New Books at PEOSTA

Description: Athletes have a unique power in our world today. Their astronomical salaries, enviable lifestyles, and celebrity have tremendous influence over young people. This is reflected in advertising dollars as well as merchandise and ticket sales. For every athlete who uses their platform for charitable, political, and social good, there are many whose unethical or even criminal behavior sends the wrong message. What is the responsibility of athletes to their fans, to their teams, and to their leagues? And how much responsibility do we hold for holding them in such high esteem? The viewpoints in this volume explore this complicated issue. (publ.)
Note: Library Standing Order.

Reviewed: NPR “Fresh Air” (11 Feb. 2019).
Description: In recent years recovery has become a sports and fitness buzzword. Anyone who works out or competes at any level is bombarded with the latest recovery products and services: from drinks and shakes to compression sleeves, foam rollers, electrical muscle stimulators, and sleep trackers. Science writer Christie Aschwanden takes readers on an entertaining and enlightening tour through this strange world. She investigates whether drinking Gatorade or beer after training helps or hinders performance; she examines the latest trends among athletes, from NFL star Tom Brady’s infrared pajamas to gymnast Simone Biles’ pneumatic compression boots to swimmer Michael Phelps’ “cupping” ritual; and she tests some of the most controversial methods herself, including cryochambers, float tanks, and infrared saunas. At a time when the latest recovery products and services promise so much, Aschwanden seeks answers to the fundamental question: Do any of them actually help the body recover and achieve peak performance? (publ.)

Reviewed: Choice (Jun. 2019 vol. 56 no. 10); Top 75 books highly recommended for community college libraries.
Description: The Infield Fly Rule is the most misunderstood in baseball, and perhaps in all of sports. That makes it also the most infamous rule. Drawing on interviews with experts, legal arguments and a study of every infield-fly play in eight Major League seasons, tells the complete story of the Rule and its place in the National Pasttime. (Publ.)

Reviewed: PW 27 Aug. 2018 p. 108.
Description: Markus Torgeby was just 20 years old when he headed off into the remote Swedish forest to live as a recluse and dedicate himself to his one true passion, running ... He lived in a tent in the wilderness, braving the harsh Swedish winters–for four years. This is his story. During his teenage years, Torgeby turned out to be a very talented long-distance runner. However, while Markus performed brilliantly in training, during competitions he often failed inexplicably. These pressures, along with the burden of having to care for a MS-suffering mother, took their toll, and when an in-jury put an end to his running career, he lost his foothold in life. In order not to completely go under, he chose to do something that most of us only dream of: to escape the modern world and move to one of the most isolated and cold regions of northern Sweden. There he lived as a recluse. His time alone would prove to be more than an escape, it was in fact a search for a direction in life. This is a unique and powerful book, both a portrait of an extraordinary man and a fascinating exploration of running and personal wellbeing. (publ.)
Note: Originally published as: Löparens Hjärta (Göteborg: Offside Press, 2015).

Reviewed: Choice (Aug. 2019 vol. 56 no. 12) Recommended for community college libraries.
Description: This book exposes the excesses of middle and high school sports and the detrimental effects our sports obsession has on American education. Institutions are increasingly emulating college and professional sports models and losing sight of a host of educational and health goals. Steven J. Overman describes how this agenda is driven largely by partisan fans and parents of athletes who exert an inordinate influence on school priorities, and he explains how and why school administrators capitulate to these demands. The author underscores the incongruity of public schools involved in an entertainment business and the effects this diversion has on academic integrity, learning, life experience, and overall educational outcomes. (publ.)

Description: McDonigal provides a step-by-step program for identifying goals, strengthening self-control, and making lifelong changes, whether it's weight loss, financial health, stress reduction, conquering procrastination, being a better parent, or finding your focus.

Description: Although girls and women account for approximately 40 per-cent of all athletes in the United States, they receive only 4 percent of the total sport media coverage. SportsCenter, ESPN’s flagship program, dedi-cates less than 2 percent of its airtime to women. Local news networks devote less than 5 percent of their programming to women’s sports. Excluding Sports Illustrated’s annual “Swimsuit Issue,” women appear on just 4.9 percent of the magazine’s covers. … Using historical, contemporary, scholarly, and popular sources, Schultz traces the progress and pitfalls of women's involvement in sport. This book clarifies misconceptions that dog women’s athletics and offers much needed context and history to illuminate the struggles and inequalities sportswomen continue to face. By exploring issues such as gender, sexuality, sex segregation, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, media coverage, and the sport-health connection, Schultz shows why women’s sports are not just worth watching, but worth playing, supporting, and fighting for. (publ.)

Reviewed: Choice (Jan. 2019 vol. 56 no. 5) Top 75 books highly recommended for community college libraries.
Description: As organized youth sports occupy an ever-greater role in the lives of American families, critics have begun to question whether some programs and participants have lost their way. This timely book examines the state of youth sports in America today, analyzing how organized sports influence communities, discussing the potential emotional and physical benefits as well as drawbacks of youth sports, and profiling the industry’s key participants, ranging from parent coaches to club sports owners to personal trainers. The work begins with a look at the evolution of youth sports in the United States, then explores such topics as burnout, self-discipline, performance-enhancing drugs, parental violence, and scholar-ships. The content includes coverage of 20 individual youth sports, … and provides breakdowns of historical and current participation rates, injury rates, and sport-specific scholarship trends. (publ.)