In Spirit and Sport: Religion and the Fragile Athletic Body in Popular Culture, Sean O’Neil studies the intersectionality of religion and disability as it exists within contemporary sports. To do so, he calls to the forefront various contemporary stories about trauma and disability—some fictional, others biographical—and examines how we tell and interpret these stories within the frameworks of athletic activity, competition, failure, and success. O’Neil studies a wide range of perspectives, from John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany and the big-screen’s Signs to the experiences of real-life athletes like Tim Tebow, Muhammad Ali, and Bethany Hamilton. Woven throughout his examination of each is a consideration of religious belief and practice, especially within Christianity, as it relates to athletic ability—the lighthearted stories of victory and overcoming, the inspiring triumph over fragility and limitation so often couched in religious terms. O’Neil’s study draws upon his experiences as a hospital chaplain and his own battle with skin cancer. By blending personal experience with sociological observation, O’Neil argues that the intersection of religion, sports, and disability in popular culture is a revealing site of cultural struggle over competing myths, identities, and values related to the body—both the physical bodies we inhabit as well as the broader social bodies to which we subscribe. Spirit and Sport is a study with broad appeal: from O’Neil’s autoethnographic storytelling to the wide range of narrative media he examines, religious scholars, sports historians, and general audiences alike are sure to find it a thought-provoking and engaging read.

The Isle of Man TT - the world's most dangerous race - as seen through the eyes of Cummins, Martin, McGuinness and Dunlop. THAT NEAR DEATH THING is a life-affirming journey to the heart of the world's most dangerous race. The Isle of Man TT is a throwback to a maverick era that existed before PR platitudes and PC attitudes. WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR-shortlisted author Rick Broadbent gets inside the helmets of four leading motorcycle racers as they battle fear, fire and family tragedy for a gritty sort of glory. Guy Martin is a tea-drinking truck mechanic and TV eccentric who 'sucks the rabbits out of hedges', but must now deal with the flipside of fame; Conor Cummins is the local hero facing a race against time as he battles depression and a broken body after falling down the mountain; John McGuinness is the living legend fending off the ravages of middle-age for one last hurrah; Michael Dunlop is the wild child living with one of the most remarkable legacies in sport. They tell their astonishing stories in a book that provides the most rounded, intimate, behind-the-scenes account yet of the last great race. Rick Broadbent has delivered the final word on the Isle of Man TT, one that really gets to grips with an event that continually pulls unsung riders and fans back year after year to witness That Near Death Thing.

Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer, once pleaded for `a pretty move for the love of God' when watching his beloved soccer. This book is likewise interested in `beautiful moves', but turns instead to the architecture of the stadium as an architectural type as captivating as the play occurring on the pitch. In the past 30 years a number of stadium projects have been completed that highlight how this building type has become a site for architectural innovation and complexity. Clients that once would once have turned to large firms specializing in stadia instead began to hire A-list and Pritzker-Prize-winning architects to design new stadia. As a result, in cities around the world stadia are often the most expensive and monumental of projects, and may be icons of identity and defining presences in the built landscape. By examining a range of exemplary stadia from around the world (built, unbuilt and demolished projects), this book presents for the first time a canon for this building type. Organized chronologically, it includes famous examples from the likes of Lina Bo Bardi, Frei Otto, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Herzog & de Meuron, Foster + Partners and Studio Gang.

Highly acclaimed UCLA Women's gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field shares insights on how to use uniqueness and authenticity to achieve success.

How did a professional ballerina become one of the winningest coaches in NCAA history? Valorie Kondos Field-or Miss Val as she's affectionately known-has never even tumbled, flipped, or ever played any type of organized sports and yet she has been able to craft a legendary coaching career through curiosity, creativity, intention to detail, and unwavering care for the overall well-being of her athletes. For Miss Val, it's not about the X's and O's, it's about choreographing your life and owning the choices you make.

Miss Val has shaped her UCLA Gymnastics program as a life skills class and now she's sharing those lessons with you, whether you're an athlete, business leader, or simply someone who wants to own their destiny. Miss Val's philosophies are timeless. Her coaching style is unorthodox. LIFE IS SHORT, DON'T WAIT TO DANCE is a thoughtprovoking, fun journey through the personal stories and anecdotes of the 35-year career of a dancer/choreographer turned athletic coach.

Athletic Director's Desk Reference, Second Edition With HKPropel Access, is the most comprehensive resource available for collegiate and high school athletic administrators. Expert leadership advice and practical tools guide administrators in successfully navigating increasingly complex roles in athletic programs of any size. With more than 75 combined years of experience as athletic program administrators, coaches, and consultants, the authors deliver an engaging narrative and professional insights for athletic directors of all levels. The modern demands on athletic programs and evolving safety and culture issues are reflected in this updated edition, with new content on Title IX compliance, social media communications, planning tools for budgets, cost-saving strategies, revenue generating opportunities, student-athlete mental health, concussion protocols, athletes' rights, Esports, and more. Offering a solid foundation of information every athletic director needs to know, plus clear advice on day-to-day operations, this essential resource can be used as an immediate practical guide through the real-world issues typically encountered by every athletic director. An extended table of contents provides an outline of the book elements so athletic directors can quickly find relevant tools within the book and easily reference the corresponding online materials, enabling administrators to confront issues and lead with confidence. Throughout the book, management tips deliver professional advice, foundational information, problem-solving strategies, and suggestions for management of employees, programs, events, and facilities. Planning tools provide specific steps and considerations to take when developing strategic plans, action plans, professional development plans, and governance systems. More than 300 documents are delivered through HKPropel. These valuable time-saving resources can be downloaded and customized to suit the needs of any athletic program. Educational resources can be used for teaching and motivating staff, campus constituents, volunteers, and student athletes. Evaluation instruments and risk assessments help today's athletic administrators assess job performance, evaluate program contents, identify risks, and prevent litigation. Policies and forms are easily modified, enabling athletic directors to produce effective policies and procedures that meet their unique needs while saving significant time. The advice and tools in Athletic Director's Desk Reference allow professionals to turn theory into immediate practice. The book addresses all the various policy, procedure, and system needs required for becoming an efficient and effective athletic director overseeing a successful athletic program. Note: A code for accessing HKPropel is included with all new print books.

"Shows that sport has been for us moderns the ultimate "tabula rasa" into which we pour our hopes, fears, prejudices and self-interest."--Robert A. Nye, author of "Crime, Madness, & Politics in Modern France" and "Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France"
"Chris Thompson has written an engaging, nicely-paced account of France's world-famous cycle race: his writing is lively and full of detail and excitement. But he has done much more than simply narrate the story of the Tour. His book sets the race--its history, its participants and its meaning--firmly in its shifting national and cultural contexts. The sections dealing with professional cycling as a form of labor and with the Tour's place in France's troubled twentieth century are absolutely first-rate: insightful and original. This is the best history of the Tour that we have and are likely to have for many years, a work of scholarship that deserves to find a broad general readership."--Tony Judt, author of "Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945"

This book explores the ways in which post-modernist and post-structural approaches can enrich the study of the sporting past. Throughout the chapters, the internationally respected authors draw from their own vast experiences within the study of sport history to collectively promote post-modernism and post-structuralism as forms of social theory that can guide the future of sport historical research. The book demonstrates how sport studies scholars might be more adventurous in their thinking, research, and writing.

A top-to-bottom look at England's national game, from one of the UK's leading business economists. The Premier League is the most commercially successful football league in history, the self-proclaimed 'best league in the world'. But success has come at a cost, unbalancing the English game to a profound and damaging degree. Football's stumbling response to COVID-19 and the European Super League disaster are just the most recent examples. It is estimated that more than two thirds of the country's 92 professional clubs are loss-making; payments to agents each year regularly total more than the combined income of all 44 clubs in Leagues 1 and 2; supporters have been squeezed to the limit; racist incidents are on the rise; grassroots facilities are in a dreadful state; and failed World Cup bids have severely weakened England's standing in the global game. The national team's performance at Euro 2020 can't paper over the cracks. There is an alternative. In this revealing and eye-opening analysis, leading economist Mark Gregory reveals the breadth and depth of the problems facing our national men's game, and shows us a way to bring football home for good.

Despite the increasing number of popular and celebrated sports documentaries in contemporary culture, such as ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, there has been little scholarly engagement with this genre. Sports documentaries, like all films, do not merely showcase objective reality but rather construct specific versions of sporting culture that serve distinct economic, industrial, institutional, historical, and sociopolitical ends ripe for criticism, contextualization, and exploration. Sporting Realities brings together a diverse group of scholars to probe the sports documentary’s cultural meanings, aesthetic practices, industrial and commercial dimensions, and political contours across historical, social, medium-specific, and geographic contexts. It considers and critiques the sports documentary’s visible and powerful position in contemporary culture and forges novel connections between the study of nonfiction media and sport.  

This book critically examines how rugby union has developed in recent years, in nations on the periphery of the sport. Focusing on people and places on the fringes, it examines contemporary issues and challenges within the global game. Such a collection is timely, as the sport's governing body seeks to expand influence and participation beyond the eight core nations, with the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan being the first time that that tournament has taken place outside of the core. Presenting case studies from Europe, Africa, North and South America, Asia and the Middle East, this collection offers an interdisciplinary account of a sport that is undergoing a period of significant change. Through examination of topics such as the development of rugby sevens and the growth of women's rugby, it considers what the future may hold for the sport. Rugby in Global Perspective is important reading for students of sport in society, the globalisation of sport, sports studies, sport development and associated fields. It is also a valuable resource for academic researchers working in rugby union or sport in the peripheral rugby nations, as well as those with an interest in cultural geography, sociology, development studies, events studies, event management and sport management.

The declaration of war against Germany on 3 September 1939 brought an end to the second (and as yet, final) Golden Age of English cricket. Over 200 first-class English players signed up to fight in that first year; 52 never came back. In many ways, the summer of 1939 was the end of innocence. Using unpublished letters, diaries and memoirs, Christopher Sandford recreates that last summer, looking at men like George Macaulay, who took a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket but was struck down while serving with the RAF in 1940; Maurice Turnbull, the England all-rounder who fell during the Normandy landings; and Hedley Verity, who still holds cricketing records, but who died in the invasion of Sicily. Few English cricket teams began their first post-war season without holding memorial ceremonies for the men they had lost: The Final Innings pays homage not only to these men, but to the lost innocence, heroism and human endurance of the age.

In this impressive book, Barbara Keys offers the first major study of the political and cultural ramifications of international sports competitions in the decades before World War II. She examines the transformation of events like the Olympic Games and the World Cup from relatively small-scale events to the expensive, celebrity-packed, politically resonant, globally popular entertainment extravaganzas familiar to us today. Focusing on the United States, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union, she details how countries of widely varying ideologies were drawn to participate in the emerging global culture. She tells of Hollywood and Coca-Cola jazzing up the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, of Hitler crowing over the 1936 Berlin games, and of the battle between democracy and dictatorship in the famed boxing matches between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. Keys also presents one of the best accounts to date of the Soviet relationship to Western sports before the rise of the "big red sports machine."

While international sport could be manipulated for nationalist purposes, it was also a vehicle for values--such as individualism and universalism--that subverted nationalist ideologies. The 1930s were thus a decade not just of conflict but of cultural integration, which laid a foundation for the postwar growth of international ties.

THE NO.1 BESTSELLER! 'I read it in one sitting, it's a superb book' Eamon Dunphy, The Stand 'An astonishing expose' Martin Ziegler, The Times Over the course of fifteen years, John Delaney ran the Football Association of Ireland as his own personal fiefdom. He had his critics, but his power was never seriously challenged until last year, when Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan published a sequence of stories in the Sunday Times containing damaging revelations about his personal compensation and the parlous financial situation of the FAI. Delaney's reputation as a great financial manager was left in tatters. He resigned under pressure, and the FAI was left hoping for a massive bail-out from the Irish taxpayer. In Champagne Football, Tighe and Rowan dig deep into the story of Delaney's career and of the FAI's slide into ruin. They show how he surrounded himself with people whose personal loyalty he could count on, and a board that failed to notice that the association's finances were shot. They detail Delaney's skilful cultivation of opinion-formers outside the FAI. And they document the culture of excess that Delaney presided over and benefited from, to the detriment of the organization he led. Champagne Football is a gripping, sometimes darkly hilarious and often enraging piece of reporting by the award-winning journalists who finally pulled back the curtain on the FAI's mismanagement. ____________ 'Excellent' Irish Sun 'A jaw-dropping story ... brilliant' Irish Times 'Essential reading' Irish Daily Star 'Astonishing ... Side-splittingly hilarious' Guardian 'A damning account' Sunday Independent 'An instant classic, one of the all-time great Irish sports books' Alan English 'Excellent ... includes staggering detail' Daily Mail 'A cracking read ... [An] incredible amount of jaw-dropping detail' Matt Cooper 'One of the most hotly-anticipated sport books of the year' Brendan O'Connor 'A masterpiece' Tommy Martin 'At last, the truth of his ruinous reign has been rigorously and painstakingly exposed' Irish Daily Mail 'An absolutely extraordinary book' Eoin McDevitt, Second Captains 'Remarkable. The desperate story of Irish football but also a book about how Ireland works. Outstanding' Dion Fanning

Cricket is defined by the characters who have played it, watched it, reported it, ruled upon it, ruined it and rejoiced in it. Humorous and deeply affectionate, Cricketing Lives tells the story of the world's greatest and most incomprehensible game through those who have shaped it, from the rustic contests of eighteenth-century England to the spectacle of the Indian Premier League. It's about W. G. Grace and his eye to his wallet; the invincible Viv Richards; and Sarah Taylor, 'the best wicketkeeper in the world . . . male or female'. Paying homage, too, to the game's great writers, Richard H. Thomas steers a course through the despair of war, tactical controversies and internecine politics, to reveal how cricket has always stormed back to warm our hearts as nothing else can.

A striking collection of two hundred iconic sports photographs—from local heroes to international icons, pickup games to sold-out stadiums. From the growth of community sports around the province to the successful hosting of large-scale sporting events, and with the impressive development of world-class athletes, British Columbia boasts a vibrant and rich history of sports over the past century. Vancouver Sun and Province photojournalists and other local photographers have had a front-row seat to the action, producing sports photographs with the power to astonish. From Indigenous canoe racers and sumo wrestlers to homegrown champions such as Nancy Greene and Steve Nash to amateur athletes and sports fans, the two hundred photographs in Magic Moments in BC Sports capture an integral part of the province’s identity, in all its diverse, cheering, and face-painted glory.

** WINNER OF THE CYCLING BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE 2019 TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS** So how do you win a bike race? Riding as fast as you could for as long as you could was the main tactic in the early days of road racing when Grand Tours could be won by hours. Now a minute's delay thanks to a puncture could ruin a rider's chances over a three-week race and the sport is described as nothing less than chess on wheels. The intricacies and complexities of cycling are what makes it so appealing: an eye for opportunity and a quick mind are just as crucial to success as a 'big engine' or good form. How do you cope with crosswinds, cobbles, elbows-out sprints, weaving your way through a teeming peloton? Why are steady nerves one of the best weapons in a rider's arsenal and breakaway artists to be revered? Where do you see the finest showcase of tactical brilliance? Peter Cossins takes us on to the team buses to hear pro cyclists and directeurs sportifs explain their tactics: when it went right, when they got it wrong - from sprinting to summits, from breakaways to bluffing. Hectic, thrilling, but sometimes impenetrable - watching a bike race can baffle as much as entertain. Full Gas is the essential guide to make sense of all things peloton.

The third edition of the hugely successful Ashes Miscellany, a bestseller in 2005 and 2007. Fully revised, updated and repackaged to include the victorious 2009 and 2010/11 series, the book celebrates the rich history of one of the oldest and greatest rivalries in sport. Packed with facts, figures, lists, quotes and anecdotes - from the legend of the burning of the bails in 1871 to England's amazing triumph in 2011, from W.G. Grace and Don Bradman to David Boon's Ashes record of drinking 58 beers on the flight from Sydney to London!

Introduces all the key functional areas of the sport management curriculum, from human resources to marketing. Explains the practical realities of sport management. Covers both professional and non-profit sport. More international cases, examples and data than any other sport management textbook. New edition includes expanded coverage of key contemporary issues, including integrity and corruption, digital business and technology, and legal issues and risk management. Useful features in every chapter, including 'in practice' guides and extended case-studies with on-line notes for lecturers.

Join Ned Boulting as he reports on his dozen-th Tour de France, an event in which blokes do amazing things on bikes, and, we're oft told, the biggest annual sporting event in the world. 101 Damnations is a chance to relive the 2014 race, stage for stage, fall after fall, tantrum by tantrum; just the good bits mind, without all the aerial shots of castles. Or sunflowers. (Though it does wax lyrical about some stunning Alpine scenery . . . and, with the race starting in Yorkshire, even some stunning scenery not far from Bradford). From Leeds to Paris (how often do you say that?), Ned details the minutiae of his encounters with the likes of Vincenzo Nibali, David Millar, Chris Froome, Chris Boardman (or 'Broadman' as some would have it), Marcel Kittel, Mrs Cavendish (Mark's wife), Peter Sagan and the rest. Their endeavours, achievements, humour and occasional rancour, sit alongside his own decade-long quest for the ideal end-of-race T-shirt. Ned weaves together the interesting, amusing and unheralded threads of the race itself, and reflects on his own perennial struggle to get round, get on and get by. 101 Damnations encapsulates all that is incredible - and incredibly ordinary - about the greatest race on earth.

The sports business has become one of the fastest-growing industries in recent years. Sports organizations now have the potential to generate massive amounts of revenue through a variety of different channels, including broadcasting rights, advertising and branding. However, the rise of sports-related business has so far received relatively little attention from management scholars and social scientists. This book argues that we can no longer afford to ignore this important economic and social phenomenon. It presents a conceptual framework based on the concept of value creation to show how we can understand and explain the success and failure of sports organizations. Key concepts are illustrated with case studies of sporting organizations, including Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and the Americas Cup. Written by a team of authors from one of Spain's leading business schools, it provides a unique set of theoretical and practical insights for researchers and sports organization managers.

Published to rave reviews in hardcover and purchased by DreamWorks in a major film deal, The Big One is a spellbinding and richly atmospheric work of narrative journalism in the tradition of Friday Night Lights. Here is the story of a community--Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts--and a sporting event--the island's legendary Striped Bass & Bluefish Derby--that is rendered with the same depth, color, and emotional power of the best fiction. Among the characters, we meet: Dick Hathaway, a crotchety legend who once caught a bluefish from a helicopter and was ultimately banned for cheating; Janet Messineo, a recovering alcoholic who says that striped bass saved her life; Buddy Vanderhoop, a boastful Native American charter captain who guides celebrity anglers like Keith Richards and Spike Lee; and Wyatt Jenkinson, a nine-year-old fishing fanatic whose mother is battling brain cancer. At the center of it all is five-time winner Lev Wlodyka, a cagey local whose next fish will spark a storm of controversy and throw the tournament into turmoil. Much more than just a book for fishing enthusiasts, The Big One is an exhilarating story of passion and obsession--and a powerful testament to the dreams that keep us all going.

The wildly dramatic story of the Vitality Hockey Women's World Cup London 2018 - the biggest women's team sport event ever to take place on British soil. Under an Orange Sky was written and photographed by the team that brought you The History Makers: How Team GB Stormed to a First Ever Gold in Women's Hockey, winner of the Thompson Reuters Illustrated Sports Book of the Year 2018. At this crazy, anything-goes, ultimately tear-inducing competition there was no such thing as a certainty. High-ranked teams fell by the wayside, reputations were ignored and accepted practices turned on their heads as the form book was torn up in front of the huge crowds that flocked daily to the Lee Valley. Working together with world-class hockey photographers Frank Uijlenbroek and Koen Suyk - joined this time by Argentina's Rodrigo Jaramillo - authors Sarah Juggins and Richard Stainthorpe captured all the twists, shocks and surprises, and even a fabulous Irish fairy-tale, as east London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park welcomed the world's best.

In this riveting account of the 1975 Masters Tournament, acclaimed golf television veteran Gil Capps of NBC Sports and Golf Channel recaptures the thrilling excitement when three iconic heavyweights,Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, and Tom Weiskopf,battled back and forth, riveting the sports world and dramatically culminating in one of the greatest finishes in golf history.

Two national championships in the last decade, seven SEC championships in the last 16 years, two Heisman Trophy winners, the fourth winningest team in the 1990s?this is the story of the University of Florida Gators. Entering its 101st season, the Gators?the reigning national champions?have rolled out the greats for almost eighty years, beginning with its first All-American, Dale Van Sickel, in 1928. Since then it's been the likes of Charlie LaPradd, Haywood Sullivan, Rick Casares, Larry Dupree, Steve Spurrier, Carlos Alvarez, John Reaves, Jack Youngblood, Wes Chandler, Cris Collinsworth, Lomas Brown, Emmitt Smith, John L. Williams, Errict Rhett, Danny Wuerffel, Ike Hilliard, Fred Taylor, Jevon Kearse, Alex Brown, Rex Grossman, Chris Leak?Gator legends all. "Gators Glory" is the story of University of Florida football as told by the players, coaches, opponents, fans, and the media. It salutes the great stars, teams, moments, rivalries, venues, fans, and tradition of the Gators.