When Frank Zaccari’s professional career took his family to
Seattle, his personal interest in woman’s volleyball sought an opportunity for
him to get involved with the program at the University of Washington – the Huskies. In From the Ashes, Frank
Zaccari discusses in great detail the sequence of events leading toward UW’s volleyball
success, as noted in the subtitle The
Rise of the University of Washington Volleyball Program.
Frank Zaccari was not the typical spectator in what is a
spectator sport. From the early days of
bringing his daughters to local woman’s volleyball competition, he realized the
dichotomy of skill levels between institutions involved in the sport. He describes the miss-match of having a
PAC-10 team, which is the best volleyball conference in the world, pitted
against a mere college team was analogous to bringing lambs to the
slaughter. What makes a team become so
superior? This question brought Frank
Zaccari’s professional problem solving techniques, used so successfully in
business, to life as a sports advocate.
Cleverly and with a minutia of detail specifically geared to
the UW women’s volleyball team, Zaccari begins his outline of philosophies
designed to ultimately bring the UW team to the championships. One of his theories, titled the Hedgehog Theory is when using new or
different tactics result in continued failure, due to not addressing the
problem, as excerpted below:
The fox is a cunning
creature, able to devise a myriad of complex strategies for sneak attacks upon
the hedgehog…The hedgehog is a dowdier creature…spends his day searching for
lunch and taking care of his home. The
fox plots and plans a complex series of daily attacks, while the hedgehog
focuses solely on what it deems important. When the fox leaps out to attack, the hedgehog simply rolls into a
perfect little ball. It becomes a sphere
of sharp spikes, pointing outward in all directions. The fox is forced to retreat and continues to
plan and plot its next failure.
Frank Zaccari points out everything starts with having the
right leader. One capable of articulating
his/her vision, inspiring the group, having keen wisdom in selecting the right
people for the proper tasks and always keeping focused on the “goal.” This is true in sports, life and
business.
From the Ashes is
written for a niche audience, particularly focused on the college woman’s
volleyball competition. In fact, a
generous donation from book sales will be given to the UW volleyball
program. The book is laden with details
regarding the players, coaches and competition history of the events of UW and
other teams, so in my opinion the general public may find this book of parallel
interest only if one is a devoted sports fan. However, for those involved in college sports, From the Ashes becomes required reading and you can apply the themes,
strategies, and suggestions to your own life; I truly believe you will find
they help you along your journey toward success. As the legendary coaching of Vince Lombardi of
the Green Bay Packers football team and
Phil Jackson of the LA Lakers
basketball team would subscribe to the principles brought forth in From the Ashes, Frank Zaccari packs a
lot of words of history, reason and motivation into his inspirational book. To all UW women’s volleyball players, we
holler, “POINT! HUSKIES!”
Buy this book at Amazon.com
