Mountains Within

A Life of Achievement, a Quest for Meaning, and the Mountain That Changed Everything

When Winning Isn’t Enough: Lessons from Sport Science, Faith, and Finding Meaning

Jack Groppel was driven to succeed long before he understood why. The son of a demanding, alcoholic father, Jack learned early that achievement was the only path to approval. By his twenties, he had already become among the youngest NCAA tennis coaches in the country, despite never having formal tennis training. Soon after, he was helping shape the future of sport science, training world-class athletes, and speaking on stages with global leaders. His résumé grew to include tennis halls of fame, Fortune 50 boardrooms, and speaking about chronic disease prevention before the United Nations.

But behind the accolades was a man unraveling. Failed marriages, estranged relationships, and a hospital stay with no one by his side revealed the emptiness of a life lived for trophies and applause. Everything changed when Jack adopted Shen, a toddler from China who wanted nothing to do with him. Their uneasy beginnings grew into a bond that redefined Jack’s understanding of love.

Mountains Within is an unflinching account of chasing success at any cost—and finally learning what matters most. From developing and validating the training of world-class athletes and sharing the stage with Christopher Reeve and Mikhail Gorbachev to a life-shifting climb up Kilimanjaro with his son, Jack shares how achievement addiction nearly destroyed him—and how fatherhood, faith, and a mountain helped him find redemption.

Raw, candid, and unexpectedly hopeful, Mountains Within is more than a memoir of sports, success, and sacrifice. It’s a story of fatherhood, redemption, and learning that true greatness is measured not in trophies but in love and legacy.

©2025 Jack Groppel (P)2025 Jack Groppel

Forces you to redefine “Success”

After reading this book, you have to reevaluate your definition of success. Is it really success if you’ve achieved more than you could ever have imagined when it comes to your professional/work goals, but at the same time still feel as if you’re never “good enough”— so you just keep working to accomplish more and more — all along not truly realizing you’re sacrificing family and friends along the way? It is a sad realization, but Dr Jack finally finds that he IS enough by the mere fact he is a child of God and that a balance of faith, family, work, and play is the sweet spot of being truly successful and happy. May we all learn that lesson sooner than later in each of our lives.