Toughness by Jay Bilas is a book I think every basketball player and coach should read. The book can apply to almost anything you play, and it for sure applies to life in school and life in general. It is a self-help sports book filled with stories and analogies of many people that are sharing components of being tough. When the book brings things up it makes you ask to yourself, ¨Is this something I’m doing?” The question I found myself asking the most is, “Do I have true toughness?” I know everything I’m not hits hard, so I strive to begin doing what he says to be tough.

Jay Bilas is a well known basketball analyst and game commentator. The book began when he first wrote an article on ¨Toughness¨. The article became well known and programs from AAU basketball leagues up to college basketball teams would carry around the article and play based off his article. The article became a hit, so Jay began to write a book where he’d expound on different topics of toughness and receive input from other great coaches and former players. Jay’s purpose is to get you to know the true meaning of toughness, and learn what it takes if you really want to be tough.

Jay Bilas has had quite the life and has several of his own stories to learn from. From being a four year starter at Duke under one of the greatest coaches Mike Krzyzewski, being a part time actor, and now an analyst for ESPN, he has met so many people and done so many things. He also loves to use his dad as an example because he looks up to him so much. One thing he loves about his dad is talked about in the chapter “Preparation”, he says, “I look back on the things my father told me about preparation and concentration, and everything he told me was right.”

One of my favorite lessons and analogies was about a ladder. The lesson was to concentrate on what you were doing while you were doing it. This brought you to a ladder. Each rung on the ladder represented you focusing on what you were doing. You have to go through each rung to make it to the top, there is no jumping straight up. Jay says, “The toughest people have the will to prepare and the will to concentrate.”

I would definitely recommend this book especially if you are an athlete or coach. The material could be applied to anyone in life, but if you are a basketball player of any age, reading this book is a necessity.