Serious skaters looking for unusual and innovative tricks will find them in this skateboarding instructional guide. The tricks run the gamut from classic old school to modern with an emphasis on diversification, creativity, and originality. Included are riding basics and tips for controlling fear, visualizing, and focusing. Sequential shots detail every move needed to successfully re-create the various skateboarding tricks. The mechanics of the sport are also covered, including types of boards available, and the various wheels, bearings, and skateboarding surfaces.

This guide to the finer points of boxing provides the wisdom needed to make the transition from enthusiastic beginner to proficient pugilist. The ABCs of ring generalship, offensive and defensive ring movements, feints, and draws and fakes are examined and explained along with clinching techniques, head-hunting, body work, and counter-punching chains. Strategies for boxing against tall and short opponents as well as for a variety of fighting styles such as charger, speed-demon, stick-and-move, and slugger and brawler are discussed in detail. Specific drills focus on sophisticated ring stratagems such as throwing complex combinations, cutting off the ring, fighting off the ropes, generating power, and cornering an opponent are included.

A boxer's workout is a fantastic way to burn calories--it is engaging, exhilarating, and effective. Going beyond jumping rope and punching the heavy bag, this guide describes intermediate and advanced boxing skills that will help anyone improve their performance in the ring. This boxing workout will help develop body and character so that athletes can get into the best shape of their lives, build self-confidence, and be winners in and out of the ring.

Debunking the sport’s rumored reputation of being outdated, this newly revised edition explores the ancient yet powerfully rich and entertaining art of fencing. Covering Olympic-style foil, epee, and saber methods, this comprehensive guide also features tips on safety, etiquette, and technique. With a brief history on the sport and an updated resource section, this examination tackles the fencing experience with humor and style.

Any discussion of great boxers must include Willie Pep and Sandy Saddler -- mid-century featherweight champions whose heroics electrified the fistic world then and reverberate today. This book explores the boxing lives of both pugilists -- early years, fighting years, training and conditioning, historical context, life after boxing, and, of course, the lasting controversy over their rivalry and legacy. Pep recorded 229 wins, only 11 losses and one draw over a pro career that spanned three decades. He won the featherweight crown twice. Sandy Saddler's record of 144-16-2 includes an amazing 103 knockouts. He also won the title twice and retired an undefeated featherweight champion. Their four title bouts are an epic showcase of contrasts. Pep was the exquisite dancer/boxer, a wildly popular Italian American personality who made his opponents miss and scored at will. Saddler was a curious blend of unprepossessing menace -- a tall, thin, black American banger who pressed and brutalised with singular leveraged force. Their match-ups had it all: contrasting styles, dazzling skills, hard punching, splendid action, ridiculous brawling, heroic victories and crashing defeats. Included in this book are Pep's plane crash and recovery as well as the legal wrangling with Newsweek over his boxing reputation. Saddler's ongoing slight in boxing history and secondary status with Pep is examined under fresh light. The text is highlighted with several images of both fighters that bring to life the fierce glory of professional boxing in the 1940s and 50s.

Here is the essential beginner's guide to the fastest growing sport in the country according to the National Sporting Goods Association. The most important questions--how to stop, how to turn, and how to avoid the crash and burn syndrome--are answered because the author takes the reader along as he learns the sport himself. Basic gear, preparation, technique, and safety are also discussed.

Taking place at real street locations, this photographic collection provides readers with the information necessary to take skateboarding abilities to a higher level of performance. Progression of style and technique in skateboarding has led to the cutting-edge use of real-world terrain such as curbs, stairs, and handrails. Beginning with instruction on how to properly negotiate curbs and escalating to the endless ways a skateboarder can maneuver up, over, and down the cement and asphalt that make up the urban and suburban landscapes, these step-by-step photographs will help skateboarders master the streets of the world.

Providing updated and revised chapters on safety, equipment, and basic skills, this instructional guide discusses the fundamentals of skateboarding. Presented in a helpful question and answer format, beginners will find information on buying a first board, where to plant one's feet, how to stay safe while learning new stunts, and the history of this exciting sport. From ollies to kickturns, detailed techniques are presented on the 15 tricks every skater should know. Honest and humorous interviews with skating professionals are included, along with an invaluable list of resources - including books, camps, museums, skate parks, shops, websites, and magazines. With more than 500 new images, step-by-step instructions and photographs illustrate the foolproof methods to turn skateboarding novices into experts.

Recommended by the United States Surfing Federation as a book that every beginning surfer should read, this instructional guide details the basics of surfing gear, conditions, safety, etiquette, and history. Written by someone who went through the learning process, topics are covered with just enough detail to get the reader riding the waves quickly and safely. It teaches the beginner surfer the fundamentals of the sport; what to expect in the first days of learning; and how to cope with waves, learning frustrations, and crowds. This edition has been updated with the latest information on equipment, technique, and resources.