Full Court Press: A Season in the Life of a Winning Basketball Team and the Women Who Made It Happen

Rating:
Summary: Better title would have been "Coach Runge's Battle."
Review: I was led to believe the book would be a lot about the team and it was. However, there is an awful lot more about coach Jody Runge and her contract dilemma with the university while trying to build a winning basketball team. I can see why she may have hated this book. It is everything she isn't about. Your common fan isn't going to care so much about Title IX and men/women equity in sports. They just want to cheer for a winning team and learn about their experiences. The inside look at a women's basketball team was interesting, but it also got repetitive. Mention that a player misses her best friend once or twice and I get it. Mentioning it throughout the whole book is a bit much. The author gets too hung up on the coach's contract squabble that the team didn't even care about. Why should the reader care if the team didn't? There isn't much direct comment from the players, only their thoughts ... or is it the thoughts of the author for the players. Just about right on the season highlights ... not too much and not too little, just hitting what's important and how it affected the team.

Rating:
Summary: If she only knew!
Review: In a way I loved the book. But I also felt sorry for some of the players, for having to put up with someone like coach Runge. Arianne Boyer was a great player and still is, and for Runge to treat her like that upsets me. I go to Fort Vancouver High School and my Basketball/Volleyball coach is Arianne Boyer. Yes alot of the book is true, but I feel people didn't really get to see the real side of Arianne like my teammates and I do. She is very supportive and understanding and she cares for each one of us. I'm very glad that Runge acted the way she did, because now Arianne doesn't treat us the same way. She understands how far to push us. I'm glad that the book came out, it made me understand where my coach came from and how far she has come.

Rating:
Summary: Full Court Press
Review: The book was great. It was detailed and easy to reada, where as it described the life of these women vividly. You felt at home with each of the women and like you knew and understood all of their problems completely. Laure Kessler does a great job!