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What: “The Real Athletes Guide”

Authors: Marc Isenberg and Rick Rhoads

Publisher: Athlete Network Press ($19.95)

No one is naive enough to think that all a high school or college athlete has to do is read a book and he or she will be on the straight and narrow. But this 185-page book should definitely help. Parents should read it too.

Much of the advice is obvious and simplistic, but the book is an easy read and nicely put together. The kind of advice a young athlete will get can be found in Chapter 13, under the heading, “Don’t take candy from strangers.” The warning is that agents or others who look to benefit from your athletic ability will act as though they are concerned about your welfare. That seems obvious, but maybe not to young people. For high school recruits, there is this: “Pick a school you would like even if there were no sports.”

Three of the best sections in the book are written by Ronnie Lott, Ann Meyers Drysdale and Mike Krzyzewski. Lott tells of putting himself before the team as a USC freshman, when the Trojans played UCLA, and how he learned from that mistake. The stories and advice all three guest authors offer add to the value of the book.

In the front of the book, Isenberg and Rhoads offer this: “The NCAA rule book is 10 times as thick as the Guide [and 1,000 times less readable].” But they also point out they are not the NCAA, and to clarify rules, one should check with the NCAA.

Isenberg, from Chicago, was a basketball player at Division III Emory University in Atlanta but was dropped off the team after two seasons because of subpar grades. In 1994, he went to UCLA to research a freelance article on whether student-athletes should be paid. He talked to more than 50 student-athletes, but it was a four-hour session with John Wooden that changed his life.

That experience led to his recruiting Rhoads to create a Web site, www.athletesnetwork.com, in 1997; and earlier this year, after many rejections, the Guide was published. It can be ordered through the Web site, or by calling (800) 356-9315.