Women Sport Memoir

254 days, 12,700 kilometres, sea sickness, sharks, crocodiles and ocean. Bonnie Hancock broke numerous records on her fastest ever circumnavigation by paddle around Australia but that wasn't the achievement she is most proud of. Testing the limits of her mental and physical toughness, she learned what it means to overcome adversity and how important teamwork and perspective truly are. What looks distressing from the rocky shore or storm-tossed waves can be inspiring when you look to the heavens.

The Championess of Clerkenwell tells the thrilling and inspiring tale of Elizabeth Wilkinson, one of the earliest recorded female bare-knuckle boxers. Known for her skill, courage, and defiance of social norms, Elizabeth fights her way to the top of a brutal and male-dominated sport.

"Work hard, and don't look for excuses", C. Vivian Stringer's parents told her, "and you can achieve anything." But her faith and perseverance would be tested many times. A gifted athlete, she had to fight for a place on an all-White cheerleading squad in the 60s. In 1981, just as her coaching career was taking off, her 14-month-old daughter, Nina, was stricken with spinal meningitis. Yet Stringer brought a small, poor, historically Black college to the national championships.

Growing up in New Jersey as the only African American Muslim at school, Ibtihaj Muhammad always had to find her own way. When she discovered fencing, a sport traditionally reserved for the wealthy, she had to defy expectations and make a place for herself in a sport she grew to love. From winning state championships to three-time All-America selections at Duke University, Ibtihaj was poised for success, but the fencing community wasn't ready to welcome her with open arms just yet.

In celebration of the Women’s Tennis Association’s 50th anniversary, this updated and expanded edition—based on the 1988 original We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis—includes more than 33 years’ worth of stories about inspiring women and their achievements. The book arrives 53 years after King and eight other women players broke with the male tennis establishment and launched their own professional tour.

The amazing life story of Britain's world conquering triathlete, Chrissie Wellington. Chrissie Wellington is the world's No 1 female Ironman triathlete, the current quadruple World Champion and World Record holder. In 2009 she was voted 'Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year' and in 2010 was awarded the MBE. She is the undefeated champion of Triathlon, having won nine Ironman titles from nine races.

During her career in sports broadcasting, Guerrero covered Super Bowls, Worlds Series, NBA Finals, and interviewed sports superstars. From the outside it seemed glamourous, but often she was miserable, told to smile more, argue less, and show a lot of leg and cleavage. Colleagues would joke—sometimes on national TV—that she clinched big interviews because of sexual acts rather than talent. She made a mistake on air during the opening game on Monday Night Football that cost her her sportscasting career... and almost her life.

In August 2021, Kabul fell under the control of the Taliban, a militant political and fundamentalist religious faction. For Khalida Popal, it signaled the beginning of the most important battle of an already extraordinary young life—to get female soccer players out of a city where they faced imminent threat of execution simply for playing sports. Khalida first began playing soccer in a refugee camp in Pakistan after her parents fled Taliban rule. Returning to Afghanistan, she fell deeper in love with the freedom and comradeship soccer provides.

Zwei der vier bedeutensten Tennisturniere der Welt habe ich im Doppel gewonnen. Im Einzel bin ich länger in den Top Ten gewesen als Mike Tyson Weltmeister im Boxen war. Ich war Manschaftsweltmeisterin und gewann eine olympische Medaille. Nach meiner Karriere wurde ich auf das Gerichtsverfahren gegen meinen Vater, meiner Insolvenz und die Teilnahme an Promi Big Brother reduziert. Ich bin Claudia Kohde-Kilsch und in "Regenpause" erzähle ich zum ersten Mal meine ganze Geschichte.

The inspiring memoir of one of football's greatest players - Steph Houghton - in which she recounts the highs and lows of making it to the top of her game as England Captain, star of the London Olympics, and Man City stalwart, via Sunderland, Leeds and Arsenal. With 121 caps for the Lionesses, Steph has been at the heart of the women's football revolution, inspiring girls and young women around the world but in her own understated way.

When Billie Jean King trounced Bobby Riggs in tennis's Battle of the Sexes in 1973, she placed sports squarely at the center of a national debate about gender equity. In this winning combination of biography and history, Susan Ware argues that King's challenge to sexism, the supportive climate of second-wave feminism, and the legislative clout of Title IX sparked a women's sports revolution in the 1970s that fundamentally reshaped American society.

Dangerous Odds - a true crime thriller memoir - is the explosive, never-been-told, behind-the-scenes look into the world of illegal sports betting, revealed by an insider. Marisa Lankester, a young beauty with a privileged New York upbringing, stumbles into the back door of the largest illegal sports betting organization in the US, run by Ron (The Cigar) Sacco. Marisa, a thrill-seeker, maneuvers herself into this mob-run men-only bookmaking operation and becomes a trusted insider.

Taking unexpected risks, daring to do what no one has done before, that's the reality of Amy Dumas, the remarkable woman behind WWE's Lita. Amy found trainers who saw her determination and her heart. Among them were the two local North Carolina stars who had just signed with WWE, Matt and Jeff Hardy. Amy formed an instant bond with the dynamic Hardy Boyz, whose spectacular style and high-flying bravado inspired her own bold in-ring style.

All In is Laura Massaro's honest, raw, and personal story of how she became one of the greatest squash players the UK has ever produced. From a shy, young athlete sometimes crippled by nerves and self-doubt, to a World No.1 and World Champion in an intense, gruelling sport, All In takes you on a deeply personal and inspiring journey.

On February 16, 2006, twenty-year old American snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis was poised to win the first gold medal in women’s snowboardcross, a sport making its Olympic debut. With a seemingly insurmountable lead over the other competitors, Lindsey only needed a clean run for the gold medal to be hers. But as the five-time world champion entered the last 100 meters the unthinkable happened: choosing to add a little flair to the run, she grabbed the back edge of her board—then lost her balance and fell.

Stephanie White, from Charlotte NC, made up her mind to tackle the three individual 200-mile distance races known as the Triple Crown of 200’s. This includes the Bigfoot 205 mile race, Tahoe 200 mile race, and the Moab 240 mile race. While trying to figure out how to train for these races, she decided to do a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail and learned so much about herself and life, in general, along the way.

A deeply moving and painfully honest memoir from the trailblazing World Cup-winning, Olympic gold medalist, and US Women’s soccer goalie Briana Scurry, My Greatest Save is a story of triumph, tragedy, and redemption from a woman who has broken through barriers her entire life.

In November 2015 Sarah Outen completed her five-year, 25,000 mile journey looping the planet by cycling across Europe, Asia and North America and canoeing and kayaking across the North Pacific and most of the North Atlantic.

There has never been an athlete like Serena Williams. She has dominated women’s tennis for two decades, changed the way the game is played, and - by inspiring Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff, and others - changed, too, the racial makeup of the pro game. But Williams’s influence has not been confined to the tennis court. As a powerful Black woman who struggled to achieve and sustain success, she has emerged as a cultural icon, figuring in conversations about body image, working mothers, and more.

When she retired at age 19, Shannon Miller did so as one of the most recognizable gymnasts in the country. The winner of seven Olympic medals and the most decorated gymnast, male or female, in US history, Shannon tells a story of surviving and thriving. A shy, rambunctious girl raised in Oklahoma, Shannon fell in love with gymnastics at a young age and fought her way to the top.