About the book
The Bounce Back
Price:
$50.00
The Bounce Back is my memoir spanning Brooklyn to Albany, childhood to fatherhood, told with unflinching honesty, raw emotion, and an unshakeable faith that the best is still yet to come. It is not a story about never falling. It is a story about refusing to stay down
The Book
Five Parts. One Unstoppable Life.
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Part I: Foundations
The story begins in the early 1990s in the Marlboro Projects of Brooklyn, where I find freedom on the cracked basketball courts of Shady Park before the rest of the world wakes up. Raised in a home full of tension, financial hardship, and emotional chaos, I learned early to navigate two worlds: the noise inside the apartment and the open sky of the court outside. These are the years that plant the seed of who I will become. -
Part II: Structure & Discipline
At eleven years old, I joined the Flames League, a CYO travelling basketball program that transforms the game from an escape into an education. Under the demanding guidance of Coach Kurt and the mentorship of Papa Gerald, I discover what structure, accountability, and team chemistry actually feel like. My battles against the elite St. Ann's Cobras and the unforgettable humiliation of being crossed over by a future NBA player forge a resolve that will carry me for decades.
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Part III: Displacement
When my parents' marriage finally breaks apart, I am uprooted from everything I know, first to the Bronx, then to Far Rockaway, Queens. The friendships, the courts, the neighbourhood that shaped me: gone overnight. In a strange borough with new streets and new codes, I fight to hold onto my identity. The basketball courts of Hammel Houses become my new proving ground, and the beach, just across the road, becomes the unexpected place where my soul begins to breathe again. -
Part IV: Adulthood & Trials
Adulthood arrives without warning, and the dream of basketball quietly fades beneath the weight of bills, survival, and responsibility. Then COVID-19 locked down the world. I am living in a Bronx transitional shelter, watching a city I love fall apart around me, streets empty, violence rising, sirens constant. In that darkness, alone and afraid, I find something I had almost forgotten: my faith. On August 6, 2020, I made a decision that changed everything. -
Part V: Redemption
Albany. A new apartment. A backyard. A fresh start, and the hardest battle yet. For years, I fought through family court, through attorneys who disappear, through financial crisis and physical pain, all to reclaim my most sacred role: father. My son Jahlon is my reason for every sacrifice, every overnight shift, every prayer whispered in an empty room. This part of the story is about what love looks like when the system is designed to break you, and I refuse to break.
This Book Is For You
"To anyone reading this who has ever felt invisible, forgotten, or too broken to keep going, this story is for you. You are seen. You matter. Keep bouncing back."
Craig Powell, Preface
For Those Growing Up in Hardship
I wrote The Bounce Back for kids in the projects who hear gunshots at night and for anyone who carried burdens too heavy for their age, and still found the strength to get up each morning.
For Fathers and Survivors
This book speaks to fathers fighting broken court systems, survivors of trauma, and anyone rebuilding their life after setbacks, showing that perseverance can overcome even the toughest challenges.
For Dreamers and Believers
Whether you love basketball, hold onto faith, or simply refuse to give up, The Bounce Back is a message of hope and resilience for anyone striving to rise again.
What Our Client Say
As a father who lost visitation for two years, I read the Albany chapters and just sat there. Craig doesn't dress it up. He tells you exactly how humiliating and exhausting that fight is, and then he shows you it's worth it. I gave this book to my brother the same week.
Terrence Lamar
Johnson
work with at-risk youth and I've been looking for a book I can actually hand to a sixteen-year-old from the projects and say "read this." This is that book. Craig doesn't talk down to you. He talks to you
Natasha Renee
Simmons
The basketball stuff is great but honestly the COVID chapter is what stayed with me. I was in a shelter during lockdown too. I remember that silence. Craig described it so exactly it gave me chills. Glad someone finally wrote about what that was really like.
Damon Alexis
Carter
As a father who lost visitation for two years, I read the Albany chapters and just sat there. Craig doesn't dress it up. He tells you exactly how humiliating and exhausting that fight is, and then he shows you it's worth it. I gave this book to my brother the same week.
Terrence Lamar
Johnson
work with at-risk youth and I've been looking for a book I can actually hand to a sixteen-year-old from the projects and say "read this." This is that book. Craig doesn't talk down to you. He talks to you
Natasha Renee
Simmons
The basketball stuff is great but honestly the COVID chapter is what stayed with me. I was in a shelter during lockdown too. I remember that silence. Craig described it so exactly it gave me chills. Glad someone finally wrote about what that was really like.
Damon Alexis
Carter
Get the Book · 2025
Your Story Is Not Over
The Bounce Back is now available. Wherever you are in your journey, this book will meet you there. Pick it up, share it, and pass on the fire.