Are you totally obsessed with horses? Or want to be? This book takes you deep into one rider's life behind the glamorous scenes of the televised equine world into the dirt, grit, grime and fun of endurance and competitive trail riding. It's a fresh look at the thrill of being part of a sport that is rarely heard of and never televised. The spunk and tenacity of the riders and their horses sparks a thrill in any reader, begging them to go out and buy a horse, a beat up saddle and get started on their own thrilling adventure. This book, part one in a series, encompasses the riding years of 2005 and 2006. Quickly addictive, a warning label should be attached to the outside binder letting the readers know that they should beware of the humor, fun and giggles contained inside. If you have no interest in rolling on the floor in gut busting laughter, you should not engage in reading this book.

Go for the win! Achieve excellence and be better than you’ve ever been! In his years as a professional ice-skater, Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton learned to embrace the mind-set of working hard to “beat” the competition. But it seems competition has gotten a bad rap these days. We’ve bought into the belief that it is unfair to participants to rank performance. Yet competition is in fact a good thing because it’s about working toward excellence. Finish First is a wake-up call for business leaders, entrepreneurs, spouses, parents, and even students to stop settling for mediocre and begin to revitalize their intrinsic will to achieve excellence and go for the win. Most of us feel we were made for something more, but we’re often afraid to allow ourselves to be competitive because we think our finishing first might somehow rob others of their chance to shine. This book encourages the hidden potential, the champion within all of us, to come out—which eventually brings our family, marriage, career, business, and the world around us the greatest possible good.

Every Christian man is running the race of life against the deadly enemies of the world, the flesh, and the devil. A good distance runner knows the importance of planning his race -- running with a plan, perseverance, and pacing. Running well today will help you run well in the difficult days ahead. Plan to run, train to run...run to win.

Racecar driver Earnhardt was at the top of his game—until a minor crash resulted in a concussion that would eventually end his 18-year career. In his only authorized book, Dale shares the inside track on his life and work, reflects on NASCAR, the loss of his dad, and his future as a broadcaster, businessperson, and family man. It was a seemingly minor crash at Michigan International Speedway in June 2016 that ended the day early for NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. What he didn’t know was that it would also end his driving for the year. He’d dealt with concussions before, but no two are the same. Recovery can be brutal, and lengthy. When Dale retired from professional stock car racing in 2017, he walked away from his career as a healthy man. But for years, he had worried that the worsening effects of multiple racing-related concussions would end not only his time on the track but his ability to live a full and happy life. Torn between a race-at-all-costs culture and the fear that something was terribly wrong, Earnhardt tried to pretend that everything was fine, but the private notes about his escalating symptoms that he kept on his phone reveal a vicious cycle: suffering injuries on Sunday, struggling through the week, then recovering in time to race again the following weekend. In this candid reflection, Earnhardt opens up for the first time about: The physical and emotional struggles he faced as he fought to close out his career on his own terms His frustration with the slow recovery from multiple racing-related concussions His admiration for the woman who stood by him through it all His determination to share his own experience so that others don’t have to suffer in silence Steering his way to the final checkered flag of his storied career proved to be the most challenging race and most rewarding finish of his life.

Refreshed with a new design, Oxford Practice Grammar is a three-level English grammar practice series for the classroom or self-study. Its tried and trusted methodology provides clear explanations and lots of extra practice. Oxford Practice Grammar knows that students need different types of explanation and practice at each stage of their study. Basic provides lots of practice and short explanations; Intermediate gives you more detail with extended practice; Advanced gives challenging practice activities and in-depth explanations. Great for classroom or self-study.

Bruce Boudreau is living a hockey Cinderella story. After more than three decades in the minor leagues as a player and coach, he was promoted to head coach of the Washington Capitals in 2007. Boudreau revived the Caps, written off as dead, to a division championship and received the Jack Adams award as the National Hockey League s Coach of the Year in June 2008. His story is an entertaining odyssey of triumph, disappointment, and perseverance, stretching from Toronto to Washington. As a pro rookie, Boudreau had a cameo appearance in "Slap Shot" with star Paul Newman. Today Boudreau coaches superstar Alexander Ovechkin and a young Washington club poised to become an elite NHL team vying for the Stanley Cup. Boudreau stole the limelight at the 2008 NHL Awards Show with his self-deprecating and folksy manner, which has made him a popular personality at every stop he s made. Hockey fans know there s only one Boudreau."

This multivolume set is much more than a collection of essays on sports and sporting cultures from around the world: it also details how and why sports are played wherever they exist, and examines key charismatic athletes from around the world who have transcended their sports. Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice provides a unique, global overview of sports and sports cultures. Unlike most works of this type, this book provides both essays that examine general topics, such as globalization and sport, international relations and sport, and tourism and sport, as well as essays on sports history, culture, and practice in world regions—for example, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and Oceania—in order to provide a more global perspective. These essays are followed by entries on specific sports, world athletes, stadiums and arenas, famous games and matches, and major controversies. Spanning topics as varied as modern professional cycling to the fictional movie Rocky to the deadly ball game of the ancient Mayans, the first three volumes contain overview essays and entries for specific sports that have been and are currently practiced around the world. The fourth volume provides a compendium of information on the winners of major sporting competitions from around the world. Readers will gain invaluable insights into how sports have been enjoyed throughout all of human culture, and more fully comprehend their cultural contexts. The entries provide suggestions for further reading on each topic—helpful to general readers, students with school projects, university students and academics alike. Additionally, the four-volume Sports Around the World spotlights key charismatic athletes who have changed a sport or become more than just an outstanding player.

More than any other sport, baseball has developed its own niche in America's culture and psyche. Some researchers spend years on detailed statistical analyses of minute parts of the game, while others wax poetic about its players and plays. Many trace the beginnings of the civil rights movement in part to the Major Leagues' decision to integrate, and the words and phrases of the game (for example, pinch-hitter and out in left field) have become common in our everyday language. From AARON, HENRY onward, this book covers all of what might be called the cultural aspects of baseball (as opposed to the number-rich statistical information so widely available elsewhere). Biographical sketches of all Hall of Fame players, owners, executives and umpires, as well as many of the sportswriters and broadcasters who have won the Spink and Frick awards, join entries for teams, owners, commissioners and league presidents. Advertising, agents, drafts, illegal substances, minor leagues, oldest players, perfect games, retired uniform numbers, superstitions, tripleheaders, and youngest players are among the thousands of entries herein. Most entries open with a topical quote and conclude with a brief bibliography of sources for further research. The whole work is exhaustively indexed and includes 119 photographs.

This book started as a self-serving exercise to personally organize the major details and interesting facts of each Indianapolis 500 over the hundred-plus-year history of the greatest race in the world. For many of us passionate racing fans who have attended a multitude of 500s, there is a tendency for the details of the races to (somewhat) blend together. I hope this book will help to provide clarity in this regard as well as educate. During high school, many of us chose to use CliffsNotes to assist in the education process. This book is somewhat patterned after that concept. It falls somewhere between Donald Davidson and Rick Schaffer—the best and by far the most detailed book on the history of the Indianapolis 500—and a multitude of pictorial books with limited information. I hope it will prove to be an easy read with entertaining and educational information.

Should you wish to boost your self-confidence, release the power of a winning self-esteem and a positive self-image, discover your own resilience and inner fortitude of faith, and increase your trust in a God, who can and will take care of you ... read this book. Juanita skillfully uses her life experiences to illustrate the application of God's Word during life's challenging trials and tribulations. This work will quickly guide you to the realization that ... "all things are possible with God."