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The Ring of Sky (Young Samurai #8)
by Chris BradfordPacked with historical action-adventure, the eighth and final book in Chris Bradford's blockbuster Young Samurai series reaches a thrilling conclusion.JACK FLETCHER IS RUNNING FOR HIS LIFEThe port of Nagasaki is within reach, but the Shogun's samurai are closing in fast for the kill. So too is Jack's old school rival, Kazuki. Every road is blocked and every mountain pass guarded as Jack makes his final dash for safety.But with all of Japan hunting him, he's going need a miracle to survive. And even if he reaches the end of the road, will there be a ship bound for home? Or will he be burned at the stake first?Only the Ring of Sky knows his fate...www.youngsamurai.com 'A fantastic adventure that floors the reader on page one and keeps them there until the end' - Eoin Colfer
The Ring of Water: The Ring of Water (Young Samurai #5)
by Chris BradfordJack Fletcher has been left for dead. Bruised and battered, Jack Fletcher wakes up in a roadside inn wrapped only in a dirty kimono. He has lost everything, including his memory of what happened.Determined to discover the truth, Jack goes on a quest to retrieve his belongings - his precious swords, his friend Akiko's black pearl and most important of all, his father's prize possession. Relying on his samurai and ninja training, Jack realises The Ring of Water is the key to his survival.But with only a washed up Ronin - a masterless samurai - for help, what will Jack manage to find? What will he lose? And what will he have to sacrifice?
The Ring of Wind (Young Samurai #7)
by Chris BradfordJACK FLETCHER IS BATTLING THE HIGH SEASAmbushed by the Shogun's samurai, Jack and his friends have only one hope of escape - the Seto Sea. But with ferocious storms, man-eating sharks and ninja pirates at every turn, their chosen route is fraught with danger. A treacherous crew only adds to their problems as they flee south from a ruthless samurai sea lord. Unless Jack can harness the Ring of Wind, he and his friends are destined for a watery grave . . .Book 7 in the blockbuster Young Samurai series by Chris Bradford. Visit www.youngsamurai.com for competitions and FREE teacher resources.'A fantastic adventure that floors the reader on page one and keeps them there until the end' - Eoin Colfer
Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America
by Scott BeekmanDespite its status as one of the oldest and most enduringly popular sports in history, wrestling has been pushed to the background of the current American sports scene. Most people today would have a hard time even considering wrestling (with some of its modern theatrics) in the same terms as track and field or boxing. But until the 1920s, wrestling stood as a legitimate professional sport in this country, and a widely practiced amateur one as well. Its past respectability may not have endured, but the advent of cable television in the 1980s offered the sport a renewed opportunity to play a determining role in American popular culture. This opportunity was not wasted, and wrestlers now assume places in politics and film at the highest levels. Ringside, the first work to fully examine the history of professional wrestling in this country, provides an illuminating and colorful account of all of the various athletes, entertainers, businessmen, and national outlooks that have determined wrestling's erratic route through American history.This chronological work begins with a brief account of wrestling's global history, and then proceeds to investigate the sport's growth as a specifically American institution. Wrestling has continued to survive in the face of technological developments, scandals, public ridicule, and a lack of centralized control, and today this supremely adaptable entertainment form represents, in sum, an international industry capable of attracting enormous television and pay-per-view audiences, along with massive amounts of advertising and merchandizing revenue. Ringside focuses on the business of wrestling as well as on the performers and their in-ring antics, and offers readers a fully nuanced examination of the development of professional wrestling in America.
Ringside: A Treasury of Boxing Reportage
by Budd SchulbergRingside is a bountiful collection of the most memorable boxing stories by legendary fight-game writer Budd Schulberg. Schulberg takes us all the way back to an epic bare-knuckle contest in England 200 years ago; draws a revealing portrait of 'Uncle' Mike Jacobs, the promotional impresario of boxing in its golden age; expertly places Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali in the social context of their times; brings followers up to date on the careers of the great names of recent decades - Tyson, Holyfield, de la Hoya, Hopkins, 'Chico' Corrales; and much more. Throughout this book, Schulberg provides the perfect blend of great writing on great fighters, laced with a realistic sense of boxing's wrongs as well as its rights. With prose that sparkles with authority and insight, Ringside is a main event in the world of sports literature.
A Ringside Affair: Boxing’s Last Golden Age
by James LawtonFor three decades at the end of the twentieth century – throughout boxing's most engrossing era – James Lawton was ringside, covering every significant bout, spending time with the likes of Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hitman Hearns, Roberto Duran, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield and many other great fighters.Lawton found himself captivated by the sport as he followed it around the world. From a big fight's initial announcement, through the fighters' punishing training regimes, the overblown press conferences and dramatic weigh-ins, up to the bout itself and its savage fall-out – Lawton observed and absorbed it all, grateful for the remarkable access he was afforded. He witnessed Ali screaming in pain for his dressing-room lights to be turned out after a fight; he was there to meet Tyson at the prison gates on his release in 1992; he listened as former champions wept while struggling to find their new place in the world. As part of a small, tight-knit group of sportswriters with the privilege of covering each fight in such intimate detail, Lawton formed lifelong friendships and found himself forever altered by being caught up in the whirlwind of a sport at its most spellbinding.A Ringside Affair brings that brilliant epoch back to life – and puts it in the perspective it deserves. It salutes the epic quality of boxing's last years of glory, retraces arguably the richest inheritance bequeathed to any sport, and speculates on the possibility that we will never see such fighting again. It is part celebration, part lament, but perhaps most of all it is a personal record of some of most enthralling and challenging days produced by the world's oldest sport.
Rio: My Story
by Rio FerdinandRio Ferdinand is widely acknowledged as one of the most talented and skilful defenders in the world. His transfer from West Ham to Leeds was a British record at the time, a feat he achieved again with his subsequent move to Manchester United. Ferdinand's success on the pitch has been meteoric; including high drama in the Champions League, three World Cups and a dramatic Premiership victory. Here, for the very first time, Ferdinand reveals all about his infamous missed drugs test, the controversies surrounding both his transfers, his supposed reluctance to re-sign for United in 2005, the alleged tapping-up meeting with Chelsea's Peter Kenyon and various tabloid headlines involving partying and women.
Ripley's World: The Enthralling Story of the British Lion's Most Crucial Battle
by Andy RipleyWinner of the National Sporting Club's prestigious British Rugby Book of the Year Award for 2008, Ripley's World transforms and redefines the genre of the sports autobiography. In a moving and intimate memoir, Andy Ripley, England rugby icon and victorious British Lion, television Superstar and world rowing champion, reflects on a life of sporting achievement and confronts his most powerful and dangerous challenge yet - his diagnosis with prostate cancer. Told with typical candour and courage, it is an absorbing and inspirational story.
Rise: The Brand New Autobiography
by Siya Kolisi‘Siya's rise from humble beginnings to lifting that World Cup trophy is the stuff of fairytales.’ MARCUS RASHFORD
The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality
by Mike SielskiKobe Bryant is a legend – The Rise is a fascinating look at his early life and how he became regarded as one of basketball’s greatest ever players. Kobe Bryant’s death in January 2020 did more than rattle the worlds of sports and celebrity. It took the tragedy of that helicopter crash to reveal the full breadth and depth of Kobe’s influence, and by tracing and telling the oft-forgotten and lesser-known story of his early life, The Rise promises to provide an unparalleled insight into Kobe.In The Rise, readers travel from the cracked concrete basketball courts of Philadelphia in the 1960s and 70s - where Kobe's father, Joe, became a playground, college and professional stand out - to the majesty and isolation of Europe, where Kobe spent his formative years and to the leafy suburbs of Lower Merion, where Kobe's legend was born. The story culminates with his leading Lower Merion to the 1995-96 Pennsylvania state championship - a true underdog run for a team with just one star player, Kobe - and with the 1996 NBA draft, where Kobe's dream of playing pro basketball culminated with his acquisition by the Los Angeles Lakers.With exclusive access to a series of never-before-released interviews during Bryant's senior season and early days in the NBA. Mike Sielski's The Rise reveals insights never seen before. For a quarter-century, these tapes and transcripts preserved Kobe's thoughts, dreams and goals from his teenage years, and they contained insights into him and told stories about him that have never been revealed before.This is beyond a mere basket ball book. This is an exploration of the making of an icon and the effect of his development on those around him - the essence of the man before he truly became a man.
Rise: Surviving the Fight of My Life
by Paige VanZantAN INSPIRING MEMOIR FOR ANYONE WHO'S BEEN KNOCKED DOWN AND CAME UP SWINGING As a young girl growing up in Newberg, Oregon, Paige Sletten was all energy and full of potential. A natural athlete, Paige excelled at dancing, made the cheerleading squad earlier than most, and even had aspirations of becoming a Disney child star. With a tight-knit family, Paige's life was on track for greatness. Then, one fateful fall night in high school, everything changed when Paige faced a life-threatening sexual assault. It was in the gym where she "pounded the life out of those ashen memories," becoming stronger with every punch, kick, and lunge. In this beautiful tale of survival, she writes: I inhale the power. I exhale the bullshit. One strike at a time. Fighting became Paige's safe haven; something to live for, and Rise is the inspiring story of how she ultimately transformed into a bone-breaking, head-smashing fighter known as Paige VanZant. It is the deeply moving story of a warrior who transformed her pain into power and has become one of the toughest women in the world; an inspiring journey of someone who was knocked down in the most devastating way and came up swinging.
The Rise and Eventual Fall of Turnbull's Tornadoes
by Tom WrightFollowing the sudden resignation of manager Dave Ewing in 1971, former player Eddie Turnbull was to turn over a new leaf for a team facing relegation. Playing from 1946 to 1959 and forming part of the Hibernian's 'Famous Five' forward line, Turnbull would now take the managerial hot seat at his hallowed Easter Road. From Hibernian historian Tom Wright comes a fascinating, in-depth look into the whirlwind seasons for a Hibs side under Eddie Turnbull: the players, fans, successes, clashes, defeats, controversies and more. Going down in history with just one major title, behold the rise and eventual fall of the magical Turnbull's Tornadoes – possibly Hib's greatest ever side.
The Rise and Rise of Illegal Ticket Touting: An Ethnography of Deviant Entrepreneurship (Routledge Studies in Organised Crime)
by Alessandro MorettiThis book presents an ethnographic study of contemporary ticket touts in the UK. Despite the recent interest in the topic of black-market ticket sales, media coverage and parliamentary interventions over the last ten years have revealed a widespread lack of knowledge with regards to the phenomenon of touting and the players involved in the practice. The Rise and Rise of Illegal Ticket Touting sheds light on the world of touting and delivers an authentic picture of the individuals involved, of their methods, values, and motivations for performing ticket touting as an organised, entrepreneurial deviant activity. The touts’ attitudes, perceptions, adaptations to – or outright dismissal of – the changing legal landscape are focal points of the study. Of equal importance are the touts’ varied methods of buying and selling tickets, the hierarchical structures and strict ethos of their criminal organisations, and their specific modi operandi for evading detection and arrest both on the streets and online. This book illuminates why historic and renewed attempts to challenge ticket touting have been unsuccessful, focusing on inadequate legislation, a lack of enforcement, and the widespread corruption and exploitable loopholes that exist within the official, primary ticket market. An accessible and compelling read, The Rise and Rise of Illegal Ticket Touting will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, social policy, policing and all those with an interest in live music and sport and the hidden practices that lurk beneath the surface.
The Rise and Rise of Illegal Ticket Touting: An Ethnography of Deviant Entrepreneurship (Routledge Studies in Organised Crime)
by Alessandro MorettiThis book presents an ethnographic study of contemporary ticket touts in the UK. Despite the recent interest in the topic of black-market ticket sales, media coverage and parliamentary interventions over the last ten years have revealed a widespread lack of knowledge with regards to the phenomenon of touting and the players involved in the practice. The Rise and Rise of Illegal Ticket Touting sheds light on the world of touting and delivers an authentic picture of the individuals involved, of their methods, values, and motivations for performing ticket touting as an organised, entrepreneurial deviant activity. The touts’ attitudes, perceptions, adaptations to – or outright dismissal of – the changing legal landscape are focal points of the study. Of equal importance are the touts’ varied methods of buying and selling tickets, the hierarchical structures and strict ethos of their criminal organisations, and their specific modi operandi for evading detection and arrest both on the streets and online. This book illuminates why historic and renewed attempts to challenge ticket touting have been unsuccessful, focusing on inadequate legislation, a lack of enforcement, and the widespread corruption and exploitable loopholes that exist within the official, primary ticket market. An accessible and compelling read, The Rise and Rise of Illegal Ticket Touting will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, social policy, policing and all those with an interest in live music and sport and the hidden practices that lurk beneath the surface.
The Rise and Size of the Fitness Industry in Europe: Fit for the Future?
by Jeroen Scheerder Hanna Vehmas Kobe HelsenThis book explores the rise, size and shape of the European fitness industry by using harmonised data as well as in-depth analyses of national surveys in fifteen European countries. Following an introduction to the socio-historical and conceptual aspects of fitness, the collection presents the scope of fitness as a business and participatory activity. Furthermore, both policy and governance issues as well as community and supply angles are considered. Drawing on this unique material, the book will appeal to students and scholars of sport business, sport economics, sport management, and social sport sciences, but also to administrators, policymakers and entrepreneurs in the international and national sport and health community.
The Rise of Gerry Logan
by Brian Glanville'The best book on football ever written.' Franz Beckenbauer, winner of the World Cup as both player and manager.In Football Memories, Brian Glanville himself writes, 'The central character, Garry, was a Scottish inside-forward based on Danny Blanchflower. This, largely because the footballer had to be untypically intelligent and aware, as well as an accomplished performer. Danny, so fluent, so original, and in certain ways so flawed, seemed an ideal model. Yet he, or his surrogate, could not carry the whole book. I used various voices. His wife's. My own.'Ever since J. B. Priestley's pre-publication endorsement - 'I enjoyed this highly original novel' - praise has been constant:'This is a brilliant novel. Any footballer can see a little of himself in Gerry Logan, as I did when I first read it. The book tells what the pressures are like in the game, the temptations to which successful players are exposed and yet the human qualities tell us much about society and human nature in general.' Derek Dougan'The best novel on soccer I have ever read.' Daily Herald'Soars into first-class fiction.' The Spectator'An acid fable of our age, solid with expertise about football and its seamier secrets.' Daily Mail 'The whole world of big time soccer, with its glamour and bitter feuds, made very real.' Sunday Telegraph
The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance
by Steven KotlerA razor-sharp analysis of how record-breaking exploits in extreme sport are redefining the limits of being human.Right now, more people are risking their lives for their sports then ever before in history. As Thomas Pynchon once put it in Gravity's Rainbow, 'it is not often that Death is told so clearly to f@%* off'. Over the past three decades, the bounds of the possible in action and adventure sports - from sky-diving to motocross to surfing and beyond - have been pushed farther and faster. A generation's worth of iconoclastic misfits have rewritten the rules of the feasible; not just raising the bar, but obliterating it altogether. Along the way, they have become a force pushing evolution relentlessly onward. In a thrilling narrative that draws on biology, psychology, and philosophy, Steven Kotler asks why, at the tail end of the 20th century and the early portion of the 21st, are we seeing such a multi-sport assault on reality? Did we somehow slip through a wormhole to another universe where gravity is optional and common sense obsolete? And where - if anywhere - do our actual limits lie?
The Rise of the Ultra Runners: A Journey to the Edge of Human Endurance
by Adharanand Finn*Shortlisted for the 2019 William Hill Sports Book of the Year*Marathons are no longer enough. Pain is to be relished, not avoided. Hallucinations are normal.Ultra running defies conventional logic. Yet this most brutal and challenging sport is now one of the fastest-growing in the world. Why is this? Is it an antidote to modern life, or a symptom of a modern illness?Adharanand Finn travelled to the heart of the sport to find out - and to see if he could become an ultra runner himself. His journey took him from the deserts of Oman to the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies, and on to his ultimate goal, the 105-mile Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.The Rise of the Ultra Runners is the electrifying, inspirational account of what he learned along the way. Through encounters with the sport's many colourful characters and his experiences of its soaring highs and crushing lows, Finn offers an unforgettable insight into what can be found at the boundaries of human endeavour.
The Risk (Briar U)
by Elle KennedyStep into a world of hot hockey players, feisty heroines and steamy scenes . . . Everyone says I'm a bad girl. They're only partly right - I don't let fear rule me, and I certainly don't care what people think. But I draw the line at sleeping with the enemy. As the daughter of Briar's head hockey coach, I'd be vilified if I hooked up with a player from a rival team.And that's who Jake Connelly is. Harvard's star forward is arrogant, annoying and too attractive for his own good. But fate is cruel - I require his help to secure a much-coveted internship, and the sexy jerk isn't making it easy for me.I need Connelly to be my fake boyfriend. For every fake date . . . he wants a real one.Which means this bad girl is in big trouble. Nothing good can come from sneaking around with Jake Connelly. My father would kill me, my friends will revolt, and my post-college career is on the line. But while it's getting harder and harder to resist Jake's oozing sex appeal and cocky grin, I refuse to fall for him.That's the one risk I'm not willing to take.Praise for Elle Kennedy: 'Delicious, complicated and drama-filled . . . I read it in one sitting, and you will, too' L. J. Shen, USA Today bestselling author 'A deliciously sexy story with a wallop of emotions that sneaks up on you' Vi Keeland, No.1 New York Times bestselling author 'Elle Kennedy delivers another sexy and addictive read, and my latest personal favourite from her!' Tijan, New York Times bestselling author
Risk and Safety in Play: The law and practice for adventure playgrounds
by Dave PotterProduced by PLAYLINK, a registered charity which assists local communities to create adventure playgrounds for children. Established in 1962, PLAYLINK is recognised as the national authority on good practice for play provision of this type. This essential handbook draws on PLAYLINK's 35 years experience with adventure playgrounds, introduces recent changes to legislation and gives guidance on the interpretation of legal responsibilities. It is intende for all those working as play officers, playworkers, playground designers or consultants in supervised play provision, legal advisers and regulatory authorities. It will also be of interst to anyone involved in leisure and recreation management and the design and construction of sports facilities.
Risk and Safety in Play: The law and practice for adventure playgrounds
by Dave PotterProduced by PLAYLINK, a registered charity which assists local communities to create adventure playgrounds for children. Established in 1962, PLAYLINK is recognised as the national authority on good practice for play provision of this type. This essential handbook draws on PLAYLINK's 35 years experience with adventure playgrounds, introduces recent changes to legislation and gives guidance on the interpretation of legal responsibilities. It is intende for all those working as play officers, playworkers, playground designers or consultants in supervised play provision, legal advisers and regulatory authorities. It will also be of interst to anyone involved in leisure and recreation management and the design and construction of sports facilities.
Risk, Failure, Play: What Dance Reveals about Martial Arts Training
by Janet O'SheaRisk, Failure, Play illuminates the many ways in which competitive martial arts differentiate themselves from violence. Presented from the perspective of a dancer and writer, this book takes readers through the politics of everyday life as experienced through training in a range of martial arts practices such as jeet kune do, Brazilian jiu jitsu, kickboxing, Filipino martial arts, and empowerment self-defense. Author Janet OâShea shows how play gives us the ability to manage difficult realities with intelligence and demonstrates that physical play, with its immediacy and heightened risk, is particularly effective at accomplishing this task. Risk, Failure, Play also demonstrates the many ways in which physical recreation allows us to manage the complexities of our current social reality. Risk, Failure, Play intertwines personal experience with phenomenology, social psychology, dance studies, performance studies, as well as theories of play and competition in order to produce insights on pleasure, mastery, vulnerability, pain, agency, individual identity, and society. Ultimately, this book suggests that play allows us to rehearse other ways to live than the ones we see before us and challenges us to reimagine our social reality.
RISK, FAILURE, PLAY C: What Dance Reveals about Martial Arts Training
by Janet O'SheaRisk, Failure, Play illuminates the many ways in which competitive martial arts differentiate themselves from violence. Presented from the perspective of a dancer and writer, this book takes readers through the politics of everyday life as experienced through training in a range of martial arts practices such as jeet kune do, Brazilian jiu jitsu, kickboxing, Filipino martial arts, and empowerment self-defense. Author Janet OâShea shows how play gives us the ability to manage difficult realities with intelligence and demonstrates that physical play, with its immediacy and heightened risk, is particularly effective at accomplishing this task. Risk, Failure, Play also demonstrates the many ways in which physical recreation allows us to manage the complexities of our current social reality. Risk, Failure, Play intertwines personal experience with phenomenology, social psychology, dance studies, performance studies, as well as theories of play and competition in order to produce insights on pleasure, mastery, vulnerability, pain, agency, individual identity, and society. Ultimately, this book suggests that play allows us to rehearse other ways to live than the ones we see before us and challenges us to reimagine our social reality.
Rivals: The drama-packed sequel from Jilly Cooper, Sunday Times bestselling author of Riders
by Jilly Cooper OBEWho will take the Cotswold Crown?Into the cut-throat world of Corinium television comes Declan O'Hara, a mega-star of great glamour and integrity with a radiant feckless wife, a handsome son and two ravishing teenage daughters. Living rather too closely across the valley is Rupert Campbell-Black, divorced and as dissolute as ever, and now the Tory Minister for Sport.Declan needs only a few days at Corinium to realise that the Managing Director, Lord Baddingham, is a crook who has recruited him merely to help retain the franchise for Corinium. Baddingham has also enticed Cameron Cook, a gorgeous but domineering woman executive, to produce Declan's programme. Declan and Cameron detest each other, provoking a storm of controversy into which Rupert plunges with his usual abandon.As a rival group emerges to pitch for the franchise, reputations ripen and decline, true love blossoms and burns, marriages are made and shattered, and sex raises its (delicious) head at almost every throw as, in bed and boardroom, the race is on to capture the Cotswold Crown.---------------------------------------'Jilly Cooper is the very best ... elegant, glamourous, wonderful fun' Daily Mail'I couldn't put it down' Sunday Express'A combination of drama, sex, and good social comedy ... unputdownable' The Sunday Times