Athletics Books

As a three year old, my horse was kicked by another horse. Her right foreleg was unusable and she was practically paralized. We decided to put her down, but she wanted to live, so a therapist gave her laser treatment. She is still with us, now almost 11 years old. Two years ago she developed severe back problems, had a shortened stride and went lame. Last year she could almost not walk anymore and has severe muscle problems. Several therapists tried to help her, most of them could not not. Shiatsu helped her a little, but the only one that showed spectacular progress after just one treatment was a therapist practising the Jack Meagher method. I wanted to know more about the method, so I bought the book. It is great!

Wonderful Teacher! Much to be learned using the simple rules and calculations that Jack explains in depth. Only downer is the fact that the book is only available as a combed binder issue and not a hardcover bound publication.

This is a fabulous book that every horse owner should have. It has saved me hundreds of $$$ in chiropractic and massage therapy bills. I have recommended it to owners, instructors, and trainers complaining about horse performance issues. In every case the book helped.

I read this book over 15 years ago. I wanted to see if I could get another copy as mine was stolen (it was so good). Helped me a lot with horses. As I heard that Jack Meagher died last week, I thought I would look for it. I think I only paid $15 for my paperback copy years ago and would not suggest anyone pay $70 for this book but it was very good. The price is so high I think because of recent demand due to the author's death. I will keep looking rather than purchase a copy here.

superb program. good general information. program focuses on overall athleticism/power, including reasonable agility, stretching and plyometric regimens (which is rarely seen but a necessary part of a premiere program). program is applicable to nearly all athletes (perhaps not ideal for a pro/college athletes, solely because they would have programs designed to peak at the season of their sport).

I am a Division one track and field athlete. I have been looking for an out of season lifting program that will help make me stronger and faster. I was never a fan of these core lifts until I bought this book. The variation that is available really caught my attention. For example, the power clean has been an exercise that I refuse to do and this book offers many other options. Instead I perform a hang clean. So far, I think that this program will do nothing but improve my athletic ability.

This is a great book for any athlete out there high school or college, it teaches great techniques for lifting and also gives great variations on the already well known core lifts. This book is not for the weak or undisciplined it should only be used by people that are willing to work hard and give everything you got to be the best.

My degree is in physical education and I have been teaching for 11 years. Shepard's Bigger Faster Stronger program is among the best I have found. The biggest benefits of this program are in sports requiring explosive strenth such as judo, wrestling, boxing, field events, and sprints.

I AM 53 AND HAVE SUFFERED FOR YEARS WITH A BAD BACK. I'VE TRIED EVERYTHING INCLUDING THERAPY. NOTHING WORKS AS WELL AS CALLANS BACK EXERCISES! I BOUGHT THIS BOOK USED RECENTLY. I WISH I WOULD HAVE FOUND IT YEARS AGO! IT WOULD HAVE SAVED ME YEARS OF PAIN! WHAT A SHAME ITS OUT OF PRINT.

The first few pages of this book are devoted to emergency relief of lower back spasm. If you've ever had to get out of bed by rolling out onto the floor, getting onto your knees, then slowly & painfully rising to your feet by supporting yourself by leaning on the nightstand...you know what I'm talking about. Her emergency exercises work.

The long-term stretching & toning program is a lot like some yoga exercises...but with some very important--and seemingly subtle--differences that will protect your back from some of the dangerous stresses that certain yoga positions put you into.

It's a shame this book is out of print. Haunt your local used book stores until you find it!

This book should not be out of print! I have been a low-back-pain sufferer most of my adult life and have tried everything from weightlifting to yoga with little or no positive result (in some cases, very negative results). But this book, with its common-sense approach to both back therapy and overall exercise (making it clear that, yes, back problems are no barrier to staying in shape) got me from 80% of the time in back pain to 95% of the time pain-free, strong, and able to hike, bike, and do all the other things that would in the past have gotten me into painful trouble. Also, but just incidentally, it toned and slimmed my entire body, a selling point for Callanetics for women, but believe me, this man doesn't mind losing his "love handles" on the way to a better back, either! Callan Pinckney is some kind of miracle worker, maybe because she used herself and her own back as the laboratory for the program she created. Simply amazing!

I found the book and 2 sets of audio tapes of Callanetics for Your Back years ago. I purchased 5 sets and only have one set left. Is that version still available? Callan Pinckney's easy lying down back exercises are the most valuable and helpful found anywhere. Help me find more copies, please! I'm searching for friends.

While this book is a great resource for parents of young athletes, or young athletes themselves, I have found the recommendations on nutrition extremely helpful. The information in Branner's book persuaded me to make changes in my eating habits and I have more energy and feel better as a result. It's an easy read and full of good advice for anyone, not just athletes.

Although the title indicates that this book is useful only for the caregiver of an athlete that is incorrect. The emphasis on proper nutrition is something that all people should learn and practice and the advice on activities such as how to properly warm up, train and work out is applicable to all serious physical activity. Finally, the discussion of the value of athletic competitions in building social skills, responsibility, a sense of achievement and how to deal with failure is an additional positive aspect of the book.

Note: Branner is also the author of two others book with the titles "The Care and Feeding of a Soccer Player" and `The Care and Feeding of a Dancer." A lot of the text in those books is identical to this one, so if you buy one you for some practical purposes have the other two.

Toni Tickel Branner has three books out on the "Care & Feeding of ...". While there are differences in this book (the quotes and some non-soccer advice) a lot of the language is exactly the same. My first review was of her book for the soccer player. So, I don't think you need all three. Just pick the one that is most focused on what it is you do. Just as she has adapted her text, I have only slightly altered my review.

We all know that exercising our bodies is good for us. We also know that real life is full of competition and there is winning and losing in all that we do. Athletics lets us exercise, have fun, and learn about competition when the stakes seem big, but are usually small. Organized sports consume more and more time in the life of many American children and young adults. As the author notes, "you learn to push yourself to your fullest potential, learn to take criticism as a compliment, and learn to gain confidence from each experience."

The author takes a responsible approach to fitness, nutrition, and competing to enhance your child's life, not consume it. Besides her own experience as an exercise physiologist, she has a board of medical and exercise experts who, I assume, looked over this material.

She also realizes that kids play sports differently and have different skill requirements according to age or grade level. Her advice for playing, learning skills, and warming up take all this in mind. I particularly like her discussion of common injury types and what you can do to prevent them. She also discusses the mental and emotional aspects of the game, including handling stress. Her food advice is quite good; if a bit too vegetarian for my tastes, but nothing here will be anything but good for you. She also deals with body image and distorted eating.

The author also guides you through getting the most from sports camp, how to be good sideline parents, and what to think about to become a successful and happy sports family. She also has a chapter on life lessons that can be learned from sports.

Good stuff.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Too many kids and parents are pushing themselves to hard on and off the field. Branner teaches kids and parents how to take care of the young athlete and make sure they are around and healthy for those all important college years. Fantastic nutritional advice maximizes health and shows the importance of water, anti-oxidants and proper eating as a vital part of a young athletes road to collegiate or professional sports success.

I bought this for a project in college and it turned out to be a lot better use. Have given it reads a few times just to remind myself of different aspects of the game. Helps in building a program and controlling your life as coaches sometimes get lost in coaching. Worth a read.

This is the one book I have constantly pushed around my high school to fellow coaches- in any sport- to read. The leadership and guidance is both thorough, entertaining and most of all, right on the money. Any new (or not so new) varsity coach would be very wise to read this and keep this book in their library to refer to it at least annually. However, you will find it difficult to reacquisition the book after loaning it to somebody. Perhaps the Athletic Director could buy one for each coach. It would saved me the ordeal buying now another one .

In Coaching and Control Bill Warren examines many key components that are often overlooked in books for coaches. From relationships between individual players, whole teams, school staff and communities to practice and game preparation, Warren gives coaches of every sport and level an excellent framework from which to develop your own philosophy on coaching. Additionally, this is one of the few coaching books that I have encountered where the writer isn't afraid to address situations in a non-politically correct way. It was nice to finally read someone who has coached and isn't afraid to tell it like it is. I highly recommend this book for the "new" and "old" coach. There is something for everyone here.

This book is the ONLY book that can help all coaches in every sport. Bill Warren has been through it all and presents tons of valuable information to help any coach navigate the "shark infested waters" of coaching. I wish I had this book 20 years ago. Coach Warren, thanks for all the help you have given me. This book is your best! Thanks!

Many books on the subject of improving youth sports are written to create awareness of the importance of the subject, but say little of practical value on the way of doing this.

Other books treat the 'how' comprehensively but are as dry as fossilized bones.

The DGC avoids these two pitfalls admirably. It does a great job of describing and explaining the problems that youth sports programs have in the US (and in many other parts of the World), with such feeling, sensitivity and clarity that one cannot avoid being moved by the arguments.

Jim Thompson goes further, though, the DGC translates ideals into practical measures to build exemplary youth sports programs.

My organization is currently using the DGC as a blueprint to develop a soccer program in Mexico, and its lessons and arguments are as useful, relevant and potent here as they seem to be in the US, judging by the growth of The Positive Coaching Alliance.

The premise of the book is that winning is not a bad thing. It's not necessarily the only thing however. Thompson uses real life examples from youth through professional, where focusing on the positive, correcting the negative, and focus on improving have helped teams be successful.

It is our job as youth coaches to make sure we are building solid citizens, teaching them life lessons through sports, and helping them become the best athlete they can be. Winning happens to be a great side effect of this approach!

The book is great for coaches and parents alike!

Discussions of character in sports hinge on two sometimes competing beliefs. One holds that sports build character, the other that sports reveal it.

The case can be made that both ideas are valid. Character is regularly revealed in the way that players, coaches, parents and leaders of youth sports organizations (YSOs) conduct themselves on and off the field.

The "Sports Builds Character" belief is a trickier proposition. Who is to question that sports provides a wonderful setting for the development of poise, confidence, determination, resilience, self-sacrifice, courage? The list goes on, and it is not a coincidence that a strong involvement in sports was the common feature of those who tried to take back the plane on 9/11. Yet every Positive Life Skill associated with sports has a counterpart that can be learned equally well. And often more easily. If you can learn fair play and sportsmanship, you can also learn to cheat. If you can learn about commitment, you can also learn to quit on yourself and your teammates. Accountability and accepting responsibility: making excuses. Again, the list goes on.

Many of the adults involved in sports simply assume, based on their own experience, that the positive side of these character traits will emerge. In fact, without a concerted effort to use sports to teach positive Life Lessons, you might as well be flipping a coin.

Attention to these issues is a major focus of "The Double Goal Coach", the latest book by Jim Thompson. The author is founder of the Positive Coaching Alliance ..., an organization based at Stanford University which seeks "to transform the culture of youth sports so that sports can transform youth."

Like many books on the state of youth sports, Thompson chronicles the excesses. What sets the book apart are solutions to these problems based on research in the fields of education and sports psychology as well as lessons in organizational culture drawn from the business world. Theory then becomes practice through the presentation of many practical tools for establishing and maintaining a positive culture for youth sports. Coaches, parents and the leaders of YSO's will find things here that can be put to immediate use.

What is a Double Goal Coach? He or she is a coach who wants to win. Thompson makes clear that the Positive Coaching message is not anti-competitive or about "happy talk". This is not an invitation to go out and kick a ball around with Barney. Indeed, at a time when real competitions at Field Day have been reduced to (at most) a 50 yard dash, Thompson sees the competitive sports experience as an increasingly important, and rare, opportunity for the development of positive character traits - the second, and more important, goal of the Double Goal Coach. Because it's the character traits that will endure long after the ball's gone into the closet.

There are three elements to Double Goal Coaching. The first seeks to redefine winning, changing the definition from one based only on results (the "win at all costs" model, or waac - which so often becomes wacko!) to a "mastery approach" based on effort, learning, and a positive view of the value of mistakes. The essential difference in the approaches has to do with control. Results are so much in the control of others; with a mastery approach, control belongs to the athlete. What's interesting, though, is the research that shows that a mastery approach actually produces better performance than one where the focus is primarily on the scoreboard.

Next comes the concept of Honoring the Game. This is largely a proactive view of sportsmanship issues, based on what you do rather than what you don't do. Honoring the game involves developing and demonstrating respect for Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates, and one's Self (ROOTS).

The third element of the Double Goal model involves "Filling the Emotional Tank", motivation through encouragement and positive reinforcement. Again, the book provides a number of useful tools for coaches.

There is also a section of the book for Sports Parents. Thompson promotes the notion of the "Second Goal Parent", whose primary task is to be unconditionally supportive of their child, whose focus is on those Life Lessons and positive character traits, who recognize that their child's participation in sports belongs to the child, and who leave coaching to the coaches.

Thompson advocates a "systems approach" to developing positive cultures for youth sports, and his organization provides an integrated set of workshops for coaches, parents and leaders of YSOs. Where that's not in place, "The Double Goal Coach" will give the individual coach many ways create a more enjoyable environment for his or her team, and one where the players are much more likely to reach their potential as athletes. That a Double Goal approach will also be much more enjoyable and rewarding for the coach is no insignificant bonus.

This book covers some of the same topics as Thompson's classic, Positive Coaching. However, it has some new ideas in it, and also has some lessons learned since Positive Coaching was written. It also has a handbook-type approach - it gives you example talks, helps you plan a practice and also shows you ways to help you acquire Positive Coaching skills. I have found all of Jim Thompson's books enjoyable and enlightening.

This book is a good introduction to Foil fencing. It does have some dated pictures but the information given still serves favorably for the new foil fencer. It should be clear this book should be used in addition to current lessons being taken to be able to extract the information correctly.

A simple and complete introduction to the sport. The text is a little dated but still accurate. Probably the best introductory book for the money.

This is a clearly written basic introduction to Olympic-style sport foil fencing, with good illustrations. It is much more readable than most others, and is written for a U.S. audience. Foil is the weapon most often used to teach beginners, and though I am a sabre fencer I found this book very useful during my first year.

A REVIEW BY NICK EVANGELISTA:

This book has been around for quite a while, and for good reason. It is a fine, basic volume on fencing. I recommend it.

I bought this book when it first came out in 1996. I have now just gotten around tor reading it (1999). I am bad about putting off things I suspect are going to be very good (Delayed gratification).

One of the great pioneers of not just running, but healthy living via serious play, George Sheehan, wrote a book that is the final work of his life. Subtitled, One Man's Journey To The End Of His Life," Sheehan has his eyes wide open, avoiding clinging to pure emotionalism and the could-of-should-of-would-of mentality, looking deep into his own felings and observations.

This book is not for everyone. It is for those that choose to face life and death with their eyes open -- willing to face themselves and what makes them tick.

Just as you cannot put a bandaid on cancer, George Sheehan doesn't try to cover up his humaness. He fully embraces what he was, what he is now, and acknowledges the similarity between the very young and the very old.

Unfortunately, this book will hard to find if you have an interest . . . Long overdue for a reprint.

G.R. Ford

This was the first running book I ever read, I am trying to read all of his books. But some are hard to come across. A touching story of a man and such a stong devotion of the meaning "life," god bless him.

While George Sheehan is best known for his expertise in running, he may be more accurately described as a philosopher than a runner. Going the Distance is a wonderful journey through a dying man's thoughts and reflections on dealing with the end of his life. Diagnosed with prostate cancer, Sheehan embarks upon a journey to battle the disease, and then come to terms with his own mortality when the battle is lost. As per his usual work, there is the obvious emphasis on running, but even the non-runner will enjoy this book. Not merely a book for "jocks", Sheehan once again displays his artful writing style and philisophical nature. A must read for the runner, walker and couch potato alike!

I would give this book 10 stars if I could. First, I should mention this is *not* a book about running any more than Moby-Dick is a book about whales. Rather, it is a discourse on how best to live one's life, written by someone near the end of his. I read this every year, and every year I'm amazed at how wise Dr. Sheehan was. Like Shakespeare or the Bible, it opens up to me the more I read it, and every time I learn something new, if only because I've changed and understand it better through experience. It helps me measure my own growth. I can't express what an influence it has been.

I run youth programs in Iowa, and after reading Mr. Wolff's book I feel more educated in the world of youth sports. Not only will this help me in my programs but also at home with my three sons.

I've enjoyed reading Rick Wolff's columns for years - every one seems to be just on the mark. This book is a great compendium of his thinking, caring approach to being a coach and parent. Any parent signing up a child in youth baseball (or any sport) should have to promise to read this book!

Not only does Wolff point out some of the problems with youth sports today, he also gives solutions. As a concerned parent and coach for my children's basketball, softball and soccer teams, I thought I had a pretty good handle on the important ingredients for coaching and being an encouraging parent. This book renewed me and now my children and their teams are enjoying sports more and becoming more successful. I re-read the book prior to every season and get more out of it each time.

This is an excellent overview of the proper attitude to have in coaching kid's sports, as well as containing good tips for parents on their role. But I wonder if it needs a chapter on getting the people who need to read it to actually read this book. I think the concerned parent, the one who wants to learn, will seek out this book. It is the unconcerned parent or coach, who thinks they know how to mold champions, that won't even think to read a book like this.

If there is one criticism of this book, it is that it tends to focus on team sports and does not explore the differences of how to interact with a child involved in individual sports (running, swimming, tennis, golf, etc.). Of course, the biggest abuses of poor coaching and loutish parental behavior tend to be in team sports like baseball. But I think the book would be improved with more specific examples related to individual sports to complement the information about team sports

Nice going Hal you've put out another great book for runners to follow as they progress through their sport.

It seems that my biggest challenge these days is motivation and nutrition where my athletes are concerned. There are just too darn many fads out there and the real "easiest" way is when you put in the study and the work.

Hal Higdon has taken the problem out of researching your needs and put it right in front of you in this book. Read what he's giving and then incorporate it into your program.

Written by "Runner's World" magazine's senior writer, this book takes the form of question and answer over a wide range of topics. Simply put, it's a FAQ manual for runners.

One small problem with this format is, there is only one question and answer addressed per topic, so the information imparted is very specialised. To counter this, the book covers a wide range of topics from beginning running to marathon training, to injuries, to advice for young and older runners.

I would recommend this book to the beginner / inexperienced runner. Those who have been running for some time would very likely have come across most of this information before. If you're looking for a repository that contains a great deal of accumulated knowledge that can be accessed easily, here it is.

Although I considered myself to be a seasoned runner, I knew there was much that I had yet to discover before taking on my first marathon. This book helped incredibly - with everything from nutrition to preventing potentially painful or debilitating injuries. Though training to run a marathon is most certainly an arduous and daunting task, Higdon's book helps to put running into perspective and removes it from the realm of "only the talented can do it." He gives running back to those who don't know everything about the sport and are willing to learn.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is considering a marathon or even a 5K for the motivation, the advice, and the knowledge.

Hal Higdon is my grandfather, and I'd love this book even if it wasn't written by him. :-)