Play their Hearts Out - by George Dohrmann

George Dohrmann is a reporter who writes for Sports Illustrated. In this book, he follows the stories of some 7th and 8th grade kids, as they compete and play in AAU basketball. (Mostly, it's the story of the coach who tried to bring them all together and win games, and the star player that he recruited for the team.) For those of you who watch college basketball (or even the NBA), this is a very interesting behind-the-scenes look at how many of the star basketball players get to the good college or NBA teams.

The author was able to trail the team for a number of years, doing interviews with the players, their parents and the coaches. He also attended a bunch of the games, practices and meetings/dinners. In other words, he had pretty good access to the people in the stories. Some of the stories he tells, and the characters that you learn about who are involved in the AAU basketball system, really make you open your eyes to what it really takes to get a good college to recruit you (or a good NBA team to do the same). Opens your eyes, and makes you sick, all at the same time. Overall, a very good book about something I didn't really know a whole lot about before.