Ed Arnold’s “Peterborough’s Perfect Season” does more than celebrate the undefeated 1974 Peterborough Jr. A lacrosse team. His book is as much about the alchemy of high performance as it is local sport history. It stands admirably on its own in this latter sense, especially for readers fortunate enough to know the locality and its people, but it goes much further.
Although his picture is of a bygone era, Arnold reminds that the team’s success came from the convergence of timeless, enduring factors. A winning attitude modeled by those who came before. Obsessive, dedicated, personally invested organizational leaders with undeniable passion.
The deep chemistry forged through years of common experiences of a uniquely skilled, tirelessly developed cohort. Add the competitive spirit among the players constantly demanding better from each and the essential ingredient of fun and this story is a recipe for success beyond just what happened to those boys that year.
Arnold’s anecdotal style takes the reader on to the club’s sweat-drenched bench or broken-down bus to come to know the characters, where they came from, what they went through, who they were.
And somewhere along this journey one can’t help but feel part of this team and appreciate the community that surrounded it without whose combined contributions there would be no story to tell.
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