Showing posts with label athletics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label athletics. Show all posts

To the Hoop: The Seasons of a Basketball Life Review

To the Hoop: The Seasons of a Basketball Life
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If you're addicted to "the greatest game ever invented," whether or not you play it well, you'll love "To the Hoop." It has insights and anecdotes from the famous and the unknown players Berkow has encountered in his checkered basketball career. Anyone who has played pickup basketball on a consistent and regular basis has their own memory bank of unusual characters and incidents. Berkow just packages and weaves his stories together in a way that grips the reader. Added to the mix is the emotional tale of alienation and reconciliation between brothers in the context of a life threatening illness.Aging baby boomers who are struggling to deal with the deterioration of whatever athletic talents they may have believed they once had, are the perfect audience for this autobiographical tale.

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Beyond the Scoreboard: Examining Teamwork, Tension, and Triumph in High School Athletics Review

Beyond the Scoreboard: Examining Teamwork, Tension, and Triumph in High School Athletics
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I found this book to have great insight into high school sports as well as insight into reasons why a Mission Statement is important to athletic programs. This is a must read!

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Beyond the Scoreboard is a must-read for anyone involved with high school sports. John Steltz is able to use his extensive experience and knowledge as a basketball coach to show readers what the world of prep sports is really like, and what needs to be changed to make it a more rewarding experience for players, coaches, parents, and administrators.-Scott Venci, Sports reporter, Green Bay Press-Gazette
' Who is responsible for the healthy development of a positive sense of self-worth in high school student-athletes?' What are the overall purposes of high school athletics?' When will the landscape of high school athletics regain its primary function as a learning environment?' Where do high school athletics fit in the 21st Century learning experience?' Why has the value of high school athletics become increasingly misaligned?' How can parents, coaches, and administrators work together to ensure athletic programs enrich the lives of student-athletes in an increasingly competitive environment?
Beyond the Scoreboard provides insight for parents, coaches, and administrators into the current landscape of high school athletics in which over half of all high school students in the United States participate. The revealing real life scenarios used to demonstrate important concepts creates spiritual and passionate tones to build credibility and engage readers.
A useful, realistic guide for high school coaches, parents of high school athletes, and high school administrators, Beyond the Scoreboard examines proper strategies that develop and maintain healthy athletic programs in high school.
Beyond the Scoreboard must be used as a tool for athletic directors and high school coaches to generate effective mission statements promoting the development of a positive sense of self-worth in high school student-athletes.The mission statement will better equip administrators and coaches to handle tensions and triumphs that are an inevitable part of the high school athletics landscape.

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Jocks: True Stories of America's Gay Male Athletes Review

Jocks: True Stories of America's Gay Male Athletes
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As mentioned by other reviewers, this book is not intended to titilate or be an erotic novel. Rather, it is a group of true stories of coaches and athletes at the high school, college and beyond levels of competition. Perhaps because I heard about the nature of the book from a friend before I bought it, I was not suprised and certainly not disappointed. So to those who are looking for some stories about sex-crazed jocks in a locker room, try somewhere else.
The wonderful thing about this novel is that Woog's discussions really allow you to see the different reactions of both athletes and their friends and families when confronting the "gay issue." Some have good experiences; others not so good. Some are totally out; others are not out to a majority of those they work with. The reader can definitely see that being gay and being an athlete are not necessarily at odds as much of our society would have us believe.
I actually had the pleasure of meeting one of the interviewees. One of my friends who plays hockey in both straight and gay clubs knew the interviewee prior to being included in the book. It was even more amazing to meet and talk with him on several occasions to see that the book was accurate. Neither sports nor being gay are all he's about. He's one of the fortunate ones who is comfortable about all aspects of his life. And I think that Dan Woog has done a great job of showing that throughout his book.
Take a chance; you'll enjoy it.

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Guts in the Clutch: 77 Legendary Triumphs, Heartbreaks, and Wild Finishes in 12 Sports Review

Guts in the Clutch: 77 Legendary Triumphs, Heartbreaks, and Wild Finishes in 12 Sports
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Richard Noyes and Pamela Robertson have put together a fascinating, brisk compilation of some of the most exciting moments and finishes in baseball, football basketball and nine other sports. It's hard to mix excitement with detail, but the authors have struck the perfect balance. The book is a treasury of highlights and unforgettable moments, from Bobby Thomson's 1951 homerun at the Polo Grounds, giving the NY Giants the league championship to Rocky Marciano's 1952 knockout of Jersey Joe Wolcott to win the heavyweight crown. It's a wonderful read.
Neil Thompson


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FOREWORD by Drew Olson of ESPN Radio and past president of the Baseball Writers Association of America. PRAISE from David Houle, noted producer of Hank Aaron and Harlem Globetrotters documentaries: "The best compilation of fascinating sports stories I have read." Take a breather, dip in, and read about the pitcher who never pitched in the big leagues again after losing a World Series game on the only hit he gave up; and the 45-year-old coach who played in the goal for the first time and won a Stanley Cup. (And that's only two gems among hundreds in the 77 concise, punchy stories.) Delivers extraordinary exploits in 12 sports. Riveting sports-dynasty narratives on organizations such as the Steelers, Yankees, Celtics, Canadiens, Calumet Farm, and UCLA basketball abound. Rich anecdotes about athletes like Jim Thorpe, Michael Jordan, Jack Nicklaus, Jake LaMotta, Jim Brown, Ted Williams, Mia Hamm, Bobby Orr, Jackie Robinson, Michael Phelps. Open the book anywhere, then relax and enjoy.

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Body Mind Mastery: Training For Sport and Life Review

Body Mind Mastery: Training For Sport and Life
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The book has 166 pages of content and can be divided into three main parts. The first part is fairly abstract, Millman calls it "Understanding the Larger Game". The first chapter is about natural laws that Millman sees as being helpful to understand; the next has to do with bringing awareness to our activities as a way to see what we are doing wrong, what we are doing right, and then learning from our mistakes; last chapter of part 1 is about preparation, about slow and steady progress. Personally, having read alot of self help and mind body I didn't really find this first part very helpful. The second part and the first chapter of the third part are, to me, the meat and bones of the book, where the concrete content is. He has chapters on Mental, Emotional, and Physical talent and how to cultivate all three. He talks about the self concept, fear of failure, about breathing, and then about strength, suppleness, stamina, and sensitivity. Then there is a chapter with specific advice for working on skills, like hitting a golf ball or diving or gymnastics. The third part of the book criticizes the focus on results and urges more focus on focus, concentration and personal growth and the last chapter is about new sports, less competitive, that Millman sees developing in the future. Again, this part is more abstract and it is very normative, criticizing competition, though he does recognize that it can bring out the best in people, and then naming some new sports he sees as good developments. He also suggests requiring athletes in asymettrical sports such as golf, tennis, bowling and baseball to "use both arms equally" (pg 143). I found that a little annoying and I also didn't really see it as having a place in this book. Overall, there are a bunch of good points in here, it is clear that Millman understands how to pursue excellence and growth, but I felt the book was a bit unfocused and there was nothing really new for someone who has done some reading in this area. Greg ...

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Physically demanding sports such as tennis and basketball have a lot in common with skills such as playing the piano. In addition to physical training, mastering these activities requires developing mental and emotional talents as well. Drawing on his own experiences, Dan Millman, in this revised and updated edition of The Inner Athlete, offers a regimen to integrate physical training with psychological growth. He examines the motivations for athletic excellence and offers a transformative guide to success that is as applicable in everyday life as it is in sports.

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Run Like a Girl: How Strong Women Make Happy Lives Review

Run Like a Girl: How Strong Women Make Happy Lives
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I just finished my copy after getting it yesterday, and Mina's book is inspiring. It outlines some of the toughest issues any one faces in the lifelong battle to stay focused and happy. You can sense the support in every page, because the style is so down-to-earth, but also because the quotes from the hundreds of women interviewed sound like things you'd hear from your best friends. This is augmented by stories from Mina's own life an athletic career--stories that illustrate the most positive ways to deal with negative self-image, low energy, troubles with partners (athletic and otherwise). I wish I'd read this years ago--I think I'd be even happier and stronger now, but with this book in hand I expect to start improving tomorrow morning!

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Run Like A Girl is about the impact that participating in sports has on women-how the confidence and strength that it helps to build spills over into all of our experiences, making us stronger and better prepared for life's many challenges. In this inspiring book, Mina Samuels uses the varied personal stories of women and girls of all ages and backgrounds-as well as her own-to take a broad look at the power that sports have to help us face, and to overcome, obstacles in all arenas of life.Myriad voices fill the pages of Run Like A Girl: a US-ranked amateur triathlete who's raising an autistic son; a thirteen-year-old girl who discovers and falls in love with cross-country running; a woman who runs her first marathon at age sixty; an investment banker who quit her job to become a yoga teacher and adopt a daughter on her own; a young mother with scoliosis who cycled her way back to health and became a jewelry designer along the way; and countless other women-including Kathrine Switzer, Rebecca Rusch, and Molly Barker-who have been changed by their experience with sports. Run Like A Girl makes the important argument that physical strength lends itself to psychological strength, that lessons learned on the field (or track, or slopes) can help us face challenges in other areas-and that for many women, participating in sports translates into leading a happier, more fulfilling life.

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