The Basketball Coach's Bible claims to be essential reading for basketball coaches, whether they're coaching your daughter's fourth-grade team or a Division I college team. Endorsements are included from both youth coaches and well-known professional and college coaches such as Phil Jackson and Jim Calhoun. Can any book really cover a topic that broadly and do a good job? The resounding answer in this case is yes. Mr. Goldstein starts from the premise that if you learn the fundamentals well, the rest of the game comes along naturally. The first seven short chapters of the book lay out his philosophy of the game and coaching, providing a blueprint to follow.

The remainder of the book has two parts, multipart lessons that focus on individual skills such as dribbling and passing, and another series of lessons on team offense and defense. Each lesson begins with a simple concept and then adds more complex features as your players' skills progress. Charts accompany each lesson and detail the prerequisite skills, time needed, and effort that is required.

This book is one of those rare breeds that live up to its hype. One drawback is that younger players may not have enough practice time to complete all of the drills you would like, but those you do choose will be winners. --Rob Frankland ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Good Stuff!
The book has a tremendous amount of positive basketball knowledge. Many coaches get away from fundamentals and this book goes into detail on the benefits of breaking everything down to the bear essentials. A great compliment to this book is the video "48 Championship Basketball Drills" which has some outstanding creative shooting drills. Sid Goldstein should be hailed as "El Sid" on a good effort and worthy teaching tool.

One of the best of its' kind
As a coach of a 5th and 6th grade boys basketball team I found this book a tremendous teaching tool this season. Most of the children I coach have had little or no formal teaching in basketball previous to me. This books true value comes from being geared towards all skill levels. A coach at my level, straight through coaches of High school varsity teams, can find drills to introduce to their players.

Every year I've bought a new book on drills because I've never been completly happy with the previous years' purchase. I'm happy to say that next year, and for many more to come, I won't have to buy another.

OK on fundamentals; no-go on drills
I'm always looking for books that will help me with the teaching aspect of coaching (which also happens to be the most important). The author has the right idea of focusing on breaking things down to the fundamentals, but does only a so-so job of explaining them. The coverage is inconsistent; sometimes explanations are very clear, other times you're left to fill in blanks. The same is true of information provided on why certain fundamentals are important and why the methodology offered is the correct approach.

The author does do a good job of explaining the order in which skills should be taught, and offers good insight into common misconceptions.

Drills is where this book really fails to deliver. Every coach is always looking for drills that are effective, straight-forwarded, and keep the players interested enough to actually learn something. The author does offer some useful drills, but the a large number focus on one minute skill and propose approaches about as exciting as watching grass grow. Could you really keep a team of 10 year olds interested in 10 minutes of proper wrist movement?

If you have some experience coaching, you can probably use this book to pull together aspects of different drills to create effective and fun drills for your players. But if you're new to coaching, don't let this be your "Bible" on how to run practices.

A final note, the illustrations and diagrams are very low quality. The stick-figure cartoons make the book look amateurish and provide no value. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Basketball   2. Coaching   3. Handbooks, manuals, etc   4. Sports & Recreation   5. Basketball - General   

Customer Reviews (2)

Finally, A book with some legitimate training information!
Matt Brzycki and Shaun Brown provide in-depth training information that cover principles of strength training, to conditioning parameters, to nutrition. Coaches and athletes alike will benfit from straightforward explanations from two of today's fitness experts. Check out their Q&A section; common questions that most beginners can't find answers to in other publications are covered in a clear-cut fashion. This book is a must read for coaches and athletes who want to taker their training to the next level, or are just starting out.

A comprehensive plan for basketball players at all levels!
Matt Brzycki (Princton U.) and Shaun Brown (Boston Celtics) did an outstanding job of putting together a comprehensive strength and conditioning plan for basketball players at all levels. Our players are challenged, physically and mentally, each and every time they enter the weight room or step on the court by utilizing the same principles outlined in this book. I highly recommend this great resource to all players and coaches wanting to learn more about serious training. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Basketball   2. Training   3. Weight training   4. Physical education and trainin   5. Athletic Training And Conditioning   6. Sports & Recreation   7. Basketball - General   

Subjects:  1. Basketball - General   2. Sports   3. Reference   4. Quotations   5. Sports & Recreation   6. Football - General   

Subjects:  1. Sports   2. Sports & Recreation   3. Basketball - General   

Subjects:  1. Brown, Dale,   2. 1936-   3. Basketball coaches   4. United States   5. Biography   6. Basketball   7. Collegiate Athletic Programs   8. Sports & Recreation   9. Basketball - College   

Customer Reviews (1)

Every coach needs to read this book!!
This book is essential for every coach in any sport. Bruce Brown does an excellent job of hitting on the issues of what coaches need to think about, but so often get missed in the whole scheme of things. Coaching is so much more than just knowing the particular x's and o's, and reading this book helps the present or future coach realize that. I would recommend Teaching Character Through Sport to any coach of any sport!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Sports   2. Sports & Recreation   3. Basketball - General   4. Football - General   

Customer Reviews (1)

The life of Sheryl Swoopes
This is a good book if you are considering doing a report about Sheryl Swoopes. She always wanted to be a cheerleader, but her family didn't have the money. She learned to play basketball by watching her brother play in the yard and at basketball games. At 7 she played for the Little Dribblers. She played through high school and college and eventually for the Olympics. They won the gold medal in 1996. Sheryl's high school career average was 26 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Swoopes, Sheryl   2. Juvenile literature   3. Basketball players   4. United States   5. Biography   6. Children's 9-12 - Biography / Autobiography   7. Juvenile Fiction   8. Biographical - United States   9. Sports & Recreation - Basketball   10. Juvenile Nonfiction   

Customer Reviews (1)

If you can read it, you don't need it
Herb may be a great coach, but he's not a great writer. Rather than explaining the box offense, this book cheers for it, talks about how great it is against various defenses, lists all the moves you should be able to make to make it work, and never once describes what it is. Or why it's called the box offense, or how it compares to other offenses. Or what any of the moves you have to be able to explain are. There are indeed hundreds of diagrams, with descriptions that barely match.

I was able to get some information out of this, but only with a lot of digging and cursing. But I'm a beginner at coaching - I'm not a pro or big ten college player. If you understand all of the terms he tosses out without definition, you probably are one of these, and probably know all the stuff in the book already.

Particularly frustrating are sections which make you think a description is coming, but you get more lists, such as in the section titled "Explanations of each move":

"Handback or Pass and Return to the Ball - A very good tactic to use when you want to set up a lob play, screen-and-roll, clearout or simply relieve pressure on the man with the ball. Another of Magic's moves to run his opponent ragged." Now, there is a diagram later which helps describe this, but it's *later*. When you first read this section, it's maddeningly empty of information.

I have never before been so frustrated as to want to return a book, until I read this one. I didn't dig into it until it was far too late. You, however, have been warned. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Basketball   2. Offense   3. Sports & Recreation   4. Basketball - General   

Subjects:  1. Basketball   2. Colorado   3. Joes   4. History   5. Joes (Colo.)   6. Sports & Recreation   7. Essays   

Customer Reviews (2)

Arthur And The Pen-Pal Playoff
I read Arthur And The Pen-Pal Playoff. I think this book is great. I think little boys and girls will want to read this wonderful book. This book is great for nine year olds to read.
Little kids will want to read this book over and over again, it's an adventure. This is a way to keep young ones away from the TV. I do recommend this book.

Arthur Could Be Any Kid
When Arthur talks up his basketball skills in a letter to a pen-pal that he was assigned to write for class, he feels that he's in over his head. His pen-pal writes back that he's a great basketball player as well and then he learns that his pen-pal is the lunch-lady's grandson. Next thing he knows, Mrs. McGrady (the lunch-lady) arranges them to play a one-on-one basketball game. The thing that's great about this story is that it's a situation that many readers can identify with. Eventually, Arthur's forced to face his situation head-on, but he's not the only one...

This is the last book of the "Arthur Good Sports" series. Whether any more books will be published in this series is not yet known, but the six-year 2001 set make a great addition to the "Arthur" series. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Readers - Chapter Books   2. Pen pals   3. Fiction   4. Basketball   5. Aardvark   6. Animals   7. Children's 4-8 - Fiction - General   8. Juvenile Fiction   9. Sports & Recreation - General   10. Social Situations - Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance   11. Sports & Recreation - Basketball   

Customer Reviews (1)

great book
Coach Brown shares his expertise on solutions to problem situations common in basketball at all levels. He explains his philosophy, principles and drills for Denfense, Team Defense, Trapping, Building an Offense, Types of Offensive Sets, Fast-Break, Transition, Screening and Cutting, Individual Offense, Rebounding, Post Play and Special Situations. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Basketball   2. Coaching   3. Training   4. Sports & Recreation   5. Basketball - General   6. General   

Customer Reviews (2)

Gary Payton Is The Man!!!
This book chronicles the life of the man, Gary Payton. He talks about his life and what kids should do to be successful. A highly recommended one.

Fantastic
This book was very insperational. My kid read it and it inspired him to try his best at everything. I would rechemend this book to all chrildren of any age it is a great read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Payton, Gary,   2. 1968-   3. Juvenile literature   4. Basketball players   5. United States   6. Children's 9-12 - Biography / Autobiography   7. Juvenile Nonfiction   8. Biography & Autobiography - Sports & Recreation   9. Biography & Autobiography - People of Color   10. Sports & Recreation - Basketball   

Customer Reviews (4)

Great lessons of life but better basketball stories
WOW! Great, fast, informative and fun.

Dale Brown beats to a different drummer and this book let's you see the world from his perspective. My respect for him goes up immensely. But the highlight of the book is the basketball stories. My favorite subjects were 1.his relationship with John Wooden, 2. recruiting top-notch players, 3. Shaq and how he met him, 4. dirty recruiting, 5. why he hates the NCAA, 6. the role of media and fans and 7. Bobby Knight and their feud.

Dale admits his faults and explains his logic. He never bent his principals and I respect him for that. A 200 page, quick read and worth every minute. Whether you like Dale or not, read this book and you will have more respect for him and enjoy yourself along the way.

It tells about the real Dale Brown
I loved this book. I knew Dale Brown as a friend of my family for as long as I can remember. In this book it shows everybody what Dale is really about. He is a person who is strong on his morals, a loving family member, and will do anything for anybody. I wish everybody had a little bit of Dale Brown in them it would make this world a better place.

Excellent story about LSU Basketball.
This is a very good book about the man who put LSU basketball on the map.(excluding Pistol Pete) Coach Brown is very straightforward about every aspect of his coaching and the players he coached. This is an excellent book for young coaches. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Brown, Dale,   2. 1935-   3. Basketball coaches   4. United States   5. Biography   6. Basketball   7. Sports & Recreation   8. Basketball - General   

Customer Reviews (1)

A Great Read for basketball history buffs!
I received this book as one of the set of books by Chris Warner.
I really liked the Tribute to Pete Maravich in the middle of the book. I saw him play in his floppy socks at Auburn back in the early 70s and he was phenomenal. This is a great book for any serious SEC basketball fan. All of the great players' and coaches' stories are there. I highly recommend it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Sports & Recreation   2. Basketball - College   3. History   

Subjects:  1. Sports   2. Sports & Recreation   3. Basketball - General   

Subjects:  1. Sports & Recreation   2. Basketball - General   

Subjects:  1. Basketball   2. Juvenile literature   3. Sports & Recreation   4. Basketball - General   

Customer Reviews (3)

Awesome Book
This book was awesome! I recommend it to all children. It is very inspiering.

A Real Story of a Real Athlete
I loved the book. Even though I'm 15, I bought the book because I have always admired Scottie Pippen. After reading the book, I feel like I know this player, and I like him even more. He's told many stories that you don't expect to hear from a hotshot basketball player in this book, which is why it's so special. He shared the tough stuff he went through, and you respect him more. This book is one of the most cherished books of mine!

A great gift for kids
Greg Brown has created a wonderful series of books with various athletes. These aren't empty ego trips, they are quality stories with valuable lessons on sportsmanship and responsibility. We have bought several for our grandson, and the special bonus has been that since his Dad is a sports fan as well, he enjoys reading them to him. These books are very good, I was pleasantly surprised by the morals and good behavior advocated and encouraged by these athletes. I highly recommend them. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Pippen, Scottie   2. Juvenile literature   3. Basketball players   4. United States   5. Biography   6. Children's 9-12 - Biography / Autobiography   7. Juvenile Fiction   8. Biographical - United States   9. Sports & Recreation - Basketball   10. Juvenile Nonfiction   11. Ethnic - African American   

Subjects:  1. Sports   2. Sports & Recreation   3. Basketball - General   4. Sports Psychology   

Subjects:  1. Sports   2. Basketball - General   3. Sports & Recreation