Sports > Giveaways

[close] Horseback riding is one of the world's most popular activities. Much has been written about the various styles, techniques, and competitive events in the sport. But all too often resources, authors, and even instructors neglect the most important and unique aspect of riding: the relationship between rider and horse.

In The Gentle Art of Horseback Riding, Gincy Self Bucklin shares her horse-friendly approach for developing comfortable, competent riders. Its step-by-step lesson format makes it an excellent resource for those who teach riding to others.

Whether you are just beginning or have ridden before, Bucklin's methods can improve your skills and make you a better, more confident rider.

Inside The Gentle Art of Horseback Riding, you'll learn that the key to success at every level is understanding your horse and how to relate to him physically, mentally, and emotionally. This will help you advance more quickly, feel more confident, and have more fun.

You'll also discover much, much more:
-- The seven steps for dealing with fear-related stress
-- Interpreting your horse's behavior and body language
-- Saddling up, riding in half-seat positions, and using the reins
-- Basic movements, including walk, trot, canter, turns, and transitions
-- More advanced trotting, cantering, galloping, hill work, and fence jumping skills

Whether you have a serious or casual interest in the sport as a whole or just one of its many disciplines, The Gentle Art of Horseback Riding is a must-read. Insightful and fascinating, it will enhance the riding experience for you and your horse. [close]

[close] The inherent discontinuity in golf—18 different holes, intervals between every shot, slow play, time waiting on the tee, breaks between rounds—poses one of the game’s greatest challenges: maintaining focus and rhythm on the course.

Golf Flow offers a cartful of time-tested principles and strategies and a bagful of innovative methods and techniques to keep the mind quiet and distraction-free. Gio Valiante, one of the PGA Tour’s most prolific performance consultants, will help you orient your mind and harness your thoughts so you can enter a flow state, or optimal performance zone, in which time, control, effort, and awareness seem both suspended and intensified.

Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose, Stuart Appleby, and many other pros, as well as golfers with much higher handicaps, have benefitted big-time from developing their Golf Flow tools. Actual accounts of conquering mental obstacles by adopting a confident and clear mind-set can be found throughout the book. [close]

[close] There is more to becoming a great pitcher than sound mechanics, a blazing fastball, and a live arm. A pitcher must know how to pitch—what to throw, when to throw it, and where to locate it. He must have a me-versus-you mind-set, that unique blend of confidence and determination that fuels a passion to set the tone of the game, own the mound, and shut down the opponent.

The Complete Guide to Pitching is the most comprehensive pitching resource available. Derek Johnson, one of the game’s premier pitching coaches, takes you inside the art and science of pitching. You’ll discover these strategies:

-Upper- and lower-body pitching mechanics
-Most effective arm and shoulder strengthening workouts
-Shutting down the opponent’s running game
-Developing a potent pitching arsenal, including the splitter, curve, and changeup
-Creating a pregame pitching plan
-Situational strategies and recognizing hitters’ weaknesses
-Fielding the position
-In- and off-season conditioning programs
-Windup, stretch, and follow-through

From pregame warm-ups to cultivating the pitcher–catcher relationship, it’s all here in this one-of-a-kind book and DVD package. Featuring skill instruction, development drills, exercises, personal insights, and instruction on every aspect of pitching, The Complete Guide to Pitching is a must-have for every pitching coach, pitcher, and baseball fan. [close]

[close] When the toughest challenge of his life struck, John Passaro understood.

He had been bitter. He had stayed away from wrestling – no participating, coaching or even following what was going on in the sport. After all, he had spent six years doing far more than he was asked. And then his dreams of county and state glory ended when he was injured and didn’t make the podium at the Suffolk County tournament for William Floyd High School.

“I remember putting everything I had into it – total dedication, total discipline,” Passaro said. “If it was an hour and a half practice, I stayed for two and a half. If we were supposed to a run a mile, I ran three. My goals were to win leagues, win counties and win states. I damaged some ribs in the league tournament as a senior and didn’t even place at Counties. I lost to a kid who I teched earlier in the year. I couldn’t believe it. I asked myself what the heck I did everything for. I hated wrestling for a while; I probably avoided it for 17 years or so. I wanted no part of it. I felt like it wasn’t worth it – I did everything I should do and felt like I got nothing out of it. Of course, I was wrong.”

While he slowly changed his mind and got back into the sport with sons Maverick and Travis, it was when his daughter Jess was suddenly rushed to the hospital with a brain injury in 2009 that he realized wrestling gave him the tools he needed to face a foe more powerful than ever before.

“I never realized what wrestling meant to me until I had adversity,” Passaro said. “It just kicks in and you go into wrestling mode. You block everything out, you figure out what the obstacles are and figure out how you will overcome each one. There are setbacks and you work harder. You work as hard as you think is possible and then you have to work harder again. It’s about constantly moving forward and not listening to the noise around you. The biggest thing about wrestling is that you always reach a point when you’re on the mat with someone better than you. You have to find a way to win anyway. Life is the same way. There are things bigger than you; my family was faced with an opponent much bigger than us. You still have to come up with a plan to win. You realize you have the ability to take yourself to levels you never thought possible.”

In his book, Passaro brings it all to life, telling the tale of what can happen when a family believes and sacrifices, even in the face of unlikely odds. It details the battle Jess and the Passaro family had (and have) in dealing with significant illness and talks about the trials and triumphs of sons Maverick and Travis, both All-State grapplers in New York.

We don’t want to give away too much because the book is worth reading. It pulls no punches and will move, touch and inspire. You’ll feel the power of the story.
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[close] This book will be released on June 21, 2013. Be among the first to read and review!

In work, play, and life in general, when you combine clear goals with commitment and the right attitude, you get results. Showing Up to Play is filled with motivational and inspirational thoughts, ideas, and actions to help you achieve your dreams.

Written for golfers and nongolfers alike, with assorted appeal, a touch of humor, and using golf analogies and relatable stories, this book offers the benefits of a self-help book synthesized with practical professional and personal guidance to help you excel in many areas of life.

There will always be challenges as we struggle for success in any area of life. So, how do we overcome the challenges and reach the ever-elusive top 10 percent? In life as in golf, the answers are simple: humility, absolute determination, and willingness to show up and play every day.
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[close] Two people couldn't be more opposite...

Kellen Peterson, the gorgeous star quarterback of the Griffin High football team, seems to have it all. Until the night of the Homecoming game, when Kellen gets tackled and suffers a traumatic brain injury - an injury that changes his life - including his ability to walk, talk and throw a football.

Ivy Ly is a senior and counting down the days until she can escape to college. Though her parents have big plans for her to be a doctor, Ivy is afraid to tell them she'd rather pursue music as a career.

Ivy's best friend, Mira, is obsessed with Kellen. When Ivy is asked to tutor the injured football player upon his return to school, she thinks it's the perfect opportunity for Mira to get to know him better - but sparks fly - in more ways than one... [close]

[close] John Tournour, known to his many listeners and fans as JT the Brick, is one of the biggest sports radio personalities in America. Making it as a sports radio host is almost impossible, and JT went about it in a fearless way, leaving a lucrative position as a Merrill Lynch stockbroker to pursue his dream. But Tournour's hardest challenge would come when his best friend and mentor, Andrew Ashwood was diagnosed with cancer.

THE HANDOFF is about JT the Brick's rise to sports radio stardom, and how his entire view of life changed as his best friend fought a losing battle to a deadly disease. As Andrew heroically endured treatment after treatment of chemotherapy, Tournour was at his side, marveling at his friend's bravery and trying to be there for him as best he could. THE HANDOFF is about facing your fears, the power of connection, and the incredible lessons Tournour learned from his dear friend. [close]