Athletics Books

It is the final word on NCAA specifications

" 'There must be a method to the madness' for scholastic athletes sincerely looking to apply to college!?" --per this Soccer Mom.

AND I FOUND "THE METHOD OF METHODS" in these books. Most especially impressive is the concise profile, the up-to-date college information and recruitment rules and recommendations.

With 2 talented soccer sons, I now have in front of me, 1 book + a multi-faceted approach to college academics, interviews, scholarships and soccer. Each athlete has particular interests and talents. This book guides you through the process so as to present each one proficiently.

I first learned of this book in 1999. Our Novi, MI '84 Coach recommended this approach. After reviewing the 1999 Guide, I am again, ordering the 2000 Guide. "The Official Athletic College Guide to Soccer" is the path for ACHIEVEMENT... AS COLLEGE IS THE ROAD TO SUCCESS!!!

This book has given my sons insight and focus into their college decisions. What more could a Mom ask for?!!! Thank you!

When I was growing up, my parents always had the radio tuned to WMT-AM, so I listened to the University of Iowa Hawkeye football and basketball games. That interest continued into my adulthood, in the fall, I would take a radio outside with me so that I could listen to the football games while I did yard work. Therefore, the years covered in this book, 1964-1988, are deeply ingrained in my memory. I also remember those few times when the Hawkeyes were on television in the bad years and how badly they would get beaten.
This book is a description of years of futility, especially the three Lauterber years, where the record was 4 - 28 - 1. Listening to those games was an exercise in pain, in two of them; Iowa was outscored by an average of more than three touchdowns per game. Teams would beat them without throwing a forward pass or ever having to even punt. However, it ends on a very bright note, as Hayden Fry turned them into a winner and even a contender for the national title.
It has now been almost twenty years since University of Iowa football started its second century of existence. To date, the results have been very promising and optimism is everywhere. I loved this book, not only was it an inside look at twenty-five years of Iowa football, but it was also a trip down memory lane for me. The book is well-written and describes the conditions of the football program as it went way down and then back up to where it was exciting once again.

An excellent history of the pursuit of the 4-minute mile. I thought it would bog in the middle as the numbers and times kepting piling on, but I actually found it compelling to read. Bryant did a good job of distinguishing between all the various runners from various eras (and the pictures in the book help a lot!). He seemed to ignore what was going on outside England at times (for instance, he'd spend a lot of time on certain new records, then barely give on off-hand sentence sometimes when an American set a new mile record. In the second half of the book, however, he did a good job of covering what was going on simultaneously in the 4-minute quest on three continents.

Very Fast Shipping !!! Great Deal ... Looking to buy again ... Thanks

This is going to be a great help with my school search!

This is a book that really gets into the various things that were rumoured and suggested all along. Get the real deal. Here is a great story of a great man.

ALL-AROUND MEN is a wonderful work of sports history and American history. I grew up idolizing Bob Mathias, Jim Thorpe, and Rafer Johnson. Now I can add Martin Sheridan, Fred Thomson, and Charlie Stevenson to my list of track heroes. Frank Zarnowski has long been recognized as the foremost authority on the decathlon. He has a gift for detail and story-telling that made this book a treat to read.

This collection of excerpts from ancient sources concerning
athletes, athletic contests, skills, prizes, and the
athletic "mystique" is excellent. For it gives a
generous overview from different sources, from different
ancient venues, and from different time periods. The
reader gains a growing sense of the awe and reverence
in which skilled as well as beautiful athletes were
held, both by spectators at the events as well as
through the fame which they gained that was passed
down in inscriptions, statues, poetry, and the
memories of those who heard of their skills and
victories even in distant places.
The excerpts are not excessively long, but they are
highy interesting and instructive. The topics covered
by chapters are: the Earliest Days of Greek Athletics/
Nudity and Equipment/ The Events at a Competition
(Running, Wrestling, Boxing, Pankration, Pentathlon,
Equestrian, Music, Poetry and Prose Composition, Acting,
Painting)/ Organization of a Panhellenic Festival/ Local
Festivals/ Role of the Games in Society/ Women in
Athletics/ Athletes and Heroes/ Ball Playing/ Gymnasion,
Athletics, and Education/ Spread of Greek Athletics in
the Hellenistic Period/ Greek Athletics in the Roman
Period/ Amateurism and Professionalism/ Nationalism
and Internationalism/ Our Ideal and the Reality.
As the author, Stephen Miller, explains in the
"Introduction": "A definition of -arete- would
include virtue, skill, prowess, pride, excellence,
valor, and nobility, but these words, whether taken
individually or collectively, do not [completely]
fulfill the meaning of -arete-." *** "...the word
-arete- still carries with it a notion of ephemeral
excellence and of transient triumph that make its
translation an exceedingly risky business."
In any particular chapter, the sources cited
may include: Pausanias (author of the famous Guide
Book to Greece), statue inscriptions, Athenaeus
(author of the multi-volume -Deipnosophists-,
Scholars at Dinner), Diodorus Siculus, poetic
excerpts from the -Greek Anthology-, Plutarch,
the ancient poet Pindar, Plato's dialogues, Aristotle's
treatises, as well as many other Greek and Roman
sources.
The title which I chose for this review comes from
the chapter titled "The Events at a Competition"
and shows both the striving for excellence,
and the transience of the accomplishment (if
not the fame). The 3 excerpts concern the
athlete Phayllos of Kroton, who was a pentahlete.
Some of the ancient writers thought the pentathlete
was the physically most perfect and beautiful
of the athletic competitors. The excerpts come
from "The Suda", "a lexicon compiled toward the end
of the 10th century after Christ and based upon a
variety of earlier material" [Miller]. As "The
Suda" says: "Beyond the dug-up area": beyond
measure. A metaphor from the pentathlon [jumping
pit]. It is said to come from the pentathlete Phayllos
of Kroton who, when the skammata used to be 50 feet,
first exceeded them with his jumps, as the epigram
on his statue says: 'Five and fifty feet flew Phayllos'."
The transience and the agony of ancient competitions,
for they were even more brutal in some physical
aspects than any modern events, come in the 3rd
excerpt: "'To jump beyond the dug-up area': with
reference to doing something hyperbolically, because
Phayllos jumped more than 50 feet and tore up his
leg."
-- Robert Kilgore.

This was the first book on coaching track and field that I ever found. I think it's great.

Coach Brauman gets down to the nitty-gritty and is very technical.

I still use his information, fifteen years after getting the book. Which is, happily, falling apart.