When we first meet the young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story, he is one of 13 children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school. And he has no serious experience playing organized football.

Nate knows he's meant for big things. REALLY big things. But things don't always go your way just because you're awesome. Nate barely survives his dad's toxic oatmeal before rushing off to school - minus his lunch. He body slams the no-nonsense principal. He accidentally insults his least favorite teacher, the horrifying Mrs. Godfrey (aka Godzilla). And school has barely started!

After three decades at the center of race and sports in America, the first Black head coach to win an NCAA championship makes the private public at last. Chockful of stories and moving beyond mere stats (and what stats! three Final Fours, four times national coach of the year, seven Big East championships, 97 percent graduation rate), Thompson’s book drives us through his childhood under Jim Crow segregation to our current moment of racial reckoning.

Jack Callahan is the star of his baseball team and sixth grade is supposed to be his year. Undefeated season. Records shattered. Little League World Series. The works. That is, until he up and quits. Jack's best friend Gus can't understand how Jack could leave a game that means more to them than anything else. But Jack is done. It's a year of change.

For more than 20 years, author Martin Rooney has coached professional sport stars, Olympic champions, and business leaders to high levels of performance, analyzing thousands of real-life examples of what works and what doesn’t. Coming across like a simple parable, this engaging audiobook gives you an easy-to-use yet highly effective formula for becoming a better coach for your teams, in your business, and in your personal life.

When John U. Bacon played for the Ann Arbor Huron High School River Rats, he never scored a goal. Yet somehow, years later he found himself leading his alma mater’s downtrodden program. How bad? The team hadn’t won a game in over a year, making them the nation’s worst squad. With almost everyone expecting more failure, Bacon made it special to play for Huron by making it hard, which inspired the players to excel. Then he defied conventional wisdom again by putting the players in charge of team discipline, goal-setting, and even decision-making—and it worked.

Jake Cullen is a freshman quarterback playing high school football in the high-pressure land of Friday Night Lights (Texas). He is also the brother of Wyatt Cullen, who quarterbacked his team to the Texas State Championship last season - not to mention the son of former NFL quarterback and local legend, Troy Cullen. To be a Cullen in Texas is to be royalty…and a quarterback. All of which leaves 14-year-old Jake in a Texas-sized shadow, a tall order for any boy, especially one who's merely a freshman.

America's favorite sportswriter teams up with Red Auerbach, the most successful and admired coach in basketball history, to tell the best stories of a legendary life.

The standout memoir from NBA powerhouse Andre Iguodala, the indomitable sixth man of the champion Golden State Warriors. Andre Iguodala is one of the most admired players in the NBA. And fresh off the Warriors’ third NBA championship in the last four years, his game has never been stronger. Off the court, Iguodala has earned respect, too - for his successful tech investments, his philanthropy, and increasingly for his contributions to the conversation about race in America.

Danny Jordan is one of two lucky winners of the US Basketball Writer's Association's contest for aspiring journalists. His prize? A trip to New Orleans and a coveted press pass for the Final Four. It's a basketball junkie's dream come true! But the games going on behind the scenes between the coaches, the players, the media, the money-men, and the fans turn out to be even more fiercely competitive than those on the court.

Russel Middlebrook is convinced he's the only gay kid at Goodkind High School. Then his online gay chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school's baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students, too. There's his best friend Min, who reveals that she is bisexual, and her soccer-playing girlfriend Terese. Then there's Terese's politically active friend, Ike. But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves?

Welcome to Breakbattle Academy. The first school of its kind, where survival of the fittest is not a saying, it's your reality. Ruled by those who are elite in name, beauty, and cunning, Breakbattle takes the war of the classes to a whole new level. The next four years of my life will be a fight the likes of which I can't yet comprehend, but first, I have to survive orientation week.

There are moments in life when it comes down to your decision. Whatever you're facing, you know that no one else can bail you out. You have to make the call. Mark Richt, former head football coach at the University of Georgia and the University of Miami and long-time assistant coach at Florida State University, knows a thing or two about making the call.

Rocky N'Guwe thought tennis would be the hardest thing he'd have to learn at Palm Gables Tennis Academy. But the young jackal finds himself navigating a new culture as well as his own sexuality and the volatile relationships of any high school, all while keeping himself focused on the professional career that will allow him to rescue his sister from an undesirable marriage back home. And looming in his future is Palm Gables alum and rising tennis star Braden Longacre, an abrasive cross fox whose path keeps crossing Rocky's no matter how much the jackal tries to avoid him....

An amazing, miraculous refugee story of coming to America, the young readers edition of Tani Adewumi's story will inspire kids looking for true stories of doing hard things. At eight years old, Tani Adewumi, a refugee, won the 2019 New York State Chess Championship after playing the game for only a year - and while homeless. Tani and his family fled Boko Haram's reign of terror in Nigeria to come to the United States, where they lived in a New York City homeless shelter while waiting to be granted religious asylum.

When Jayden and his teammates find out there’s not going to be a Hoop Group this year - and maybe ever again - they have to learn to lean on each other if they want to save their basketball season, in this inspiring new middle grade novel from NBA superstar LeBron James and acclaimed author Andrea Williams. A New York Times best seller!

Will Tyler can fly on a football field. He may not be the biggest running back around, but no one can touch him when it comes to hitting the hole and finding the end zone. And no one can match his love of the game. When Will has a football in hand, he may as well be flying for real because life can't touch him - his dad isn't so defeated, his town isn't so poor, and everyone has something to cheer for. All of which does him no good if the football season is canceled.

Alex Myers is a triple-threat athlete - great at football, basketball, and baseball. But he'll have to fight for a spot on the varsity team. Alex is a quarterback, but from the first day of football practice, it's clear that that position is very much filled by the coach's son, Matt. Alex finally gets a chance to show what he can do when Matt is injured, and he helps win a key game to keep the Lions' bid for the state championship alive.

Freshman footballers Jason Roddin and Tom Jefferson are a perfect pair: Jason is a blazing-fast wide-receiver, while his best friend Tom has all the skills a standout quarterback needs. After summer football camp at an elite sports-focused boarding school, the boys are thrilled to be invited back with full-ride scholarships. But on day one of practice, they're shocked when the team's coaching staff makes Tom, a black kid, a receiver and Jason, a white kid, a quarterback.

Award-winning journalist and ESPN personality Mike Lupica crafts a moving tale of perseverance, loyalty, and of the hope that rides on one pressure-packed football toss. If 13-year-old Nate Brodie can throw a football through a small target at a Patriots game, he will win a million dollars. Since his dad just lost his job, Nate welcomes the opportunity at first.

The record-holding two-time National Basketball Association champion reflects on his work ethic, his on-the-court friendships and rivalries, the great teams he's played for, and what it takes to have a long and successful career in this thoughtful, in-depth memoir. Playing in the NBA for 18 years, Ray Allen won championships with the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat and entered the record books as the original king of the three-point shot. Known as one of the hardest-working and highest-achieving players in NBA history, he was legendary for his sharp shooting.

When John U. Bacon played for the Ann Arbor Huron High School River Rats, he never scored a goal. Yet somehow, years later he found himself leading his alma mater’s downtrodden program. How bad? The team hadn’t won a game in over a year, making them the nation’s worst squad. With almost everyone expecting more failure, Bacon made it special to play for Huron by making it hard, which inspired the players to excel. Then he defied conventional wisdom again by putting the players in charge of team discipline, goal-setting, and even decision-making—and it worked.

How does a lower middle class kid, who suffered through school with undiagnosed dyslexia, get into Notre Dame and become the inspiration for millions in a Hollywood film that has become one of the most inspiring sport movies ever made? He never gave up. For the first time, read Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger's real life story and learn the behind-the-scenes details of the ten years it took to make the movie and how that tossed him into a new career of public speaking that continues on stages today alongside world-class leaders and speakers.

Russel Middlebrook is convinced he's the only gay kid at Goodkind High School. Then his online gay chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school's baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students, too. There's his best friend Min, who reveals that she is bisexual, and her soccer-playing girlfriend Terese. Then there's Terese's politically active friend, Ike. But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves?

In Dream Team, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled: the 1992 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team that captivated the world, kindled the hoop dreams of countless children around the planet, and remade the NBA into a global sensation. As a senior staff writer for Sports Illustrated, McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona.

Karis Begay is the only surviving heir to the Begay wolves of the Alaskan Pack. Someday she will take her place as Pack Mother, which is a lifelong burden she has always carried with pride. It kept her isolated from others and hesitant to let anyone close to her. As she enters her freshman year at Archibald Reynolds College, no one knows who she is or who she is destined to become. It's a chance at a fresh start, and just maybe...the beginning of something new.

Kenny Smith was a star at the University of North Carolina before his storied NBA run, in which he won two championships with the Houston Rockets. His popularity skyrocketed when he joined TNT’s new show, Inside the NBA, which has thrived for twenty-four years and won multiple Emmys, receiving enormous acclaim for the insight, humor, social commentary, and unrivaled basketball coverage from Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Ernie Johnson, Jr. Kenny is known to fans for his laser-sharp analysis and eloquent observations of the basketball scene and culture.

When Philip Malloy starts humming along to his school's daily playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner", his insistence on continuing to do so even after his teacher, Miss Margaret Narwin, asks him to stop sets in motion a chain of events that will soon ripple out beyond anything Phil or Miss Narwin could have imagined. Phil's friends, his teachers, and the school administration are soon swept up in the controversy...and that's just the beginning!

From the mind of basketball legend and Academy Award-winning storyteller Kobe Bryant comes this radically original portrait of five young basketball players, one enlightening coach, and the awesome transformative power of the game. Filled with insights about the mental stamina and emotional clarity that peak performance requires, this is an indispensable story for young athletes, coaches, educators, and anyone interested in the astonishing potential of team sports to unlock individual growth.

Cameron Boxer is very happy to spend his life avoiding homework, hanging out with his friends, and gaming for hours in his basement. It's not too hard for him to get away with it...until he gets so caught up in one game that he almost lets his house burn down around him. Oops. It's time for some serious damage control - so Cameron and his friends invent a fake school club that will make it seem like they're doing good deeds instead of slacking off. The problem? Some kids think the club is real.