By Michael Lewis
A little book with a powerful lesson (especially for helicopter parents): Back off!
Michael Lewis, best-selling author of Moneyball goes biographical. In Coach Lewis shares the story of the "terrifying Coach Fitz"; adored by his players of old, vilified by his parents of present.
I suspect many have had a Fitz, the hard-driving kind who bring out your best (as player and person). Why? Because they know, "The only glory to be had [is] in the quality of the struggle." (83) Lewis shares these words which, taken against the backdrop of parents who want him fired, encapsulate the Fitz struggle:
I knew there must be people who never reconciled themselves to Fitz--who still didn't understand what he was trying to do for them--but they were hard to find. The collective response of Fitz's former players could be fairly summarized in a sentence: Fitz changed my life.
Lewis chronicles the cost of that change -- for the coach as much as the players.
Here are a few of my favorite lines:
Life as he led it, and expected us to lead it, had less to do with trophies than with sacrifice, in the name of some larger purpose: baseball. (45)
You were always doing what money could buy instead of what duty demanded. (49)
He will never be a tough competitor. He doesn't know how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable." Lou Piniella (54)
The theme of a "Fitz talk": What It Means To Be A Man. What it means to be a man was that you struggled against your natural instinct to run away from adversity. You battled. (77)
He was teaching us something far more important [than baseball]: how to cope with the two greatest enemies of a well-lived life, fear and failure. (82)
The only glory to be had would be in the quality of the struggle. (83)
Coach is the delightful and sad tale of a different breed of coach, the kind who wants to get inside his players to make them better at sport, but more importantly at life. The sad side of the delightful tale is that too many parents sacrifice that maturity on the altar of self-esteem, comfort, and the hope of illusive glory.
Coaches and parents, read this book. For the sake of your players and children, read this book.