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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Sport
From the moment a hopelessly bored eleven year old boy watched
Gower effortlessly pull his first ball in Test cricket for four, he
instantly forgot the fact that West Ham were crap and had just been
relegated and his life long love affair with cricket had begun.
These are the recollections of how being pretty good at bowling a
hard red ball at three tall sticks in the ground has allowed Stuart
Simmonds the chance to travel the cricketing world, play against
some seriously good players, meet some very famous people and most
importantly avoid having to ever get what can only be described as
a normal, sensible job. Written with huge amounts of charm, Stuart
takes us on a journey around club grounds, county grounds, test
grounds and an enormous amount of time coaching in playgrounds, all
spent together with what seems like an awful lot of very
entertaining people. Any profits from this book will be distributed
between local charities. There are plenty of superstar
autobiographies that tell you what its like to receive a standing
ovation when you walk back through the pavilion at Lords, the Oval
or the MCG having scored a brilliant hundred or a match winning
bowling spell and of the boys on tour celebrations afterwards. This
sadly, is not going to be one of those books. This is the tale of
someone living their sporting life in the surreal world between so
called professional excellence and the so called charm of the
village green. There without the slightest hint of glamour, with
all the frustrations and the occasional triumphs of the top flight
club circuit in Sussex and its regular visits to the seaside. There
are also the recollections of the seasons spent playing and
coaching overseas, trying to see if you really were any good after
all. Told with intelligence, humour and above all honesty, these
are the memoirs of someone trying to make ends meet doing the
things they love for a living, whilst occasionally bumping into
somebody famous along the way.
FROM THE WINNINGEST COACH IN NCAA DIVISION I HISTORY, A GUIDE TO
PRACTICING PERFECT AND PLAYING FOR FUN
While the statistics speak for themselves, Augie Garrido, the
legendary baseball coach, is far from a "win-at-all-costs" leader.
Rather, he focuses on building men of quality, teaching that
lessons learned on the diamond can be applied to any facet of life.
"Life Is Yours to Win "offers a refreshing approach to seizing
life's opportunities and understanding that trophies are not the
true goal. Garrido's advice includes:
- BE A PLAYER, NOT A PROSPECT--Garrido once used a game of catch
with his Labrador retriever to show a team playing without heart
the character it takes to be fully engaged as a ballplayer.
- STEP UP, SUPERMAN--Garrido stages a costumed Superhero Scrimmage
each Halloween to remind his players that their inner superhero is
just waiting to be realized.
- THE FEARLESS FIELD--Master fear and other emotions so that they
don't paralyze you. Renting a hearse and placing a casket on the
pitcher's mound helped a slumping Cal State team "bury" their fears
and put past losses behind them.
- BUDDHA AT BAT--Small ball is not glorified like the home run, but
the bunt does advance the runners and puts runs on the board. Small
successes add up to big victories on and off the field.
Garrido's coaching methods are often unconventional, but as seen in
"Life Is Yours to Win, "his creativity and wry humor always lead to
unforgettable lessons.
'People think they know him but unless you read this book you will
never know the REAL Alun Wyn Jones' - Warren Gatland 'One of the
greatest, and seemingly indestructible, players in history' - A
Daily Mail Book of the Year Belonging is the story about how the
boy from Mumbles became the most capped rugby union player of all
time. It is the story of what it takes to become a man who is seen
by many as one of the greatest ever Welsh players. What it takes to
go from sitting cross-legged on the hall floor at school watching
the 1997 Lions tour of South Africa, to being named the 2021 Lions
captain. But is it also about perthyn - belonging: playing for
Wales, working his way through the age grades and club rugby and
his regional side. How to earn the right to be there, and what it
feels like to make the sacrifices along the way. Feeling the
connection to players who have come before, and feeling the ties to
the millions in front rooms and pubs across the country, coast to
coast. Knowing that deep down you want to belong, as everyone does.
From playing on the rain-swept pitches of Swansea to making his
test debut against Argentina in Patagonia in 2006; from touring
with the Lions in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021 to dealing with loss
and creating a family - Belonging is the autobiography of one of
the most compelling figures in world rugby. Told with
characteristic honesty, this is his unique personal story of what
it takes and what it means to play for your country: what it means
to belong.
NBA Hall of Fame player Elgin Baylor was an innovator in his sport,
a civil rights trailblazer, and a true superstar. He influenced
future NBA All Stars such as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, and is
considered by many to be one of the most important players in NBA
history. A prolific scorer who baffled opponents with his twists
and turns and inventive moves, Baylor was a force both on and off
the court for the Minneapolis and Los Angeles Lakers. In Elgin
Baylor: The Man Who Changed Basketball, Bijan C. Bayne tells the
story of how a kid from the streets of segregated Washington, DC,
who didn't attend college until he was over twenty, revolutionized
basketball and stood up for his rights. In a time when few
nationally prominent black athletes spoke out about racial
inequality in the United States, Baylor refused to tolerate
discrimination. On the court, with his balletic moves and urban
style of play, Elgin Baylor lifted the game of basketball off the
floor and into the air. Elgin Baylor: The Man Who Changed
Basketball includes personal reflections from Baylor's old
schoolyard companions, former teammates, players he coached in the
NBA, and noted sports journalists, bringing to life his childhood,
college career, and professional life with intimate detail.
Basketball fans, historians, and those interested in the impact of
sports on the Civil Rights Movement will all find this first-ever
biography of Elgin Baylor both fascinating and inspirational.
On a defining evening of the 1980s, Donald Trump hosted celebrities and
high rollers in a Jersey Shore town to witness 21-year-old Mike Tyson
knock out Michael Spinks in just 91 seconds, earning more than the
annual payrolls of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics combined.
Only eight years earlier, Tyson, a troubled child from Brooklyn, was
taken under the wing of boxing legend Cus D’Amato in upstate New York.
Their story of mutual redemption captivated novelists, screenwriters,
and the emerging cable TV industry. Tyson became HBO’s leading man long
before Tony Soprano.
Despite the immense success, Tyson's story was more complex and darker
than it appeared. Over the decades, he has been villainized, lionized,
and fetishized―but never fully humanized until now. Acclaimed
biographer Mark Kriegel, who first encountered Tyson as a young
reporter, explores Tyson's life through what he survived rather than
whom he knocked out.
Tyson, often compared to Jack Dempsey, was more akin to Sonny
Liston―Black, feared, and expected to die young. What made Liston a
pariah made Tyson a touchstone for a generation influenced by hip hop
and gunfire. Kriegel captures not just Tyson’s rise but his profound
impact on the American psyche.
Fanciful dreams of gold-medal glory led Jennifer Sey to the
local gymnastics club in 1976. A natural aptitude and a willingness
to endure punishing hard work took her to the elite ranks by the
time she was eleven years old. Jennifer traveled the country and
the world competing for the U.S. National team, but the higher she
set her sights--the world championships, the 1988 Olympics--the
more she began to ignore her physical and mental well-being.
Jennifer suffered devastating injuries, developed an eating
disorder, and lived far from family and friends, all for the sake
of winning. When her parents and coaches lost sight of her best
interests, Jennifer had no choice but to redefine her path into
adulthood. She had to save herself.
Chalked Up delivers an unforgettable coming-of-age story that
will resonate with anyone who has ever felt not good enough and has
finally come to accept who they were meant to be.
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