- ISBN13: 9781596917019
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
From the legendary basketball coach who inspired generations of athletes and businesspeople, an inspiring book about the power of mentoring and being mentored. After eight books, many of them bestsellers, A Game Plan for Life is the one closest to John Wooden’s heart: a moving and inspirational guide to the power of mentorship. The first half focuses on the people who helped foster the values that carried Wooden through an incredibly successful and famously… More >>
A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring
Tags: businesspeople, eight books, Game, game plan, generations, Heart, inspirational guide, legendary basketball coach, Life, Mentoring, Plan, Power, remainder mark
#1 by Jim Kap on April 17, 2010 - 2:39 am
Wooden was quite successful way back when. He had the most support from his university, had the best facilities and equipment and recruits. So sure he won a lot with the competition handcuffed. But he has lived on that glory day period for his entire life.
Some of the mentors he had are highly flawed. His first coach had major issues and humiliated Wooden and his friends for being silly boys and not singing the national anthem. Instead of punishing them in private, he got his jollies by doing it in front of the school. Even when one boy said he changed his mind and would sing, the coach said it was “too late”. And Wooden does not even see that the man had obvious issues. Many great men have been raised by strict authority figures who would never dream of administering such a punishment in public.
Wooden lives with his head in the sand, a blind unquestioning approach to authority. Its that approach that led to thousands of parents being clueless to the priests who molested their kids. That approach has led to countless kids being abused throughout history.
Wooden has no clue about creativity. The great inventions, including life savers, came from renegades who ventured outside the lines. From antibiotics to medical breakthroughs to google and on and on. The rebels are the ones who push the envelope and keep mankind from becoming extinct.
Wooden seems like a nice man but he never colored outside the lines. He doesn’t really get it at all that his way only maintains the status quo while creativity and renegades make life worth living.
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by Matthew Giguere on April 17, 2010 - 3:29 am
John Wooden has been inspiring basketball minds long before he chose UCLA over the University of Minnesota. In this wonderfully simplistic mentorship memoir Wooden attributes his greatness to the influence of his greatest mentors. A must read for any basketball fan or business person, alike.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Sebastian Trujillo on April 17, 2010 - 4:22 am
This book had many great inspirational stories. Both from John Wooden and seven of those that have been mentored by him. You could say it has alot of the cliche pyrimad of success quotes but in this book they also tell you about the origination and inspiration of many of woodens great quotes.
Rating: 4 / 5
#4 by Anonymous Reader on April 17, 2010 - 6:08 am
John Wooden exemplifies the best in the American character, as does this splendid book. There are many valuable and inspiring life lessons in A Game Plan for Life, co-authored by Coach Wooden and Don Yaeger.
While I have certainly heard of John Wooden and his remarkable success in coaching college basketball, I am a newcomer to his writing. And, having read A Game Plan for Life, I proudly count myself as one of Coach’s mentees. Should you be lucky enough to read it, you will learn about seven people whom Coach Wooden– at 99 years young– considers his key mentors, and the lessons he learned from each of them. Coach’s important mentors include his father, Joshua Wooden; his beloved wife, Nellie; his early teachers and coaches; and the historic figures whom he considers teachers, including Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa.
Equally interesting are the chapters penned by seven people who consider Coach Wooden their mentor, among them basketball greats Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Walton; leading basketball coaches Roy Williams of North Carolina and Dale Young of Louisiana State; CBS executive Andy Hill; Coach’s youngest great-granddaughter, Cori Nicholson; and teacher and junior basketball coach Bob Vigars. Especially interesting are the unconventional stories penned by Hill and Vigars. As a young basketball player at UCLA, Hill had a difficult relationship with Coach Wooden, and only realized the value of what he had learned years later. Vigars has met Wooden only through Wooden’s writing, and was included in this book on the basis of a letter he wrote to Wooden in 2008.
The theme at the heart of A Game Plan for Life is a maxim from Joshua Wooden, John Wooden’s father: “There is nothing you know that you haven’t learned from someone else.” Each of us has multiple opportunities to learn from others, and to teach others. Be alert for learning opportunities throughout your life, and don’t be afraid to ask for assistance from those from whom you can learn. As well, be a teacher to those who follow you, by deeds as well as by words. Coach Wooden makes clear that each of us serves in dual roles throughout our lives, both as student and teacher. And key lessons span generations– lessons taught to Coach Wooden by his father are now being learned by the fifth generation of Woodens.
A more subtle lesson, also well-taught by Coach Wooden in this book, is that it may be necessary to step out of your comfort zone to ask for help, to recognize the lessons that you need to know, or to become a mentor to others. Some of us, like myself, are comfortable with mentoring others, but find it difficult to ask for support– this book is useful in that it demonstrates how many accomplished people seek out the famed John Wooden for assistance. Others, like Wooden mentee Andy Hill, had a difficult early relationship with their mentor but realized the value of what they learned later on. Others find it difficult to teach what they have learned, or do not realize that their example is valuable to others– but exert a positive influence.
As well, a Game Plan for Life draws instruction from Coach Wooden’s justly famed Pyramid of Success. The Pyramid is a compilation of John Wooden’s key building blocks of competitive greatness. A Game Plan for Life served as my introduction to the Pyramid– I found these principles solid and worthwhile, and look forward to studying their subtleties more fully. Others will find this discussion a useful refresher. The principles incorporated in the Pyramid are virtues that have been central to the American character– it is high time to revisit them and cement and expand personal and collective use of them once again.
I applaud Coach Wooden and his co-author, Don Yaeger, for producing this superb and readable book. I count myself fortunate to be a new mentee of Coach Wooden, and hope that he and his family will see this review. Thank you, Coach, for your help and your sterling example.
I hope that this book will be bought and circulated by readers from all walks of life, by schools and by libraries. With any luck, many will read this book and have the pleasure of being mentored by the remarkable John Wooden.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Paul J. Christopher on April 17, 2010 - 7:13 am
Legendary College Basketball Coach John Wooden along with author Don Yaeger recently published, A Game Plan for Life, The Power of Mentoring. Wooden now 99 years of age, offers his perspective in the book on the power of mentoring and the effects on leadership. I recommend this book for those who desire to be mentored and those wanting to mentor others. It’s a great book on leadership and gives a seasoned perspective from a credible source in one of NCAA’s all-time best coaches.
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Rating: 4 / 5