Coaches’ Coffee Break: Books

Reading ideas for sports coaches and teachers

On Friday I had a virtual coffee break chat with several of my GAIN Europe colleagues. We met for 30 mins and talked about what books we are currently reading.

The idea was to simulate the informal learning that we miss when we don’t hang out in person, rather than a ‘webinar’ or top down lesson. Thanks to everyone who took part, it was fun and much needed.

Here are some of the books mentioned, in no particular order, and just because we are reading them, doesn’t mean they are recommended (my recommended reading list is here ).

One thing we did agree on: that the quality of writing was as important, or more so, than the content. This is why many sporting books are ‘bad reads‘.

• Jonathan Livingstone Seagull: Richard Bach
• The Hobbit: J.R.R. Tolkien
• Open: Andre Agassi.
• Mastery: George Leonard
• The Element: Ken Robinson
• The Illustrated Light on Yoga: B.K.S. Iyengar
• Encyclopedia of Physical Education, Fitness and Sports (Sports, Dance & Related Activities: Ed. Reuben Frost, & Thomas Cureton.
• Physical Intelligence: Scott Grafton
• Lore of Nutrition: Tim Noakes.
• A Short History of Nearly Everything: Bill Bryson.
• The Body: Bill Bryson
• My Turn: Johan Cruyff
• Science and Application of High-Intensity Interval Training: Paul Laursen & Martin Buchheit

Our next coffee break is scheduled for 10:30 UK Time on Friday 1st May for any other GAINers wanting to join in.

Other reading ideas

While we are on the subject, here is a list of the books that I have read so far this year.

1. A Slip of the Keyboard: Terry Pratchett. A series of newspaper articles and speeches made over 25 years. The first half is about writing and publishing,which is very funny. The second half is about his Alzheimer’s disease and how he is coping with that. Truly a great writer.
2. Night Walks: Charles Dickens. Essays on his ramblings around London. His observations are witty and descriptive. I might make Dickens a thing to read every Christmas time now.
3. What Matters Most: John Doerr. Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) form the backbone of this book. Case studies of this form of management. Very useful.
4. James S. Corey: Tiamat’s Wrath. Sci-fi soap, wearing a bit thin now.
5. Calypso: David Sedaris. 18 semi auto-biographical essays. Laugh out loud in parts. Very well written.
6. The Stinging Fly (Summer 2019): Various. Modern writing, short stories and poems. The ‘Border’ focus was excellent, but some of the new generation are self-indulgent, talking about their writing.
7. The Body: Bill Bryson. Superbly written overview of what makes the body work, and the people who discovered how. A page turner.
8. Night Boat to Tangiers: Kevin Barry. Modern and interesting, raw prose. A bit too disjointed for me. 
9. A Movement approach to Educational Gymnastics: Ruth Morison. Read for the 2nd time, got more out of having taught for 5 years now. Superb.
10. The Modern Antiquarian: Julian Cope. A beautiful book that comes in a box! Covers pre-history in Britain and how the Romans and Christians wrote over what existed previously. has a gazetteer of dozens of stone circles, henges and dolmens in the UK. Very interesting.
11. Emerald Eye: Various, ed Frank Ludlow and Roelof Goudriaan. A collection of SF and fantasy short stories from Ireland. Very good.
12. An Introduction to Movement Study and Teaching: Marion North. Short, with some good ideas. A lot of dance and drama involved.
13. The Depths: Henning Mankell. A Swedish novel about the navy in WWI. Interesting lead character, deeply flawed.
14. Young Skins: Colin Barrett. A short story collection by this modern Irish writer. Set mostly in one fictional small town, great prose, interesting situations.
15. Life Among the Savages: Shirley Jackson. Extremely well written memoir of life in rural Vermont with young children. Funny and relevant 50 years later.
16. And Then There Were None: Agatha Christie. Good plot, but dated and laborious writing.
17. Dynamic Physical Education for Elementary School Children: Robert Pangrazi. A huge book, in depth and lots of practical ideas. A must for p.e. teachers.
18. The Buried Giant: Kazuo Ishiguro. A beautiful, sad mythical tale. A treat.
19. Consider This: Chuck Palahniuk An excellent book for writers about writing. Useful tips and relevant anecdotes. 
20. Socratic Discourses: Plato and Xenophon. Part of the Everyman’s library, wisdom from the wisest of all. Hard to get through due to the conversational style of writing, but useful nuggets in there.
21. Anatomy For The Artist: Sarah Simblet. A sumptuous book by this Dr and artist. Great illustrations, I enjoyed reading this.
22. Martin Eden: Jack London. A semi-autobiographical account of a struggling writer who burns out. Brilliant.
23. The Dog of the Marriage: Amy Hempel. Four books in one. A sublime collection of short stories that are superbly written and entertaining.
24. The Witcher: Andrzej Sapkowski Time killing fantasy short story collection. Meh.
25. Life In the Universe: Michael J. Farrell. What a collection of entertaining short stories. Funny and well written.
26. With Lawrence in Arabia: Lowell Thomas. A super little book written in the aftermath of World War I, before Lawrence’s death. Very descriptive and atmospheric writing.
27. Tales of Space and Time: H.G. Wells. 5 short stories/novellas. Interesting to see what Wells thought 2020 and beyond would look like. 
28. The Shipping News: Annie Proulx. Sublime prose and similes to die for. A great human interest novel with the Newfoundland coast being a key part.
29. The Stinging Fly (Winter 2019): Various authors. Collection of short stories and essays. Very good writing.
30. Hothouse: Brian Aldiss. Classic SF novel set on a future Earth which is dying. A Hugo award winning journey of discovery.

Thanks for reading, if you have any favourites, please share below.