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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Sport
How did an ancient spiritual practice become the preserve of the
privileged? Nadia Gilani has been practising yoga as a participant
and teacher for over twenty-five years. Yoga has saved her life and
seen her through many highs and lows; it has been a faith, a
discipline, and a friend, and she believes wholeheartedly in its
radical potential. However, over her years in the wellness
industry, Nadia has noticed not only yoga's rising popularity, but
also how its modern incarnation no longer serves people of colour,
working class people, or many other groups who originally pioneered
its creation. Combining her own memories of how the practice has
helped her with an account of its history and transformation in the
modern west, Nadia creates a love letter to yoga and a passionate
critique of the billion-dollar industry whose cost and
inaccessibility has shut out many of those it should be helping. By
turns poignant, funny, and shocking, The Yoga Manifesto excavates
where the industry has gone wrong, and what can be done to save the
practice from its own success.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, David Campese thrilled spectators both in Australia and overseas with his footloose, crazy-brave style of free running. This book tells the story of his rise from humble beginnings to the very top of a global sport.
As a rugby player, David Campese seemed to operate on cross-grained pure instinct, one that left many a defender clutching at him in vain, stranded in the slipstream of his audacity. Hailed as the 'Bradman of rugby' by former Wallaby coach Alan Jones, and the 'Pele' of rugby by others, Campese was a match-winner. The refrain 'I saw Campese play' now speaks to much more than wistful reminiscences about a player widely regarded as the most entertaining ever to play the game of Rugby Union. It has come to represent a state of chronic disbelief that the Wallaby ascendancy of Campese's era has been seemingly squandered.
Campese occupies a unique intersection in rugby's history: one of its last amateurs, and one of its first professionals. He had shown, too, that coming from outside the traditional bastions of rugby - the private schools and universities - was no barrier to reaching the top. Indeed, he challenged that establishment and unsettled it, warning in the early 1990s that the code risked 'dying' if more was not done to expand its appeal.
David Campese revolutionised how the game was played and appreciated. His genius, most visibly manifest in his outrageous goosestep, captured the national and sporting imagination. The rigid, robotic rugby of today appears incapable of accommodating a player of his dash and daring.
THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE STORY OF AN ORDINARY MAN WHO BECAME THE CENTURY'S MOST IMPORTANT EXPLORER Adventurers the world over have been inspired by the achievements of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man ever to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest. In this candid, wry, and vastly entertaining autobiography, Hillary looks back on that 1953 landmark expedition, as well as his remarkable explorations in other exotic locales, from the South Pole to the Ganges. View From The Summit is the compelling life story of a New Zealand country boy who daydreamed of wild adventures; the pioneering climber who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth after scaling the world's tallest peak; and the elder statesman and unlikely diplomat whose groundbreaking program of aid to Nepal continues to this day, paying his debt of worldwide fame to the Himalayan region. More than four decades after Hillary looked down from Everest's 29,000 feet, his impact is still felt -- in our fascination with the perils and triumphs of mountain climbing, and in today's phenomenon of extreme sports. The call to adventure is alive and real on every page of this gripping memoir.
Jack Beresford was the first British Olympian to win medals of any
colour in five consecutive Olympic Games. His record of 3 Gold and
2 silver medals at the 5 Olympic Games held between 1920 and 1936
remained until Sir Steve Redgrave won gold at the 2000 Sydney
Games. Historically, men have had two great chances to prove their
mettle; in battle and in sport. While many are aware that Jack
Beresford was one of Britain's greatest oarsmen, this affectionate
but unsentimental tribute by his son, John, reveals what few know,
that Beresford served his country with distinction in war as well
as in peace, and both with a modesty that is usually indicative of
true merit. It is commonly said, show me the boy and I'll show you
the man, and this work reveals that Jack the schoolboy, the soldier
and the sportsman was driven by the same strict principals of duty
and hard work throughout his life. This is, says John, the story
that his Father never wrote. It is also a story with a delicious
(if vicious) irony; the German bullet that wounded 19-year-old 2nd
Lieutenant Beresford in 1918 led to him abandoning rugby and taking
up rowing. Eighteen years later, the German favourites to win the
Olympic Double Sculls paid the price of Jack's change of sport as,
in the final's last 100 metres, Dick Southwood and Jack Beresford
rowed them to a standstill to win Olympic Gold.
Cheslin roared with happiness as the final whistle blew in Yokohama. They were champions! Later, as his captain lifted the 2019 Rugby World Cup trophy into the air, he felt prouder than he'd ever been before - of himself, his team and his country.
Cheslin Kolbe tells the story of a kid from Kraaifontein, Cape Town, whose talent took him to international sports stardom, first to Toulouse, France, and eventually to the call-up that would change his life forever: to play for the Springbok 2019 World Cup squad. It's the heartwarming story of a small player with a big heart whose signature sidestep helped the Springboks win the World Cup trophy for South Africa.
Cheslin Kolbe is part of the "Road to Glory" series, which covers some of South Africa's sporting legends as they set out on their journeys to becoming national and international stars.
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Swifty
(Hardcover)
Irv Burnett
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R661
R610
Discovery Miles 6 100
Save R51 (8%)
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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