Sherri CoaleRooted to Rise: The Redwood Legacies of Life-Anchoring People

This book is written by someone with a gift for storytelling and writing, told in a way that made me feel like I'd just had a long lunch conversation with a good friend. This book is subtle, inspiring, and positive. It lets you connect the dots, and makes you think about those moments or people in your own life that that are more than they appear. It's a lovely read.

Sherri Coale exudes excellence. I love her curiosity, thoughtfulness, and desire to help other people. It is evident that she's built an amazing career because she loves helping others pursue excellence. This book is so good. Check out the beautiful writing in the Introduction:"You might think the towering redwoods would have roots that attach to the very core of the earth--- deep, deep anchors that could support the giant mass that stands. but they don't. Their root systems are, ironically, quite shallow, reaching only from six to 12 feet under the ground, as their crowns soar so high you can scarcely see the top. Instead of growing down to find an anchor, redwood roots grow out... and wrap around each other. They hold each other up."Buy this book. Read it. Put it into action.

Sherri Coale was the outstanding girls basketball coach at Oklahoma University. She had a gift for coaching that was evident in the fire and personalities of her teams. Now I have some insight into the people and life experiences that generated such an amazing person. These vignettes are beautifully written and encouraging. We never know how we have impacted someone's life.

To say I love Sherri Coale’s writing and collection of essays is inadequate! I was deeply moved by her writing, it touched my heart and soul! Rooted to Rise is the whole package! Her book makes you think, feel, laugh, and cry! You are welcomed into different corners of her Hall of Fame life and the people that impacted her journey along the way! Her love of story telling is infectious and it will leave you wanting more! A beautiful tribute to lives well lived! Can’t wait for your next book, you are a shooting star of a human!

If you have followed Oklahoma women’s basketball, former head coach Sherri Coale’s “Rooted to Rise” is a must-read. Her collection of essays are well-written and ooze with her passion for people, life, and lessons learned along the journey of life.

This book grabs you and pulls you in to the people, places, and events that have shaped Coach Coale's life and in return, been shaped by her. You can hear it, see it, and feel it as you follow along with her. She has a great way of putting thoughts, feelings, and experiences, into words. Her English teachers over the years would/will be proud.To borrow a well worn coaches' cliche', this book isn't about the X's and O's, its all about the Johnnys and the Joes and their aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, grandparents................. Great book.

This book—Rooted to Rise—GREAT! It’s simple. You will learn, laugh, cry, be inspired by and all out love this book.And this author—Sherri Coale—EVEN GREATER! She is a masterful storyteller and the best teacher of basketball and life that I have ever known. You will all out love her writing.She has been and will always be life-anchoring to an unimaginable number of people. I am blessed to be one of those.

At some point while reading Rooted to Rise, perhaps as early as the Introduction, the fact Sherri Coale was a Hall of Fame basketball coach no longer will take precedence. Instead, you will become immersed and potentially overwhelmed by her remarkable writing. This coach dissects her subjects not with X’s and O’s but rather with keen observations. She has assembled a collection of thought-provoking tributes into which she obviously poured her heart, soul and mind. Her words dive deep yet flow effortlessly, a feat pulled off only by the gifted. At times you will be tempted to re-read a passage you just read, not to critique it but to admire it. And to a writer, there is no higher compliment. Dare it be suggested Sherri Coale nearly missed her calling in life? Fortunately for us, she didn’t let that happen. Rooted to Rise proves Sherri was born to coach and write, maybe not in that order.