Day 34: 45 Days of Summer

Devoted by Dick Hoyt

Another of my favorite triathlete stories. You can read my original review here.

I know that you've probably heard of this amazing father/son duo, seen them on ESPN, and/or watched interviews with them at various stages of their athletic career.

No other words for this family and all that they have accomplished but AMAZING!

As I get ready for my own competition this weekend, which seems so minor by comparison, I definitely want to recommend this to anyone and everyone in 8th grade through adult.

Day 33: 45 Days of Summer

Iron Heart by Brian Boyle

I discovered this book about 4 years ago. It has been one of my "go to" titles to recommend widely for a variety of readers ever since then. You can see my original post about the book here.

This is an incredible survival story about a young man who went from "should have been dead" to Iron Man competitor.

I have great admiration for anyone that has trained/competed/completed an Iron Man. Several of my friends are these people. I cannot imagine even wanting to compete at this level, but I always watch the Iron Man Hawaii coverage on television each year. And I track my friends online when they are competing at various Iron Man events around the country.

Well, this coming weekend, I will be competing in Iron Girl (a sprint triathlon event) here in Seattle. I know that I will be writing about the experience on my cancer blog afterwards (http://myangrycancer.blogspot.com) but this is an event that means a lot to me right now as it was a goal of mine to be able to cross the finish line after my cancer treatments were done. 

So, in honor of what I'll be doing this weekend, I thought I'd recommend some of my favorite triathlon stories and this is definitely one of them!

Review: Hope Solo: My Story (Solo)

Title: Hope Solo: My Story
Author: Solo
Genre: Autobiography, Non-Fiction, Sports, Soccer
Pages: 246
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Long-time fans of this blog, and any student that has had a conversation with me in the library, will know that I am a SPORTS JUNKIE! I'm not sure I moved during the recent Olympics (due mainly to the fact that my family was on vacation without me)...thank goodness for TiVo, some great take-out, and books to read during some of the less exciting action.

One of my favorite sports to play and watch is soccer. I love everything about this sport, especially the fact that women's soccer has become so popular since I played it in high school. If you've been paying attention at all, you will know all about Hope Solo (especially if you are from Washington...or even a fan of "Dancing with the Stars").

In this book, adapted from her adult title (Solo: A Memoir of Hope), the Olympic gold medalist and starting goalkeeper for the U.S. women's national soccer team gives readers behind-the-scenes details of her life on and off the field. Solo is a fearless female role model, driven to succeed on her own terms. You will be inspired by Hope's repeated triumphs over adversity, which will ring true with many teens and tweens in today's economy.

I'm interested to read the "adult" memoir to see what differences exist (most likely, what was left out). I'll admit that my rating probably is based on my love of the game and of good sports role models, but I think fans of soccer, or any other sport, will appreciate the honest look at how one athlete refused to take no for an answer. I will also deny that I may or may not have been reading this book over the weekend while watching my own kids play soccer...