Press "Enter" to skip to content

Category: Book Reviews

The NCB News Review of Talent and the Secret Life of Teams

ncbnews

Review by Nancy Evans, Nebraska Library Commission

When the University of Nebraska became the first, non-West Coast team to win a national championship in women’s volleyball in 1995, a reporter asked coach Terry Pettit a predictable question. How does it feel? Pettit gave an unpredictable answer, quoting a poet to describe the sweetness of victory. So what kind of book can you expect from such a literate and successful person? One that spans the horizon of literary styles, from essays and journalistic-style commentaries, to columns about trust, love, and coyotes in the backyard, to poems about time-outs and loss.

“They consider my voice
An inappropriate companion
To the pounding of the blood,
Hot with fatigue and disappointment.”

That is the beginning of a poem titled “After the Loss.” Pettit’s 151-page book, Talent and the Secret Life of Teams, is part biographical, providing an inner glimpse at the magical 1995 run to a national title and the extraordinary women on that team.