Finish Strong

April 1, 2021
An elite athlete lays out his motivations for pursuing his athletic dreams. Ebner's father, who ran a junkyard, loved to play rugby on the weekends, and Ebner soon followed in his father's footsteps, learning the ins and outs of the game at an early age. "Rugby asks for a certain humility. It's an egalitarian game. No player is above another. Each is a link in the chain of the team," he writes in a narrative co-written by Daugherty. Ebner and his father trained together, lifting homemade weights in a dingy garage, where they pushed themselves to do better every day: "You finish strong. This was his mentality. Working hard is a skill. Practice it enough, it can be second nature." Even after his father was murdered when the author was 19, he stuck to his father's mantra and continued to play rugby and put in hours at the gym honing his physical skills. He went on to play football at Ohio State and in the NFL with the New England Patriots, where he earned three Super Bowl rings. In 2016, Ebner returned to rugby as part of the U.S. Olympic team. The book is filled with the highlights and disappointments that come standard with any high-level athletic career. Taking risks and pushing oneself to the limit are strong themes, as well, and the loving bond between a father and son is evident throughout. "Rugby was our connective tissue," writes the author, "the living bridge between who Jeff Ebner was and who he wanted me to be." This book is a fitting continuation of that bridge, a tale that will appeal to sports fans and those who appreciate the determination and physical and mental toughness required to thrive at the top level of sports. Former OSU head coach Urban Meyer provides the foreword. Fond memories of hard work, football, rugby, and an indelible father-son bond.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2021
One could hardly draw, let alone traverse, the unlikely, utterly grueling path that Nate Ebner's life has taken to athletic achievement: a national-level junior rugby player, an Ohio State University football team walk-on who'd never played a down in high-school, a sixth-round NFL draft pick with the New England Patriots, a member of the U.S. Olympic Rugby team that competed in the 2016 Summer Games, and a return to the Patriots, with whom he won three Super Bowl rings. With the murder of his beloved rugby-playing father at the family's junkyard in Springfield, Ohio, in 2008, when Ebner was just 19, it was a career meant to be derailed at the start. Instead, with a singular focus bordering on obsessive, Ebner carried his father's mantra--"Finish strong"--throughout his career. There's no mention in this book, coauthored with Daugherty, about Ebner's deep Jewish heritage, or even much about his other personal relationships. Rather, it's an instruction manual on the shaping of a professional athletic career, one insanely tough workout at a time, founded on unswerving parental attention, love, and support.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2021

During his football career, Ebner earned three Super Bowl rings while playing safety and on special teams for the New England Patriots from 2012 to 2019; in 2020, he signed as free agent with the New York Giants. In this book (co-written by sports columnist Daugherty), Ebner shares the story of his father, Jeff, who was his mentor, trainer, and best friend--and discusses the lasting impact of his father's murder on his own life and career. Jeff ran an auto salvage company, where he was killed by a thief when Nate was 19 years old. The book's most compelling chapters describe Nate coming to terms with his father's death and figuring out how to honor him in daily life. Jeff played club rugby in Columbus, OH, as did Nate at Ohio State before becoming a walk-on player for the Buckeye football team. He was later a member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic rugby team, which suffered a last-minute loss to Argentina. Ebner's description of training for the Olympics will certainly give readers an appreciation for rugby's physical demands. VERDICT This memoir will find readers among fans of insider sports accounts, or anyone fascinated by what it takes to become a pro athlete; it's also a solid choice for young adults.--Karl Helicher, formerly with Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.