Athletics Books

One of the state's best sportswriters ever, Bob Hammel of the Bloomington Herald-Times, spends 1996-97 traveling around Indiana to watch various HS basketball games in the final season of single class basketball in Indiana. As an opponent of the multiclass system now being implemented, Hammel is still fair to the proponents, yet he pulls no punches. If you're a fan of Delta,Bloomington North, Kokomo or the LaPorte Slicers (all of whom made it to the final Final 4), you need this book as one final souvenir of a memorable season.

I thought the book was very helpful to me being that I am a track and feild athlete. It increased my vertical almost 7 inches in about 6 weeks. All I had to do was to keep eating somewhat healthy foods and do the programs the book recommeneded and my vertical went way up.

This is a good book which takes scientific aproach to running. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who's new to running as a guidebook but for those athletes who want to know why they really train by doing intervals or long runs. It also tries point out what research has proved to work and what doesn't work. I would've expected a bit more information on the training on how to use this info in practic.

An enjoyable read on the former world record holders running career particularly his HS phenomenal success to his tragic fall at Munich. Wish that Ryun could have experienced the atheletic sponsorship of today instead of being forced to bag groceries to train and to go pro in the failed pro track venture. He also talks of his religous experience and his self critique which is hard to ever buy that Ryun was ever a bad person. Got mine autographed at the Shamrock Marathon in VA. Beach. I still love the an exciting "Jim Ryun Story" by Coorder Nelson. That book is exciting read of the competetiveness of younster Ryun running against the great Peter Snell, Kip Keino and the American Jim Grelle. The action photographs are thrilling. Would be great to have both books.

A very good book that provides exercises for each part of the body. The interesting angle about this book is the use of a power rack in doing the exercises. With some ingenuity I think the movements can be duplicated using rope, self-resistance, or sticks,or combinatons of. Very well illustrated and the author was a coach at the Virginia Military Institute.

Tom Streissguth's book gives a brief biography of Jesse Owens from his childhood days in Alabama in the early 1900s to the 1984 Olympic ceremonies memorial service honoring him. Owens attended Ohio State University where he excelled at track. After university he qualified for the 1936 Summer Olympic in Berlin, Germany. In Germany Owens was subjected to the racist ideals of Adolf Hitler. Hitler dramatically undermined the four gold medals Owen won solely because Owen was an African-American. But when Owens returned home to the United States he continued to be discriminated against purely because of his skin color.

Jesse Owens set the world record for the long jump and won four gold medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics. He truly is an American hero. Yet, he also conquered many other battles regarding racism and discrimination. Tom Streissguth's book is a multicultural book because it exemplifies an African-American man and the hardships he had to overcome to succeed in a society that judged him by his race. The photos illustrate Owens accomplishments. The book is free of negative stereotypes and describes the importance of accepting all people regardless of any difference they may have.

I am a big fan of Fred Bowen's sports books. I love to play many different sports and his stories really keep my interest. The Kid Coach is a great story because most kids on a team would like to be the coach from time to time. When Scott actually had to become the coach it was a lot harder than it seemed. Real team work became necessary if they were going to win. Read to see how kids cope with the struggles and joys of leading. Go Team!

A fun read. As someone who grew up in the Bay Area (Berkeley) and raised on the Oakland A's, this was a fun look back at some of my childhood heroes. Loses focus a little bit here and there, but a must read for anyone who loves the A's.

LONG LIVE THE LONGHORNS covers the first 100 years of University of Texas football from 1893-1993. It is a fairly thorough history of the sport in Austin with many interesting anecdotes and photographs. In fact the large selection of early photographs help to make this book much better than most other college football history texts.

Definetely a must for any runner who wants to learn general facts about the sport, as well as general information in anatomy and physiology. Very interesting and useful.