This book was given to me while I was in Sloan Kettering in January, by Steve Valerio and his wife Jennifer. For a couple of years while I was coaching the North Jersey Rugby Club, Steve was the president of the club. He wrote a really lovely sentiment in the front of the book, for which I am greatly appreciative.
Coach is not the type of book I’d buy for myself, but it was pretty good! I really enjoyed it. There are 25 reminiscences by a variety of people – mostly professional writers and authors – about coaches who deeply influenced them. Of course some of the essays were pretty average – to be expected when there are 25 of them – but some of them were really quite brilliant.
My favorite was by Jane Leavy (never heard of her before reading this book) entitled "Coaching Bob" and it’s different from the rest of the essays. In it she describes coaching Bob – a man suffering from AIDS – on how to live his life and face his impending death.
The last three essays were by well-knwn sports writers and commentators Bob Wolff, Ira Berkow, and Bud Collins. All very good.
The fellow who gave me the book, Steve Valerio, is a your typical great guy rugby player. When I started coaching North Jersey, Steve, who was called "Flash" because of his (lack of) speed, was playing wing, the speed position on the rugby field. After a while, having discerned his (lack of) speed, we moved him to wing forward, where he never let us down.
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