Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of Hardwood Warrior (Hugh Delehanty and Phil Jackson)

Would you look at that? Another basketball book! They do say it is good to have a hobby, every Average Joe should have one. This book was given to me by a close friend who read my review of Eleven Rings as there are many similarities. He is also a basketball coach so maybe it was a hint that I need some help in improving my coaching? Who knows. Again, I know that Basketball in the UK is seen as niche but I would recommend this book to anyone who shows interest in sport as the advice mentioned within its pages are applicable to any sporting incident as well as life in general. 

Most people I know have played sport at some point in their life. Whether it was rounders for the village primary school or football at a professional level and we all know a coach we think is an absolute helmet. You know the one. Screaming at the 8-year-old for turning the ball over or the one who talks to the parents as if he's coaching the champions league final not the Flintshire U12’s hockey league. I must say I have been very fortunate to build strong relationships with my coaches, some of which I now consider close friends. Perhaps this is why a book on building a team first ideology within a sports team is something I can relate to.  

The writer of this book, Phil Jackson is success personified. All he seems to do is win. Which is why his take on winning in this book is very surprising to me. He states like most Average Joe’s whilst growing up to him winning was everything and to be happy losing was a thought process that would lose you his respect in an instant. However, as he matured he realised that the journey and not the outcome is what really makes sports beautiful. He would rather lose a game where his team has played team orientated basketball than win a game where an egotistic superstar takes over. The more you fall in love with a sport the more you understand this outlook, the more you notice the little things which make the game so much more.  

Phil Jackson has done this through methods which I have never seen a sports coach use, such as using Zen and Buddhist teachings. I can’t imagine these would be a hit with all players, but the process seems to work. I enjoyed this book and I am trying to use some of its messages in my personal life. However, this book was published in 1995 and in 2013 the authors brought out Eleven Rings which covers what this book does and more. This has to be expected as since then Phil Jackson has gone on to win even more and coach the superstars Kobe and Shaq. These extra years have given him more experience to pass on, which is why I see Eleven Rings as more of a hit. 

7/10.

Reasons to Stay Alive (Matt Haig)

When purchasing a book I very often look on Amazon’s bestsellers tab to see what is popular. It soon became apparent there was a common theme. Essentially books on how to be “happy” were selling like hotcakes and this shouldn’t be surprising. I feel like the average Joe thirty years ago might not require a book on how to be happy but in today's society, it has certainly become the norm. It is almost guaranteed that an Average Joe in the year 2020 will have had an encounter with mental health, whether it is their own,a friends or a family members. Mental health is everywhere and can affect anyone including myself, which is why I decided to give this a read. It is very sad that anxiety and depression now seem to be full-time residents in the heads of many Average Joe’s which is why I see the number of what I describe as “mental health self-help” books selling as a positive action.  

I don’t really know what I was expecting to feel after reading this book and I can’t say I was optimistic or pessimistic about it. You might imagine that people who read these kinds of books may expect to be “cured” but I suppose all you can really hope for is clarity? A feeling that it's ok to have these feelings, that it's not just you and maybe even receive a bit of advice on coping mechanisms that might work.

From the first page of this book, I struggled to connect with what was being said and I imagine this is how a lot of people who read this book might feel. The issue for me was that his experiences weren’t the same as mine (to be honest they were considerably worse) and with mental health covering such a wide variety of issues this is a feeling I expect a lot of readers to have. In fact, you could say that it even made me feel a little guilty, which is the total opposite of what you want from this type of book.

The book of course had some good points and one of these was the author's way of describing his feelings and emotions in a way which was easy to visualise. For example, he said “Thoughts are like swallows” which leaves you with a very vivid image in your head.  He also made many practical recommendations on things which helped him feel better that included; Sleep, running, yoga and “to appreciate happiness when it is there” which is simple advice that some may find helpful although it left me thinking “well no shit”.

To me, these types of books need to be relatable to be effective and for me, it wasn’t. That being said, despite the term “Average Joe” implying normality, every Average Joe has lived a different life and to some this book will be relatable and transformational. Sadly, for this Average Joe it wasn’t.

 

5.5/10