Basketball: Press for success

Vivek Ranadivé coached his daughter’s National Junior Basketball team at Redwood City, south of San Francisco, in Silicon Valley.

Because Vivek had grown up in Mumbai, where he had played cricket and soccer, Vivek knew very little about basketball. His daughter’s team was composed of twelve-year-old girls, who were short, white, and displayed no talent.

They could barely shoot, dribble, or jump, and yet they won most of their games, losing only in the championship game. How?

Malcolm Gladwell tells of this junior-high dream team in his recent book, David and Goliath.

Vivek insisted that his gir...