Hurricane Season: A Coach, His Team, and Their Triumph in the Time of Katrina
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Product Description
There's always a point in the season when you're faced with a challengeand you see what you're capable of. And you grow up." -- J.T. Curtis, head coach, John Curtis Christian School Patriots On Saturday, August 27, 2005, the John Curtis Patriots met for agrueling practice in the late summer New Orleans sun, the air a visiblefog of humidity. They had pulled off a 19-0 shutout in their pre-seasongame the night before, but it was a game full of dumb mistakes. Headcoach J.T. Curtis was determined to drill those mistakes out of thembefore their highly anticipated next game, which sportswriters haddubbed "the Battle of the Bayou" against a big team coming in all theway from Utah. As fate played out, that afternoon was the last time thePatriots would see one another for weeks; some teammates they'd neversee again. Hurricane Katrina was about to tear their lives apart. The Patriots are a most unlikely football dynasty. There is a small,nondescript, family-run school, the buildings constructed by hand by theschool's founding patriarch, John Curtis Sr. In this era of high schoolfootball as big business with 20,000 seat stadiums, John Curtis has nostadium of its own. The team plays an old-school offense, and CoachCurtis insists on a no-cut policy, giving every kid who wants to play achance. As of 2005, they'd won nineteen state championships in Curtis'sthirty-five years of coaching, making him the second most winning highschool coach ever. Curtis has honed to a fine art the skill of teachingplayers how to transcend their natural talents. No screamer, he strivesto teach kids about playing with purpose, the power of respect, dignity,poise, patience, trust in teamwork, and the payoff of perseverance,showing them how to be winners not only on the gridiron, but in life,and making boys into men. Hurricane Katrina would put those lessons tothe test of a lifetime. Hurricane Season is the story of a great coach, his team, his family,and their school -- and a remarkable fight back from shocking tragedy. Itis a story of football and faith, and of the transformative power of ateam that rises above adversity, and above its own abilities, to cometogether again and prove what they're made of. It is the gripping storyof how, as one player put it, "football became my place of peace.
Spotlight Customer Reviews:
Summary:
Remarkable!
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Comment:
The Patriots are a football team that plays for a Christian school John Curtis. Members of the founder's family, his five children and grandchildren make up part of the faculty members at the school. They aren't just a school; they are more like a family. They have taken football members into their homes for extended periods of time.
The Patriots have a great team due largely to their head coach J.T. Curtis, son of John Curtis. "Hurricane Season," the story, takes place in August 2005. The Patriots are preparing to play their first pre-season game, which they do, and it's a shut out in their favor. Unfortunately, hurricane Katrina is coming through the state. Katrina will drastically change John Curtis School and students' lives dramatically. Readers glimpse the struggles shared by each family during and after the storm.
J.T. is determined to get his football team back together for some normalcy. While many of the players have been relocated, J.T. realizes that getting the guys back on the field will be a big help to them mentally.
Neal Thompson has written a very good book that should be read by everyone. A true story, while reading you feel as if you're actually there in New Orleans and very much apart of the school, their family and face all of their triumphs. After finishing "Hurricane Season" I went to the website just to get information on the school and the players.
Reviewed by: Carmen
Also agree with the one reviewer who says that if you enjoy Friday Night Lights.
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Summary:
Amazing Comback!
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Comment:
"Hurricane Season" is a true story about triumph through hardship for a private Christian school's football team in New Orleans overcoming the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and Rita. This book takes a personal look at the devastation that Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita caused within six weeks. It's about a High School football coach's and his players' commitment to their school and team in midst of chaos and turmoil. It's about how football can pull a community together. I particularly liked reading how the coach motivated his players and how he taught them to be men. It was heartwarming to see how much the coach loved his players and cared about their personal lives and not just how they played football.
Another aspect that really touched me was J.T.'s close relationship and admiration for his father. His father built the school and was a big part of the football team. After the father died, J.T. still thinks of him often and wishes he could still run things past him. He feels a real sense of responsibility to make his dad proud and run the school well.
The ending of the book is very moving and emotional when the team finally gets to play football after it looked like they wouldn't even have a season. As I read about the games, it felt like I was right there in the stands watching and cheering for them. This book started out slow and was pretty sad, but is definitely worth reading to get an inside look at what the people of New Orleans went through during Katrina and how a football team really jelled. It certainly made my few problems look totally insignificant in comparison.
Karen Zemek, author of My Funny Dad, Harry
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Summary:
A People Book
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Comment:
I can't say enough good things about this book!! This book is remarkable!! It tells the story about how people dealt with Hurrican Katrina and the aftermath and a remarkable man, J. T. Curtis, Head football coach and principal of the John Curtis Christian School. How he and his family brought together a school and the football team is an unbelievable story. Their story will make you cry, laugh and cheer!! I really enjoyed this book A LOT!!!
Gerard Zemek
Husband of author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"
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Summary:
Through the storm comes grace
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Comment:
This was a gift for my husband. He loves it! It is about more than just football. It has heart.
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Summary:
THE EMOTIONAL SIDE OF THE STORY
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Comment:
Hurricane season is an excellent complement to Douglas Brinkley's " The Great Deluge." While Brinkley provides an excellent analytical and scholarly account of Hurricane Katrina that should set the standard for many years; Hurricane Season captures the powerful emotional dimensions. Though grounded in the story of a high school football team, it transcends normal sportswriting by speaking to the bigger panorama of life, suffering, loss, and inspiring tales of recovery and fortitude.
With so many aspirations and dreams hanging in the balance, the J.T. Curtis School and football team regroup after enduring catastrophe and devastation and become a beacon of hope and solace for many of the victims.
Replete with an abundance of anecdotes and personal accounts, Thompson weaves their stories into a gripping narrative that will find appeal among readers of all genres. This is a stirring and fast paced treatment of those perilous days that is both wrenching and redeeming.
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