Just read Sooley by John Grisham. For those who haven't read it, it's about basketball and not lawyers. It goes like this:
Samuel Sooleymon, age 17, is from a small village in South Sudan, located in eastern Africa. His father is a school teacher and mom a homemaker and has 1 younger sister and 2 younger brothers. The family is Catholic and attends Mass regularly. He's been playing basketball all his life on a dirt court. He is invited to try out for the National team in April of his senior year of high school who will be traveling to America during the summer to play in a series of tournaments. Samuel, who is 6'2'' 170 and still growing has a 46 in. vertical leap but can't shoot a lick. He is the last player selected. The SS National Team plays well and has several players being recruited by American colleges but not Samuel who is perceived to be too raw. His coach begins instructing him on how to shoot properly,handle the ball, and all the other things needed to play college ball. While he is in America, civil war breaks out in South Sudan and there is a massacre in his village by rebel troops and his father is killed, sister goes missing, and mom and brothers end up in a refugee camp. By the end of the summer he is 6' 4'' and 210. Samuel cannot return to SS and his National Team coach talks an old friend who is the coach at NC Central, a small HBCU school in Durham, N.C. into taking a chance and giving Samuel a scholarship. Samuel's primary goal is to find his family and get them out of Africa, but he has been given a huge opportunity and he vows to make the most of it. By the start of fall practice. NC Central has an experienced team and the plan is for him to redshirt. One day in December the Central coach goes into his office at 6 AM and hears somebody shooting in the gym. It is Samuel, who has picked up the nickname of Sooley. It turns out Sooley has been shooting 1,000 shots a day for many months and keeping up with how many he makes and misses and also has been hitting the weight room in addition to participating in team practices. By mid-January Sooley is 6'7'' 227. The team, decimated by injuries, is on a 5 game losing streak. Coach tells Sooley he needs him to play and Sooley says he's ready.
I won't tell any more. Grisham is at his best. It will make you laugh and cry.
Samuel Sooleymon, age 17, is from a small village in South Sudan, located in eastern Africa. His father is a school teacher and mom a homemaker and has 1 younger sister and 2 younger brothers. The family is Catholic and attends Mass regularly. He's been playing basketball all his life on a dirt court. He is invited to try out for the National team in April of his senior year of high school who will be traveling to America during the summer to play in a series of tournaments. Samuel, who is 6'2'' 170 and still growing has a 46 in. vertical leap but can't shoot a lick. He is the last player selected. The SS National Team plays well and has several players being recruited by American colleges but not Samuel who is perceived to be too raw. His coach begins instructing him on how to shoot properly,handle the ball, and all the other things needed to play college ball. While he is in America, civil war breaks out in South Sudan and there is a massacre in his village by rebel troops and his father is killed, sister goes missing, and mom and brothers end up in a refugee camp. By the end of the summer he is 6' 4'' and 210. Samuel cannot return to SS and his National Team coach talks an old friend who is the coach at NC Central, a small HBCU school in Durham, N.C. into taking a chance and giving Samuel a scholarship. Samuel's primary goal is to find his family and get them out of Africa, but he has been given a huge opportunity and he vows to make the most of it. By the start of fall practice. NC Central has an experienced team and the plan is for him to redshirt. One day in December the Central coach goes into his office at 6 AM and hears somebody shooting in the gym. It is Samuel, who has picked up the nickname of Sooley. It turns out Sooley has been shooting 1,000 shots a day for many months and keeping up with how many he makes and misses and also has been hitting the weight room in addition to participating in team practices. By mid-January Sooley is 6'7'' 227. The team, decimated by injuries, is on a 5 game losing streak. Coach tells Sooley he needs him to play and Sooley says he's ready.
I won't tell any more. Grisham is at his best. It will make you laugh and cry.
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