The latest edition of the best-selling sport and exercise psychology book on the market, Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Fifth Edition, provides a thorough introduction to the key concepts in the field. Written by internationally respected authors, it provides students and new practitioners with a comprehensive view of sport and exercise psychology, bridges the gap between research and practice, conveys principles of professional practice, and captures the excitement of the world of sport and exercise.

The book contains seven parts that may be studied in any sequence. Part I introduces students to the field, detailing its history, current status, and the various roles of sport and exercise psychologists. Part II focuses on personal factors that affect performance and psychological development in sport, physical education, and exercise settings. In part III, the authors focus on two major classes of situational factors that influence behavior: competition and cooperation, and feedback and reinforcement. Read the rest of this entry »

Stories about athletes and coaches usually focus on their championships or their scandals. All the Good in Sports features 20 contemporary sports personalities who go beyond the headlines to candidly share how their relationship with Christ has helped them cope with a variety of difficulties, both professional and personal, and how in Christ they found victory in their personal lives.

Many professing Christians in the sports world have achieved wealth and notoriety, but life’s luxuries do not exempt them from life’s difficulties. Name recognition and personal fortune cannot rescue one whose marriage is on the rocks, one facing substance abuse, or one facing disease or even death. The sports heroes featured in All the Good in Sports are not super human. They go through the same pendulum of emotions you. However, what they discover—or rediscover—is a God who is faithful and responsive in their time of need. Read the rest of this entry »

Grade 4–9 – Forty years as a sportscaster gives Berman plenty of experience to choose the 25 greatest sports moments. His writing is lively, humorous, and informative – just right to sustain kids (or adults) interest. Quality photos throughout are another plus.

Each of the entries for the individuals chosen includes a brief biographical profile with birth date, birthplace, height, weight, and a fact about their accomplishments. Other boxes feature interesting trivia such as the price of a baseball ticket in the 1930s being a little more than a dollar. Another describes the amazing typical breakfast for swimmer Michael Phelps. An audio CD that includes many of the moments as they were broadcast live is part of the package. Read the rest of this entry »

In The ESPN Mighty Book of Sports Knowledge, Steve Wulf, acclaimed author and founding editor of ESPN The Magazine, delivers an arena’s worth of sporting wisdom, trivia, best-of lists, curiosities, legendary feats, and sacred objects–from the magic of Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech to the lore of hockey’s Stanley Cup to the art of the perfectly thrown Wiffle Ball pitch.

Written to remind us all why we love the games, this indispensable reference features contributions from the finest minds at ESPN, as well as guidance from actual professionals. Inside you’ll discover:

• Twenty-five of the greatest sporting nicknames
• The keys to being a mascot
• What happens during a pit stop
• The five best (worst?) on-field temper tantrums
• A tour of Donovan McNabb’s locker
• How Wayne Gretzky tapes his sticks
• The unbeatable secret of rock-paper-scissors

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Foundations of Therapeutic Recreation provides readers with a comprehensive introduction to the profession. The book draws on the combined wisdom, experience, and technical expertise of 23 professors and leaders in the field. From these contributors, readers gain access to diverse perceptions, philosophies, and practices for therapeutic recreation in the 21st century.

The book showcases how the profession addresses various clients needs throughout the life span through therapeutic programs, modalities, and activities. It also
* presents a wide range of applications, allowing readers to explore their personal and professional options;
* provides insight into the basic knowledge, attributes, and skills students need in order to thrive in the field; and
* delineates career paths in the profession and how a therapeutic recreation specialist works with various populations. Read the rest of this entry »

Risk Management in Sport and Recreation is a comprehensive resource for those charged with the responsibility of providing for the safety of participants and spectators in a sport or recreation setting. It covers a range of safety issues, including lightning, heat illness, aquatics, playground safety, drug testing, and medical emergency action plans. Readers receive clear and detailed explanations of issues to consider before making decisions on risk management.

Risk Management in Sport and Recreation is designed to provide a foundation for approaching key issues in safety and risk management. It shows readers how to evaluate and analyze various safety issues and apply the underlying concepts to a variety of situations. The following are unique features of the text:

• A safety guidelines finder lists Web sites of accessible standards, guidelines, and recommendations from leading organizations.
• Chapter objectives and pullout boxes of key points and key statistics stress the importance of the topic under discussion. Read the rest of this entry »

Recreation and leisure is a nonstop industry with phenomenal growth, tremendous potential, and diverse career paths and options. Introduction to Recreation and Leisure presents a new-millennium view of this evolving field that

• presents historical, philosophical, and social aspects of the industry, which students can use to build their knowledge of the field;
• offers fresh insights to the standard treatment of community parks and recreation departments, youth and nonprofit agencies, commercial recreation, and tourism enterprises;

• describes how recreation provides fun, enriching, and educational programs and services for people of all ages;
• encompasses a variety of services, including recreational sports, outdoor activities, fitness and wellness, and arts and culture; and
• exposes students to the variety of career options available and supports them as they explore their interests and prepare for challenging careers in one of the leading industries of the 21st century. Read the rest of this entry »

Andre Agassi has written a ‘tell-all’ book about his life in tennis. And, it turns out, he hated tennis. That was a bigger shocker than the salacious fact that he was on ‘crystal meth’for a period of time.
Andre tells that he started playing tennis at the age of 3 and by the age of 5 he was showing an aptitude for the game. He was pushed by his father-an obsessive man who pushed his son too far and too much. In fact his father felt that education was not necessary and a hindrance to his tennis practice.

Andre could never tell his father how much he hated the game because it was Andre’s responsibility to help his family, and that is what he did. He left school in the ninth grade, something that has bothered him his entire career. His goal was to achieve in tennis. He was enrolled in the Bollettien tennis camp, but it felt more like a prison than a camp. The academy, in Agassi’s words, was “Lord of the Flies with forehands.” In retaliation Andre started wearing earrings, grew his hair long and wore loud clothes. Read the rest of this entry »

The essential guide to the 2010 baseball season is on deck now, and whether you’re a fan or fantasy player-or both-you won’t be properly informed without it. Baseball Prospectus 2010 brings together an elite group of analysts to provide the definitive look at the upcoming season in critical essays and commentary on the thirty teams, their managers, and more than sixty players and prospects from each team.

Now in its fifteenth edition, the Baseball Prospectus annual shows once again how it became the industry leader: the 2010 Edition includes brand-new stat categories, more controversial player predictions, and the kind of wise, witty baseball commentary that makes this phone-book-thick tome worth reading cover to cover. Read the rest of this entry »

David Byrne is a smart, funny, artistic sort of fellow whose talents, inclination and curiosity have led him all over the world. A few decades back, David discovered folding bicycles and since then he’s ridden his bicycle along the side and back roads of many cities, riding, thinking, chatting, living life and seeing how it’s lived in a wide range of places. His view of the world seen from a bicycle saddle gives him “glimpses into the mind of my fellow man, as expressed in the cities he lives in.” Now, his meditations on people, places and the various ways we get along and get around are collected in his new book, Bicycle Diaries.

Bicycle Diaries is the best kind of art, a work that brings the reader along on the artist’s journey. Bicycle Diaries is a physically beautiful book, hardcover with no dust-jacket, yellow embossed letters cheerfully identify the title and author while a black silhouette of a rider draws the reader forward. Read the rest of this entry »