checklists at the end of the book help you learn and teach the language and skills of basketball quickly and effectively.

Author: Jr., John Mccarthy
Paperback: 208 pages
Company: Betterway Books (2006-09-12)
ISBN: 1558707905
List Price: $14.99
Amazon Price: $2.16
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Basketball Skills & Drills

Great basketball players like Tim Duncan and Dwyane Wade draw oohs and aahs with their spectacular moves. But before those players developed their superstar flair, they built a solid base of fundamental skills in all phases of the game.

Basketball Skills & Drills provides a perfect blueprint for building the foundation that every well-rounded player needs. This special book and DVD package demonstrates each key skill:

Player positioning
Moving without the ball
Ballhandling combined with passing bullet
Shooting
Passing, catching, and dribbling
Perimeter moves
Post moves
Defense
Rebounding

The skills and 90 drills, coaching tips, and DVD reinforce the skill instruction, emphasize key points, and explain how to correct common errors. And since individual skills are effective only when used within the team concept, the book also covers key team principles for both ends of the court. Tactics for offense, including special situations such as out-of-bounds plays, will improve spacing, ball and player movement, shot selection, and scoring. Defensive tactics emphasize positioning, pressure, and various systems to apply in each area or level of the court.

To be an all-star, you must be fundamentally sound. Basketball Skills & Drills is your guide to becoming a complete player--one who can change the game with great moves and smart play.

Author: Jerry Krause, Don Meyer, Jerry Meyer
Paperback: 254 pages
Company: Human Kinetics Publishers (2007-09-10)
ISBN: 0736067078
List Price: $24.95
Amazon Price: $14.46
Used Price: $14.45

The Assist: Hoops, Hope, and the Game of Their Lives

Jack O'Brien, the impossibly demanding basketball coach at Charlestown High School in Boston, has led his team to five state championship titles in six years. Less talked about is O'Brien's other winning record: Nearly every one of the players who stuck with his program—poor kids growing up in high-crime neighborhoods and saddled with the lousy educational system available in urban America—managed to get to college. But O'Brien is no saint. Saints give without expecting anything in return. O'Brien needs his players and their problems as much as they need him.

Revolving around fascinating, complex characters, The Assist is a captivating narrative of a basketball team in pursuit of a championship that also drills down into the legacy of desegregation and explores issues of education, family, and race. O'Brien is a middle-aged white guy coaching an all-black team playing in an all-white neighborhood that three decades ago was at the center of the busing wars dividing cities across the country—a time and place indelibly described in J. Anthony Lukas's powerful book Common Ground. It's the inspiring story of a man who makes a difference, and of boys surmounting nearly impossible odds; it is also the story of the ones who don't make it, and why.

Author: Neil Swidey
Hardcover: 376 pages
Company: PublicAffairs (2008-01-07)
ISBN: 1586484699
List Price: $26.00
Amazon Price: $5.72
Used Price: $5.50

Coaching Basketball Successfully (Coaching Successfully Series)

He amassed the most successful high school coaching record (1,274-192) ever during his 46-year career at DeMatha High School. Now, in Coaching Basketball Successfully, Morgan Wootten shares the wealth of knowledge that produced a .869 winning percentage, 5 national championships, a National Basketball Hall of Fame induction, and hundreds of high-achieving student-athletes.

Loaded with insights, instructions, and drills, the book contains a wealth of relevant stories, teaching points, and Xs and Os to cover every situation. Coaching Basketball Successfully is your guide to managing a program, team, and players on and off the court every season.

Author: Morgan Wootten
Paperback: 240 pages
Company: Human Kinetics Publishers (2003-08)
ISBN: 0736047905
List Price: $19.95
Amazon Price: $10.34
Used Price: $8.98

Let Me Tell You a Story: A Lifetime in the Game

Americas favorite sportswriter and the legendary Boston Celtics coach join forces to produce one of the most richly entertaining books ever written about the game of basketball. The hardcover edition appeared on the extended New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks and has sold more than 100,000 copies to date. Auerbach colorfully recalls all the players and coaches he worked with and played against: Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Bob Cousy, Wilt Chamberlain, Sam Jones, and Michael Jordanyou name them, the basketball greats are here. John Feinstein has written two of the bestselling sports books of all time, A Season on the Brink and A Good Walk Spoiled, and his books have been a fixture on bestseller lists for the past two decades.

Author: John Feinstein, Red Auerbach
Paperback: 368 pages
Company: Back Bay Books (2005-10-18)
ISBN: 0316010723
List Price: $14.95
Amazon Price: $0.99
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Youth Basketball Drills

Spectacular plays may make the highlight reels, but winning results from consistent execution of sound fundamentals. Youth Basketball Drills contains all the drills you need to develop the essential skills. Authors Burrall and Patrick Paye have outlined drills and variations that cover the entire scope of the game in both offense and defense. The book shows you how, when, and why to use each drill.

The progression of drills will help you develop your team from beginners to the advanced level, skill by skill. The essentials of basketball offense and defense are addressed, including drills for

• balance and agility,
• ballhandling,
• passing,
• cutting,
• screening,
• rebounding,
• shooting,
• defensive stance and footwork,
• individual moves, and
• team defense.

When you're coaching young players, it's important to start out right. Youth Basketball Drills gives you the know-how and practice tools to teach young players the fundamentals they need to excel.

Author: Burrall Paye, Patrick Paye
Paperback: 272 pages
Company: Human Kinetics Publishers (2000-12)
ISBN: 0736033653
List Price: $17.95
Amazon Price: $4.99
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The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul

For the countless basketball fans who were spellbound by the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2003– 2004 high-wire act, this book is a rare and phenomenal treat. In The Last Season, Lakers coach Phil Jackson draws on his trademark honesty and insight to tell the whole story of the season that proved to be the final ride of a truly great dynasty. From the signing of future Hall-of-Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton to the Kobe Bryant rape case/media circus, this is a riveting tale of clashing egos, public feuds, contract disputes, and team meltdowns that only a coach, and a writer, of Jackson’s candor, experience, and ability could tell. Full of tremendous human drama and offering lessons on coaching and on life, this is a book that no sports fan can possibly pass up.

Author: Phil Jackson, Michael Arkush
Paperback: 304 pages
Company: Penguin (Non-Classics) (2005-10-04)
ISBN: 0143035878
List Price: $15.00
Amazon Price: $0.26
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Stuff Good Players Should Know: Intelligent Basketball from A to Z

STUFF Good Players Should Know may very well be the best book ever written for basketball players and fans. It is conversational and easy to understand, yet filled with subtle insights into the game of basketball. STUFF is page after page of creative concepts, common sense, and special tips that can not be found anywhere else.

Author: Dick DeVenzio
Hardcover: 293 pages
Company: Bridgeway Books (2006-10)
ISBN: 1933538511
List Price: $29.95
Amazon Price: $19.77
Used Price: $28.11

Runnin' the Show: Basketball Leadership for Coaches and Players

Runnin' the Show spells out what it takes to be a real leader on a basketball court. Insightful and unusual, this book covers many original ideas and creative concepts that lead to winning basketball. Not a typical basketball book, Runnin' the Show is an indispensable guide for coaches and players trying to lift their basketball to a higher level.

Author: Dick DeVenzio
Paperback: 139 pages
Company: Bridgeway Books (2006-10)
ISBN: 1933538538
List Price: $16.95
Amazon Price: $10.15
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The Complete Guide to Girls' Basketball

This book gives detailed coverage of the fundamentals of basketball - how to play the post-offensive strategies; man-to-man and zone defenses; full, three-quarters, and half-court presses; and out-of-bounds plays. It also includes more than 200 drills, sample practice plans, coaching strategies, tips on communicating with players and parents, excerpts from official basketball rules, and more. This book includes funny and interesting quotations from sports legends and others that serve as reminders to enjoy the game. This is an indispensable book for any coach or family member seeking to help a young woman succeed on her team.

Author: Michael D. Mullaney
Paperback: 396 pages
Company: Mullaney (2005-01-01)
ISBN: 0976100509
List Price: $24.95
Amazon Price: $13.00
Used Price: $12.95