A Game Plan for Life - by John Wooden & Don Yaeger (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

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 was 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 principled career, including his father, his college coach, his wife, Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Teresa. The second half is built around interviews with some of the many people he mentored over the years, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton. Their testimony takes readers inside the lessons Wooden taught to generations of players, bringing out the very best in them not just as athletes but as human beings.

In all, this is an inspiring primer on how to achieve success without sacrificing principles and how to build one of the most productive and rewarding relationships available to any athlete, businessperson, teacher, or parent-that of mentor and protégé.

Review Quotes

"Coach Wooden is the most respected mentor I've ever met. He's had a powerful impact on my life and now, through this book, he'll touch you as well. Get ready for a life-changing experience." --Pat Williams, Sr. Vice President, Orlando Magic, author of Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams

"All of us need to read John Wooden's tips on mentoring and build them into our lives. There is no better person to give you A Game Plan for Life." --Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University basketball coach

"There is no coach or former coach, in the U.S.A., more admired by his peers than John Wooden. When someone asks me who is the best athletic coach ever, my vote is John Wooden. A Game Plan for Life speaks loudly about the importance of learning and teaching for a lifetime. Coach Wooden's message is one reason I keep coaching!" --Bobby Bowden, Head Football Coach, Florida State University

"Few coaches have effected their player's lives so fully as John Wooden, so here's a natural question: Who mentored the mentor? Well, John Wooden is glad we asked . . ." --Bob Costas

"Who better to learn you all his experiences than John Wooden? This is a positively great book by a great man." --Yogi Berra

"My time learning from Coach Wooden-sitting and asking him questions, soaking up his answers-has provided some of the most significant lessons in my life. Any way that you can be mentored by a giant like him, including reading A Game Plan for Life, will provide great lessons for you, too." --Pat Summitt, women's basketball coach, University of Tennessee

About the Author

John Wooden is the most successful coach in NCAA history, having led the UCLA Bruins to 665 victories and ten championships in the years leading up to 1975. Since his retirement, he has become a mentor to dozens of athletes, journalists, and writers, and the author of eight books.

Don Yaeger was the author or coauthor of sixteen books, including Never Die Easy, with Walter Payton, and Running for My Life, with Warrick Dunn.