Key Themes In The Book Playmakers, By Mike Lupica

“The battle you are going through is not fueled by the words or actions of others; it is fueled by the mind that gives it importance” – Shannon L. Alder. The novel, Hoops by Walter Dean Myers, follows the life of Lonnie Jackson, a high school student from Harlem who has an unusually impressive talent for playing basketball. Lonnie’s goal in life is more than just being one of the best players to ever hit the court; for Lonnie wishes to create a new life for himself– one that is free from the struggles of Harlem streets. This goal along with his environment bring constant conflicts in Lonnie’s journey, which gradually develops his character from self-centered to compassionate. Lonnie’s professional relationship with Cal Jones as well as his bond with Paul and Mary-Ann guide him on how to both become a respected player and how to grow up into a noble man.

There’s a saying that everyone’s said at least once in their lifetime, I’m sure. It’s so cliché, but now I know that there is so much truth behind it. “Believe in yourself.” Rather than giving up on yourself, use your failures to make you better. Learn how to bounce back from adversity and learn from those experiences. This is called using your growth mindset. According to Carol Dweck, research psychologist, in her book Mindset, “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” It wasn’t until the summer between my junior and senior year of high school that I learned this and of course I learned it the hard way. I had played club basketball for four summers in a row with the Longmont Rush basketball club. I loved the game of basketball and I had spent countless hours working on my skills on the court. I even wanted to play in college. I already had schools scouting me. Unfortunately, in my final season, just before my senior year, my biggest fear came true.

INTRODUCTION: “I have failed over and over again in my life and that is why I succeeded” a quote by Michael Jordan. How many of you believe failure is a prerequisite to success? , how many of you believe that the difficulties and obstacles you’ve faced changed who you are as a person? well, life is not a wish granting factory , it will feel long and tough , eventually at one point you will fail , we all do , but it’s not about failing it’s about how you perceive failure , that is what defines you as a person , Samuel Becket once

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity or hardship, this idea was express to the audience by Debra Oswald in Gary’s house and podcast through the lives of fictitious characters based on real Australian People. She chooses themes such as people marginalised in society, challenging gender roles and the past affecting the present knowing that the audience will relate to it. By using these ideas with the diverse range of characters, Oswald is able to show how people need resilience and how important it is to overcome adversity through engagement with characters and their development throughout the play.

In life, you encounter many situations and people that aid in molding you into the person you are meant to be. When these instances in time occur, we may not realize it, but looking back they made a huge impact on our lives. For the past four years, I have been a member of the Navarro Runnin’ Lady Panthers Basketball Team, and while the sport itself taught me many lessons and skills I can use to be successful, there was one coach that managed to do the same.

With success come some of the greatest stories of how people got to that spot. If you do try for something almost never will you be rewarded for that particular thing. This plays a role in both of the following books. In Whale Talk TJ must give this team and swimming his all to get what he wants in getting his team a varsity letter. When new requirements set back the team from getting their varsity letter TJ take it upon himself to lead and set an example for the rest of his team. Notably, in the book Summer Ball after Danny finds out about what people actually think about him. He takes accepts it and goes harder in camp. He takes nothing for granted anymore.

Everyone is looking to succeed, some people just do not seem to understand how. Success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. In John Wooden’s novel, They Call Me Coach, he uses his own experiences to inspire coaches and players all across America. Although Wooden had many wins throughout his career, nevertheless, he also suffered many losses. Overall, though, he was one of the most successful coaches/players of all time, being elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and a coach. This novel provides specific examples of Wooden’s pyramid to success, which makes it a great read for anyone looking to conquer their goals, not just in sports, but in life.

In the play “Doubt: A Parable” by John Patrick Shanley, Sister Aloysius is a headstrong principal at a Catholic school in New York in the 1960’s. She is a person who speaks her mind, and she will take whatever means to ensure that she gets her way and keeps her school running in a manner she deems fit. It seems as if Sister Aloysius is almost afraid of change and new ideas, and she will try her hardest to keep progress from pushing old ideas that she firmly believes in aside.

I would also recomend this book to sports lovers it's a lesson for anything in life or any sports in life this book teaches you. THis book would more likely be on the more kids to young adults because it not a tough read but it teaches a couple lessons in the book and it eye opening. I thought for me as a student athlete is was a great book for me to keep my head in it and i will definitely take stuff from this book to use in my real life. Thi book overall is good and i would recommend all student athletes or anybody that from lie 11-16 years old to read this it eye opening and it can really help you in life to help

possibility that zombies might in fact have souls through the description of a nearly four hundred year old ritual called the Passion Play that is performed once each decade in the city of Oberammergau, Germany. This play, which is enacted by the people of Oberammergau is part of a tradition that was started during the days of the black plague in Europe in the early 1600s. In an attempt to increase the realism of the play, the community decides to crucify a zombie in place of the normal actor who would normally play the part. A lone priest, Father Meyer, believes the zombies are creatures of God that deserve the same sort of considerations and care that humans do. This is in stark contrast to the position held by the drastically changed Catholic

"Are we going to have any fun today?," is a cry heard in middle school classrooms across the country. Fun can be a sure fire way to brighten the day. The blog, Why Play? by Ann Larson Erickson, reminds us of the many lessons to be learned through the power of play. Below we share 4 of our favorite games that teach the blog's lessons.

Defining play can be very difficult. The term play can be used to illustrate a wide range of behaviors and activities, and can be perceived as both essential and insignificant to the child at the same time. Santrock (2012, p.437) suggests a definition of play as "a pleasurable activity that is engaged in for its own sake." However, this is argued by Kernan (2007, p.5) who states that none of the potential definitions are broad enough to encompass all of the meanings associated with play. Despite the lack of such universal definition, Rennie (2003, p.22) claims, that "we can recognize play across barriers of language, of culture, even of species", which conveys its importance in the life and development of children, as it is

There have been several events that have affected my life. there's times that life will hit you hard that will make you fall over but you will need to get back up and continue what you started. This is how i viewed myself with my ambitious journey of basketball. I was around seven years old when I was bored at home and I turned on the TV and was skipping through the channels and I wanted to see what I was going to be able to watch. I stopped at the sports channel for whatever reason and I remember that it was a Spurs game in the NBA (National Basketball Association). I was in shock seeing people jump all around being able to run from the court coast to coast being chased down by others trying to get the ball through the basket. I saw this particular player at the time on the opposing team Ray Allen from the Boston Celtics. This man had such a dominant presence on the court just getting the ball and being able to shoot the ball in any given time in whatever position he was in either it was going to be contested or open he gets the ball its an automatic scoring machine. This got me very fascinated and i began to start watching basketball since that day. I also wanted to try basketball wanted to play the position Ray allen played a shooting guard, one that is a spot up shooter and is in charge to score from a convertible distance away.

The Doctor in Spite of Himself is a play that I had previously studied in France like many of Molière’s plays. I thought that it was ironic for me to go see the play for the first time in theatre in the United States. I was really looking forward to hear how the actors would pronounce the characters’ French names, which are rather exotic even for me. I think that because I had previously studied Molière’s work in class, I was expecting this play to be performed in a much more traditional style. I was a little disconcerted at first when seeing the actors performing a more modern version than what I had in mind. I ended up liking what Arne Zaslove has done with the play. In my opinion, modernizing it a

The Parable of the Talents therefore refers to the metaphor "life is a precious possession." If you have many talents, you must "invest" them wisely--use them as you should use material goods, in a charitable way. If you have a few talents, you must invest them wisely as well. Even if you have only one talent, you must invest it wisely and do good in the world with that talent.In an important way, the play Everyman demonstrates the ways in which a person who does have talents (Good Deeds that are trapped in the ground) wastes them, like the servant who buries his one talent in the ground and is cast into the dark, the "place of wailing and grinding of teeth." According to the play's allegory, what forces in