A beach read---who was I kidding! I never even had a chance to read at the beach until Friday---and then, we assume, the ocean ate my glasses, prescription bifocals, no less.
On These Courts, by former Memphis Wayne Drash, was my beach read choice. The book is listed as a biography of Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, a Memphian and former NBA player.
Not a typical beach read either----but one I was drawn to because of it's locale and time frame---from both the 80s to 2012. Plus, Penny was in hubby's classes at the University of Memphis and he later gave Penny private swimming lessons. Penny reciprocated by speaking to the 400 kids from Chickasaw and Cyprus inner city schools who attended the summer National Youth Sports Program which Larry directed.
But....it's much more than that. It's a book about caring, compassion and giving back to an impoverished neighborhood. A story replete with failing grades, gang pressure, incarcerated or non-existent fathers and violence on the crime-ridden streets of a Memphis neighborhood. A book that took place just two years ago within a stone's throw of some mid-town friends and the Binghampton Christian Academy, where my sweet friend Nancy is a dorm mom.
A book about the discipline and love that is learned by street kids through the game of basketball.
Hesi-TEA-ation is another stretch for a "tea" word play but very necessary for this book review.
Hesitant because I have only read 2/3 of the book....though personally remembering this time has me aware of the very probable ending. An outcome of hope.
Hesitant because the book is full of "street language" blasphemy and brutal "child" abuse. Though all is true and well documented, it's hard to read of such.
Hesitant because this review is not necessarily a recommendation, even though I have enjoyed much of what I have read. Yet, it's certainly full of violent reality and harsh way of life in the "hood" of Lester Street.
....Coach Larry Liles, a former instructor/friend of Penny Hardaway, and Penny, himself, celebrated Penny's decision to remain as head basketball coach at the University of Memphis. 
