Playing Tough is an entertaining and thoroughly enlightening look at the unique and surprisingly outsized role that sports have played in politics and history. Ever since the bread and circuses of Rome, sports have been used as a tool to entertain the masses and to instill civic pride. Abrams shows both the positive and the negative ways in which sports and politics have coalesced, from the rabid nationalism of the 1936 Nazi Olympics, the political grudge match of the Louis and Schmeling fights, and the "futbol war" between Honduras and Costa Rica to the inspiring stories of South Africa's rugby nation-building and Muhammad Ali's brave antiwar stance, which nearly cost him his career. Abrams is an informed and impassioned writer who chronicles the profoundly creative and destructive influence that sports have on the political life of our nation and the world. This book will be of interest to any and all sports and politics enthusiasts and is a wonderful introduction for course creation and adoption.

After two years of taking care of her heartbroken father, Evie needs a new start. Leaving the States and following her sister to Australia to work as the personal assistant of rugby star Xavier - The Beast - Stevens seems like the right kind of distraction.Tall, muscled and devilishly handsome, Xavier is the lov' em and leav' em kind of guy. He never forgets a girl's name because he never bothers to remember it in the first place.Evie soon realizes that being Xavier's assistant is a 24/7 job; the man seems unwilling to even set an alarm for himself.As she watches him move from one woman to the next, Evie is glad that her heart is safe from his attention. After all, she's a far cry from the size zero models he usually takes to his bed.But soon being around Xavier doesn't feel like a job, and seeing him walk around his apartment half naked all the time isn't helping either. Evie knows that giving in to her attraction will lead to heartbreak, but when Xavier starts treating her as more than just his assistant, resisting his charms seems like an impossible task.

THE BARRIER TO YOUR TEAM'S PERFORMANCE? It's you. As the speed of change in elite sports has increased, the support infrastructure around head coaches has not kept up. This has left many coaches--supposedly experts in human performance--walking zombies who don't sleep, don't exercise, and don't see their families. To succeed in the modern sporting world, head coaches must face some hard truths. By grappling with these truths, which cut to the very core of who they are as human beings, head coaches can get out of their own way and achieve all-new levels of personal performance. In The Tough Stuff you'll learn: Just how much the emotional toll impacts your ability to coach How to become a high-performance knowledge worker Why communication mastery is key to unlocking your full potential As well as sharing his own struggles as a head coach, Cody Royle enlists the help of some friends who are all too familiar with The Tough Stuff, such as Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn, Connacht Rugby head coach Andy Friend, Ryerson Rams basketball head coach Carly Clarke, DC United head coach Ben Olsen, Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns head coach Jay Triano, and Colorado Avalanche head coach Tony Granato. Cody Royle is the head coach of AFL Team Canada, the men's national team for Australian Rules football. He is a standout voice on how teams create sustained success. His debut book, Where Others Won't, is a go-to guide for professional sports teams around the world, and his podcast of the same name was nominated for a Podcast Award in 2019.

Sharing wise guidance on how to navigate difficult times, this is a funny, warm and practical guide to help you gain perspective on what's truly important in life - from a young woman who never expected to survive The Big C. Perfect for fans of life-changing personal development manuals like The Resilience Project, The Happiness Project and When Life Is Not Peachy. 'This is the book everyone needs to read when life takes an unexpected turn.' - Mia Freedman, MamaMia Not all storms come to disrupt your life. Some come to clear your path. Viral video producer Briony Benjamin was a few months into a new job when she started feeling crappy… All. The. Time. Doctors told her she was just stressed and should rest more and learn to meditate. But it turns out she had cancer all through her body. Turning the camera on herself, Briony started documenting her journey in the short video 'You Only Get One Life'. Its raw portrayal of her experience went viral, touching millions. Here Briony shares some of the important lessons learnt through her illness and recovery - everything from how to assemble your A Team in times of crisis and learning to make friends with the pain, to happy hacks for cutting yourself some slack and some great tips on being a kick-arse support human when a friend is going through the rough stuff. If you want to live the richest version of your life, bring some more joy into your day-to-day existence and have some tools up your sleeve for when things get tricksy, this book is for you. Because - spoiler alert - we all have to deal with our fair share of tough times sooner or later. It's how we handle them and bounce back afterwards that really matters.

Major Dick Winters of the 101st Airborne gained international acclaim when the tale of he and his men were depicted in the celebrated book and miniseries Band of Brothers. Hoisted as a modest hero who spurned adulation, Winters epitomized the notion of dignified leadership. His iconic World War II exploits have since been depicted in art and commemorated with monuments. Beneath this marble image of a reserved officer is the story of a common Pennsylvanian tested by the daily trials and tribulations of military duty. His wartime correspondence with pen pal and naval reservist, DeEtta Almon, paints an endearing portrait of life on both the home front and battlefront—capturing the humor, horror, and humility that defined a generation. Interwoven with previously unpublished diary entries, military reports, postwar reminiscences, private photos, personal artifacts, and rich historical context, Winters’s letters offer compelling insights on the individual costs and motivations of World War II service members. Winters’s heartfelt prose reveals his mindset of the moment. From stateside training to the hedgerows of Normandy, his correspondence immerses readers in the dramatic experiences of the 1940s. Via the lost art of letter writing, the immediacy and honesty of Winters’s observations takes us beyond the traditional accounts of the fabled 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment’s Easy Company. This engaging narrative offers a unique blend of personal wit, leadership ethics, and broader observations of a world at war. Hang Tough is a deeply intimate, timely reflection on a rising officer and the philosophies that molded him into a hero among heroes. Hang Tough “will help people better understand the man I knew and respected so much. Folks should know what we all went through during the war.” —Bradford Freeman, Foreword

Focuses on teaching social skills to the student who displays excesses in noncompliance and aggression and deficits in self-management.

A history of the interplay of sports and politics around the world