Youth Basketball

This is a collection of short but extraordinarily powerful essays as to how Coach K of Duke inspires, motivates, and teaches his basketball players about the game of life, both on and off the court...

At basketball-crazy Durfee High School in Fall River, Massachusetts, junior guard Chris Herren carried his family’s and the city’s dreams on his skinny frame. His grandfather, father, and older brother had created their own sports legends in a declining city; he was the last, best hope for a career beyond the shuttered mills and factories. Herren was heavily recruited by major universities, chosen as a McDonald’s All-American, featured in a Sports Illustrated cover story, and at just seventeen years old became the central figure in Fall River Dreams, an acclaimed book about the 1994 Durfee team’s quest for the state championship.

The legendary sports journalist writes about the team that changed his life: the Morton High School Lady Potters basketball team. Dave Kindred has covered dozens of Super Bowls and written about stars like Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan. But a high-school girls basketball...

Welcome to Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, in a working-class corner of the Bronx, where a driven coach inspires his teams to win games and championships--and learn Russian history and graduate and go on to college. In 2006, the Fannie Lou Hamer Panthers basketball team was 0-18. Since...