HOT CORNER

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What: “A Teen’s Game Plan for Life”

Author: Lou Holtz

Publisher: Sorin Books

Price: $14.95

When Lou Holtz was a teenager in Ohio, he and a group of friends used to swim in the Ohio River where it crossed into Chester, W.Va.

One day they decided to swim across the river, a distance of one mile. Holtz’s best friend didn’t think he could make it, so Holtz promised he would save him if necessary.

Sure enough, the friend began hollering for help about three-quarters of the way across. So what did Holtz do?

“I did the same thing you might have done if you were in my situation,” Holtz writes. “I tried to pretend I couldn’t hear him.”

The friend turned around and swam back.

“He ended up swimming a mile and a half because deep down he didn’t believe that he could swim across the river,” Holtz writes. “He didn’t believe strongly enough in himself. He had an excuse not to succeed.”

This is only one of the lessons that Holtz delivers.

Holtz became nationally known for his wit and storytelling ability after he became Notre Dame’s football coach in 1986. Holtz, who is now at South Carolina, draws on his wit along with his life experiences and his experiences from coaching young men at six universities to create a game plan for teens.

The book may be directed at teens but is good reading for all ages.