Incarcerated Youth Basketball Team’s Victory: A Lesson in Acceptance
Pittsburgh (PRWEB) February 07, 2014 -- In 1988, a team of juvenile delinquents in Western Pennsylvania achieved the unexpected title of regional basketball champions with the help of their compassionate head coach. 25 years later, we are still learning from their story.
“All the Way Down” by retired educator and coach Robert Burnett captures the incredible journey of this high school boy’s basketball team and how it changed their lives, and his, for the better.
“The high school housed about 300 juvenile delinquent boys and girls, and ALL of them were transformed into winners by this team,” Burnett says. “Resident behavior improved, and many kids were able to transform the experience into success after their release.”
The first African-American to serve as head high school football coach in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League, Burnett shares his team’s story not to boast his own success, but to share the lesson in compassion his team taught everyone around them.
“All the Way Down” sets an example of the positive impact encouragement, non-judgment and acknowledgment have youth, whether they have behavior issues or not.
“The most rewarding part of this book is that several of these players are doing very well today,” Burnett says. “One particular player is now one of the top sports marketing people in America, and has several NFL and NBA players under contract.”
“All the Way Down: Changing Hearts and Minds” by Robert Burnett
Hardcover, $27.99
Paperback, $16.95
e-Book, $3.99
ISBN: 978-1-4918-3208-0
Available at http://robertburnetttheauthor.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and bookstore.authorhouse.com.
About the author
Robert W. Burnett worked as a teacher, coach, and administrator in four different school districts as an educator for 33 years. He gave up coaching after 11 years of teaching to accept a positional as school principal, but returned as a basketball coach for one year to guide his high school basketball team to the regional championship in 1988. Since then, he has been a speaker for educational leadership, has run basketball skills clinics, has produced television shows for ex-Pittsburgh Steelers players, Joey Port, Bryant McFadden and Jeff Reed, has been a speaker about Prostate Cancer in the Pittsburgh area about awareness for African American men to get checked, and he has hosted his own radio talk show, Dimensions with Bob Burnett. Burnett owns own clothing company, All the Way Down, and he still resides in the Pittsburgh area as a retired high school principal, serving as an interim principal and educational consultant when needed. Hollywood screenwriter and director Monique Sorgen has written a movie script based on “All the Way Down.” The film is currently seeking financial backing.
Andrea Hawman, Bohlsen Group, +1 (317) 602-7137 Ext: 2063, [email protected]
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