Streetball Is Life

Lessons Earned on the Asphalt

Paul Volponi (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

204 Seiten

2020
Rowman & Littlefield (Verlag)
978-1-5381-3927-1 (ISBN)

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This book is an autobiographical account of the author’s experiences as a 17-year-old intent on becoming a legitimate NYC streetballer at the highest level. Included as part of the narrative are the important social skills learned on the basketball court, showing readers that their time spent streetballing is meaningful beyond the sport itself.

From award-winning young adult author Paul Volponi comes the true story of his unforgettable summer spent proving himself as a legitimate New York City streetballer, only later discovering that he had gained a set of skills that would enhance his life off the court, as well.

During the sweltering summer of seventeen-year-old Paul Volponi’s life, he had only one goal—he wanted, no, needed to become a legitimate and respected New York City street basketball player. It was a passion that consumed him night and day, and at times even isolated him from his friends and family. So he entered through the gates of the Proving Ground, the roughest streetball yard in the city. It was a place where the fouls resembled felonies, and the atmosphere mirrored that of the Roman Coliseum more than Madison Square Garden. It was where teens and adults contested pickup games with a ferocity seemingly greater than that of the NBA Finals. The Proving Ground was a difficult place to cultivate friendships and an easy environment to make enemies.

This is the story of Paul’s summer-long initiation at the Proving Ground. It is truly a streetball testament of a teenager who wanted more than anything else to earn his stripes in streetball society. Only what he didn’t understand at the time was that this experience would deliver to him, as it does today for so many young adults, a set of skills that would enhance his life far beyond the boundaries of a basketball court.

Paul Volponi is an author, journalist and educator. His twelve novels for young adults have been the recipient of a dozen American Library Association honors. His novel Black and White, winner of the International Reading Association Children’s Book Award, is a staple in many middle school and high school English classes. The Final Four is on the New York City Chancellor’s Ninth-Grade Reading List. Volponi’s most recent book is That’s My Team: The History, Science, and Fun Behind Sports Teams’ Names (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), a nonfiction sports book for young adults. You can learn more about his books at paulvolponibooks.com.

Preface
Prologue
1: Leaving the Comfort Zone
2: Into the Fire
3: Staking Our Claim
4: The Battle Within
5: One-on-One War
6: A Sunday with Style
7: Worries at Home
8: Storming the Shrine
9: Christmas in July
10: Setting a Roster
11: The Sheriff
12: Shelter from the Storm
13: Round Two
14: The Letter
15: Ballers versus Badge
16: Thinking Forward
17: Problem Solving
18: No Rating
19: Role Model
20: B-Ball Paradise
21: Hitting the Wall
22: Seeing Double
23: Mending Wounds
24: Lessons Learned
25: The Court Less Traveled
Afterword
References
About the Author

Erscheinungsdatum	10.05.2021
Zusatzinfo	18 b/w photos; 12 textboxes
Sprache	englisch
Maße	148 x 227 mm
Gewicht	404 g
Themenwelt	Kinder- / Jugendbuch ► Sachbücher
ISBN-10	1-5381-3927-8 / 1538139278
ISBN-13	978-1-5381-3927-1 / 9781538139271
Zustand	Neuware