When Great Britain failed to qualify for the women's hockey competition at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the sport was at its lowest point. Sliding down the world rankings, in-fighting and discord within the squad, no funding and very little prospect of a bright future. Three players - Crista Cullen, Helen Richardson and Kate Walsh - were junior members of that team, and would have been forgiven for walking away at that point. Fast forward 12 years and the same three players were at the heart of the greatest moment in Great Britain women's hockey, standing on the podium in Rio de Janeiro with Olympic gold medals proudly hanging around their necks. During those intervening years, the team had undergone a transformation. It was no easy journey, but a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows, triumphs and disasters - with casualties along the way. The History Makers is more than an account of a famous victory. It is the story of how a team changed its culture and its attitude and transformed a sport barely worth a mention in the press into the provider of an Olympic moment that gripped the nation.

The story of global sport is the story of expansion from local development to globalized industry, from recreational to marketized activity. Alongside that, each sport has its own distinctive history, sub-cultures, practices and structures. This ambitious new volume offers state-of-the-art overviews of the development of every major sport or classification of sport, examining their history, socio-cultural significance, political economy and international reach, and suggesting directions for future research. Expert authors from around the world provide varied perspectives on the globalization of sport, highlighting diverse and often underrepresented voices. By putting sport itself in the foreground, this book represents the perfect companion to any social scientific course in sport studies, and the perfect jumping-off point for further study or research. The Routledge Handbook of Global Sport is an essential reference for students and scholars of sport history, sport and society, the sociology of sport, sport development, sport and globalization, sports geography, international sports organizations, sports cultures, the governance of sport, sport studies, sport coaching or sport management.

The Know the Game series is firmly established as the leading introduction to a huge range of sports. For 50 years they have been the first step into a new sport for many people, children and adults alike. The series has now been relaunched in a new format with a modern design - making the best even better. The aim has been to make the books more accessible, and they are now packed with colour photos and illustrations, top tips and interesting facts. Each book contains everything you need to know about the sport, including equipment, rules, techniques and training tips. There's even information on how to find a club and meet new people to play the sport with. And having been written and endorsed by the sport's professional body, you can be sure that you are getting the best information available.

Each of the six stories in Dave Bidini' s playful, irreverent new book takes a headlong run at the hockey dressing room, and each knocks the door down. What' s happening when the door opens next is anyone' s guess.

In one story, a chronic minor-leaguer discovers the wonders-- and the pitfalls-- of the game in Europe, both on and off the ice. In another, an NHLer is tight with his teammate, the league' s leading goalscorer, but dreams of getting MUCH tighter. A star on a losing streak turns to a magical salve to turn his game around. A conversation between two friends yields surprising facts about Joan, everyone' s favourite female goalie. A hundred bucks is all that stands between a hockey groupie and eternal happiness in 1950s Detroit. And finally, the eponymous ' Five Hole' itself speaks-- though it never reveals all of its secrets.

Full of sex, drugs and high-sticking, each of "The Five Hole Stories" runs its proverbial tongue down hockey' s seamy, steamy underbelly and then finds language to tell us what it tastes like. A scintillating look at hockey with its clothes off, in six ambitious poses.

This volume examines the cultural meanings of high-level amateur and professional hockey in Canada during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, the author analyzes English Canadian media narratives of Stanley Cup "challenge" games and championship series between 1896 and 1907. Newspaper coverage and telegraph reconstructions of Stanley Cup challenges contributed significantly to the growth of a mediated Canadian "hockey world" - and a broader "world of sport" - during this time period. By 1903, Stanley Cup hockey games had become national Canadian events, followed by audiences across the country. Hockey also played an important role in the construction of gender and class identities, and in debates about amateurism, professionalism, and community representation in sport. The author also explores the connections between violence and masculinity in Canadian hockey by examining media descriptions of "brutal" and "strenuous" play. He analyzes how notions of civic identity changed as hockey clubs evolved from amateur teams represented by players who were members of their home community to professional aggregations that included paid imports from outside the town. As a result, this volume addresses important gaps in the study of sport history and the analysis of sport and popular culture. This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.

OLYMPIAN, HOCKEY WORLD CUP GOALKEEPER OF THE TOURNAMENT, WINNER OF FOUR ALL AMERICAN AWARDS 'It was down to Ayeisha now. If she saved the next penalty, Ireland, the tournament underdogs, would be in the final - for the first time ever.' Growing up in Larne in County Antrim, Ayeisha was fearless. If she wasn't climbing trees, she was playing soccer, Irish dancing or throwing the javelin. When Ayeisha discovered hockey, she was hooked! The inspirational story of one of the best hockey goalkeepers in the world, who lost her mum at a young age, went into foster care, and found a home between the goal posts in the Senior Women's Irish hockey team.

This volume examines the cultural meanings of high-level amateur and professional hockey in Canada during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, the author analyzes English Canadian media narratives of Stanley Cup "challenge" games and championship series between 1896 and 1907. Newspaper coverage and telegraph reconstructions of Stanley Cup challenges contributed significantly to the growth of a mediated Canadian "hockey world" - and a broader "world of sport" - during this time period. By 1903, Stanley Cup hockey games had become national Canadian events, followed by audiences across the country. Hockey also played an important role in the construction of gender and class identities, and in debates about amateurism, professionalism, and community representation in sport. The author also explores the connections between violence and masculinity in Canadian hockey by examining media descriptions of "brutal" and "strenuous" play. He analyzes how notions of civic identity changed as hockey clubs evolved from amateur teams represented by players who were members of their home community to professional aggregations that included paid imports from outside the town. As a result, this volume addresses important gaps in the study of sport history and the analysis of sport and popular culture. This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.

Confidence affects how we deal with stress and how we fulfill our potential to achieve the results we desire. In sports and in life, confidence is the underlying factor determining mental and physical performance, leading to overall success. This book by experienced mental performance specialist Isabelle Hamptonstone contains a collection of powerful techniques and tips to help hockey players overcome lack of confidence. Clear instructions and illustrative case studies show how training the brain to develop and sustain hockey confidence can upgrade results and help players make smarter, quicker decisions under pressure. Hamptonstone shares step-by-step guidelines gleaned from her years of research working with the giants in the game of hockey. Some of the greatest hockey players in the world have used these very same steps to change their game and their lives. Added to this base of personal knowledge, the book references inspiring moments of mental performance by Wayne Gretzky, Doug Lidster, Scott Niedermayer, Shane Doan, Darryl Sydor, Jarome Iginla, and Mark Recchi. This pragmatic and positive book is a game-changing guide and valuable resource for anyone interested in high-performance hockey, as well as a valuable tool for self-development.

Hockey Drills is a collection of activities and practices designed to enliven and improve coaching sessions at all levels of the game. The drills are organized into chapters according to a particular skill or phase of the game; from the warm up and cool down through ball carrying and receiving, defending and attacking to goal scoring and goal-keeping. A vital section on pre-season fitness drills is also included. Each chapter starts with a basic analysis of the types of skill needed for that particular aspect of the game, before progressing to a series of activities to develop them. Each exercise is supported by clear diagrams that show the moves of the individual players.

Ice hockey fans will pull on their skates and gear up for this Who HQ title about the Stanley Cup Finals--the National Hockey League's championship games.

Out of the thirty-two pro hockey teams that compete, only one can call itself the champion and proudly hoist up the Stanley Cup--the oldest sports trophy in the world! From the formation of the leagues and the crowning of the first championship-winning team, to the Rangers' Stanley Cup curse and the uncertain fate of the teams during the Spanish flu epidemic, this book recounts the highs and lows of this exciting ice hockey series.

Led by stars like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook, the Chicago Blackhawks are a modern NHL powerhouse, as much a part of Chicago as the Willis Tower or The Bean at Millennium Park. In If These Walls Could Talk: Chicago Blackhawks, Mark Lazerus chronicles the team's rise from the dark ages of the 2000s to the golden age of the 2010s through never-before-told stories from inside the dressing room, aboard the team plane, at the players' homes, and — especially in the case of the rowdy 2009-2010 team that started it all — in countless Chicago bars. If These Walls Could Talk: Chicago Blackhawks will bring readers closer to their favorite players than ever before. It's a book Hawks fans won't want to be without.

One of the most influential sportsmen of the late 20th century, Johnny F. Bassett's marketing wizardry belied his impact on professional hockey and football. A Canadian showman with a Barnumesque flair for spectacle, Bassett challenged the orthodoxy of sports, building sporting utopias in the fatally flawed World Football League, World Hockey Association, and United States Football League. He catered to the common fan, demanded fair treatment of athletes, and forced the sporting establishment to change the way it did business, often to his own detriment. Drawing on archival research and interviews with Bassett's contemporaries, this comprehensive biography chronicles his life in and around professional sports: his quixotic attempt to compete with the Maple Leafs; his stunning coup in signing three members of the reigning Super Bowl champions for his WFL team; his battles with the Canadian government over American football; his audacious marketing of hockey in Alabama; and his rivalry with Donald Trump for the soul of the USFL.

Driven with a burning desire to make something of himself, Doug Smith calls upon his only marketable skills-those honed as an amateur boxer-and despite not learning to skate until the age of 19, punches his way into the world of professional hockey. Join Doug "The Thug" Smith during his unlikely journey as a minor-league hockey enforcer, the most unique and peculiar job in all of sport, as he takes on all comers to protect his teammates from opposing tough guys, wins a championship ring, and climbs to the second-best hockey league in the world. Smith, the directionless, wayward wanderer, desperately searching, defeats impossible odds to succeed in the riotous world minor-league hockey, which lends a measure of purpose and meaning to his life. And while the enforcer role is currently being removed from the game of hockey, underdog stories never go out of style, and the best ones get made into Hollywood movies. Literally fighting to become more than a common street ruffian, Smith transforms himself into a respected and productive member of his community, and the subject of a cult-classic motion picture.

The saga of the Oakland/California Seals nine-year journey through the NHL is a strange, funny and sad tale that is nearly forgotten and has never been told...until now. Off the ice, the history of the Seals is practically a tale of how not to run a franchise. The team joined the NHL in 1967 as part of the "Second Six" expansion teams and stayed in Oakland until moving to Cleveland in 1976. The Seals had seven different ownership groups in nine years and chaos reigned throughout the process. This book shows you the inner workings of a hockey club that was always on the brink of bankruptcy and/or relocating and takes you behind the scenes of many of the mistakes made by NHL owners and executives during the early years of expansion. It also chronicles the crazy days of ownership by Charlie Finley, a man who admittedly knew nothing about hockey but knew he wanted to run his team his way. Hilarity and disaster resulted. On the ice, the Seals met with little success but were never dull. In nine years, the team had to put up with white skates, few fans and a cast of characters that were unique This book allows the players and coaches to tell their own story. More than 110 interviews were conducted with former Seals players, owners, coaches and employees to get a clear picture of what it was like to play in the NHL in the 60s and 70s. The rise of the WHA, continuing expansion and more hilarious stories of what really happens to an NHL team on the road and in the locker room. Hockey fans will love this true tale of the Seals.hockey's most colorful team.

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.

Seoul Glow tells the story of the Great Britain men's hockey team who won gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Little to the team's knowledge, the final caught the British public's imagination as they beat rivals West Germany in the gold-medal match. After Sean Kerly's semi-final heroics and Imran Sherwani's double in the final, BBC commentator Barry Davies uttered the now infamous line: 'Where were the Germans? But, frankly, who cares?' Victory, for a team of amateurs, who had either quit their jobs or taken holiday to play in Seoul, propelled the team to celebratory heights on their return to British shores; it was GB's first hockey gold in the post-war era and followed an eight-year plan for a major title. The story also reveals how the team was inspirationally led by the late Roger Self, the manager who gelled his players into Olympic title holders.