Jun 26

Jun 26 Tyson Hartnett, Former Pro Basketball Player, Author, Finding an Identity Outside Your Sport

Tyson Hartnett is a former Division-1 and Division-3 College basketball player at The University of Maine and Rowan University respectively. After his collegiate career he played professionally in Sweden, Argentina and Chile (which took some major balls). Like many athletes, Tyson completely immersed himself the the sport of basketball from a very young age. Tyson's intense dedication to basketball is the source of both his success and at times his failures throughout his career. Like many athletes (and myself) Tyson, struggled during time spent away from basketball and at times felt like he was worthless with out the athlete identity.

To prevent athletes from making the same mistakes he made and to help them in their transition to life after sports, he wrote the book "Hoop Dreams Fulfilled." This book is a detailed, first-person account of an athlete's failures and struggles on his way to playing professional basketball. Through in-depth experiences, Tyson Hartnett describes his journey playing basketball starting in 4th grade, through high school, college, and eventually professionally overseas. He profiles his mistakes and failures, and his eventual redemption.

This isn't just a book about an athlete achieving his goals. It's about the worst things Tyson experienced so younger athletes can learn from him. It's about what happens when an athlete is so focused on their sport that they don't care about anything else in life, and the repercussions of that mindset. Hoop Dreams Fulfilled touches on deep, intense sports psychology, and the weight and pressure many athletes feel but are afraid to talk about. Tyson recaps his failures in raw detail so others can learn from them.

Tyson was kind enough to send me a signed copy of the book, which I read prior to our interview. I was really able to connect to his struggle finding and identity at the end of a sports career. Tyson also hosts a podcast called "Athlete Minded", which has very similar interviews and messages to Heads 'N Tales, so we decided to interview each other! This episode was posted on Athlete Minded last week! During our dual podcast interview, Tyson and I talk about girls, the benefits of psychologists, struggles of getting playing time and traveling to foreign lands, just to name a few. This is by far the most I have opened up in an interview, so definitely check it out!

Lastly, many times throughout his book, Tyson talks about his love for reading and during the interview he lists some of his favorites, some of which are linked-up below: