Teen Sports

Exclusive interviews with the top athletes in sports today. Trust the Grind: How World-Class Athletes Got to the Top reveals how these men and women reached the heights of their profession so that you can too. Each chapter tells a different story, as each superstar shares the habit that helped them accomplish their goals and reach the pinnacle of their profession.

When basketball fans hear the words Final Four, they probably think of the buzzer-beaters, Cinderella stories, and bracket-busters that have thrilled people for years. However, you don't need to be a die-hard fan to know that the NCAA men's basketball tournament is one of the most popular sports events in the United States. By the time the tournament of 64 teams has been whittled down to the Final Four, excitement reaches a fever pitch.

In the high-pressure world of sports, female athletes often face a unique set of challenges. The expectations to be tough, competitive & to win, can conflict with the expectations to be feminine, flexible, and to conform to idealized body standards can be overwhelming. These pressures can impact performance, self-esteem, and well-being.

The summer after junior year of high school looks bleak for Alton Richards. His girlfriend has dumped him to hook up with his best friend. He has no money and no job. His parents insist that he drive his great-uncle Lester to his bridge club four times a week and be his cardturner—whatever that means. Alton’s uncle is old, blind, very sick, and very rich.

As a parent of a former elite-level student-athlete, LD Harris understands the mental and physical challenges teen athletes face. Utilizing her professional experiences as a teacher, personal trainer, and Division 1 Sports Performance and Nutrition Counselor paired with her personal experiences as a parent, LD Harris was compelled to create this unique guide for parents of teen athletes.

Michael Jordan, one of the best basketball players to ever have lived, once said: "Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it." But if your mind is not as strong as your body, how can you possibly figure out how to get over or through that wall? How can you be your best self if your brain muscles aren’t as strong as your other muscles?

Why is it that sports seem to bring out the best and the worst in us? asks author C. J. Mahaney. Sports are a gift from God. But as soon as you introduce the human heart, things get complicated. For the Christian athlete, sports are one of the key battlegrounds in which pride and self-glory are regular temptations. If sports are indeed a gift from God, why are playing fields and courts so often arenas for our egos? How are we to enjoy sports in a godly way?

These relaxing affirmations were specifically created for children with ADHD or ADD to listen to on a regular basis and transmit positive encouraging messages into their unconscious mind.

Cocky seventh-grade super-jock Crash Coogan got his nickname the day he used his first football helmet to knock his cousin Bridget flat on her backside. And he has been running over people ever since, especially Penn Webb, the dweeby, vegetarian Quaker kid who lives down the block. Through the eyes of Crash, listeners get a rare glimpse into the life of a bully in this unforgettable and beloved story about stereotypes and the surprises life can bring.

Nathaniel Conti doesn’t feel real when he’s alone. Maybe that’s why he has a reputation as a troublemaker—he’ll do just about anything to have everyone’s eyes on him. But things are about to change. Nathaniel is in his first year of college, flung into new circumstances with new people to meet. There are public speaking classmates, lacrosse players—and then there’s the aspiring photographer who asks Nathaniel to be their model, who’s interested in more than what’s on the surface.

In Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, the time has arrived for Max and her winged "Flock" to face their ultimate enemy and discover their original purpose: to defeat the takeover of "Re-evolution", a sinister experiment to re-engineer a select population into a scientifically superior master race...and to terminate the rest. Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel have always worked together to defeat the forces working against them—but can they save the world when they are torn apart, living in hiding and captivity, halfway across the globe from one another?

In May 1996 the media scrambled to document the gripping story of 16-year-old Mark Pfetzer's expedition to Mount Everest. Not only was he the youngest climber ever to attempt the summit, he also witnessed the tragedy documented in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, in which eight climbers perished in a sudden storm. Within Reach is Mark's extraordinary account of this experience and of his triumphs over several other challenging peaks. At once triumphant and tragic, this story will be an inspiration to climbers, athletes, and armchair enthusiasts alike.

At one time Lew Alcindor was just another kid from New York City with all the usual problems: He struggled with fitting in, with pleasing a strict father, and with overcoming shyness that made him feel socially awkward. But with a talent for basketball and an unmatched team of supporters, Lew Alcindor was able to transform and to become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The most beloved and decorated player in Florida history takes fans behind the scenes and into the locker room for one of the greatest eras in the annals of college football. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel, now retired from the NFL, has finally had the time to look back, reminisce, and share his thoughts about that magical time when he was referred to by some "as the greatest passer to ever play college football."

Sixteen-year-old Nicholas Cox is the illegitimate son of a retired fencing champion who dreams of getting the proper training he could never afford. After earning a place on the elite Kings Row fencing team, Nicholas must prove himself to his rival, Seiji Katayma, and navigate the clashes, friendships, and relationships between his teammates on the road to state championships - where Nicholas might finally have the chance to spar with his golden-boy half-brother.

The Super Bowl: America's biggest sports spectacle. More than 95 million fans will be watching. But Steve Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson know that what they'll be watching is a lie. They know that the entire offensive line of the California Dreams have failed their doping tests and shouldn't be allowed to play.

In his third book on baseball, John Ritter takes the reader to Dillontown where, through a series of events, the fate of the town rests on the outcome of a baseball game. Tom and a newcomer, Cruz, convince a former Major-League Baseball player to coach the team. The team prepares for the big day by using unorthodox training methods. While the team wins the game, it still takes an unusual set of circumstances to save the town.

Teen reporters Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson are covering baseball's World Series, and during the course of an interview with a new hot pitcher, they discover more than a few contradictions in his life story. What's he hiding? An embarrassing secret? A possible crime? Let the investigation begin!

The heart-pounding story of an unlikely band of ragtags who took on Hitler's Grand Prix driver.

The final match of the 2001 US Open featuring tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams was groundbreaking. It was first time siblings had squared off in the final match for more than 100 years. And it was the first time both players were Black. The photo of the smiling Williams sisters holding their trophies after the tennis match appeared in newspapers around the globe. It captured two athletes who fought, and would continue to fight, for a place for women and African-Americans in tennis and the world beyond.