Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Book Review: Runnin' The Show by Dick Devenzio

Title: Runnin' the Show
Author: Dick Devenzio
Pages: 137

Genre/Theme: Non-Fiction, Basketball, Leadership, Coaching, Player Mentality

From Amazon.com
Product Description

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.

My Thoughts
I love to read about how to make my players and teams better. I love to educate myself to better my coaching abilities. My coaching abilities and skills not only work on the court, but in the classroom as well. This book was awesome. There are tons of simple ideas that can be implemented into practice and to help teach players how to become leaders. Despite the fact that the ideas are simple, they only will work if you are devoted to seeing them through. What I like about the ideas is that they are more than just some saying posted on the wall. You have to believe in them wholeheartedly for the players to believe in. I took away many great things. I will not list them all here as this post would go on forever. 
I love to learn about the mental aspect. That is the most important element in any sport. What we think and our decisions. This book helped me to learn about some strategies that I plan on trying out to make my teams better. I am going to try one at a time to gauge my effectiveness in implementing them into my program.
If you have not read this book and are a coach, then you need to check this out. I just came across the ideas of Dick Devenzio as of late and love his approach and ideas. I am reading STUFF right now and hope to learn even more. Yes, my notepad is full of ideas right now as I take notes and then reflect on making the ideas practical to my situation. 
That is what life is all about. Improving ourselves and people around us. This book helps to do just that.

2 comments:

Sefu Bernard said...

Glad to hear you enjoyed Dick's book "Running The Show". If you enjoyed it, then I think you'll also like "Stuff!" -- especially if you're a basketball coach or player.

One of my personal favourites is "Think Like a Champion"; also by Dick DeVenzio. Written in a similar fashion to RTS, it dives deeper into championship habits that all successful athletes and coaches must develop.

Here's a link to some free excerpts from TLAC that we posted to our site:

http://www.pgcbasketball.com/community/knowledge-center/

Enjoy!

Sefu Bernard
Director of Excellence
PGC Basketball
www.pgcbasketball.com

BTW - I would love to read your reviews on Stuff! and TLAC if you do write one up. Tweet me: @PGCbasketball

Sefu Bernard said...

Glad to hear you enjoyed Dick's book "Running The Show". If you enjoyed it, then I think you'll also like "Stuff!" -- especially if you're a basketball coach or player.

One of my personal favourites is "Think Like a Champion"; also by Dick DeVenzio. Written in a similar fashion to RTS, it dives deeper into championship habits that all successful athletes and coaches must develop.

Here's a link to some free excerpts from TLAC that we posted to our site:

http://www.pgcbasketball.com/community/knowledge-center/

Enjoy!

Sefu Bernard
Director of Excellence
PGC Basketball
www.pgcbasketball.com

BTW - I would love to read your reviews on Stuff! and TLAC if you do write one up. Tweet me: @PGCbasketball