National School Sport Week: Book Recommendations
This week is National School Sport Week. It's here to encourage school children to participate more in PE and sport.
Sometimes we can all do with a little inspiration to get involved with sport, so we've picked out some books for a variety of ages to get you sweating... or thinking about sweating at least!
Biographies and autobiographies
Sports stars can be admired, adored, and celebrated. But this doesn't mean their success was plain sailing. It's good to hear about their struggles and triumphs, and real lives can be fascinating!
So why not try reading or listening to a biography or autobiography, such as The Sport of Queens by Dick Francis. A highly successful jockey and published thriller novelist, Dick Francis recounts his life in this great marriage of sport and writing.
Listening Books members can borrow 'The Sport of Queens' by Dick Francis on MP3 CD.
Histories
The Olympics have embodied many historical moments, both sporting achievements and displays of solidarity with political movements at the time.
With this in mind, why not take a look at this world sporting phenomenon in more detail. You could try A History of the Olympics by renowned sports journalist John Goodbody, who has covered every Olympics since 1964. In this entertaining and informative account, he tells the main stories of each of the modern Olympics. Hear about the heroes and heroines who made sporting history, as well as the main disasters and scandals that attend the world's greatest sporting event.
For a short listen you could try Sue MacGregor's programme 1980 Moscow Olympics: The Reunion, in which MacGregor talks to members of the 1980 British Olympic team who defied their Government to attend the Moscow games.
Listening Books members can borrow 'A History of the Olympics' by John Goodbody on MP3 CD, and can borrow '1980 Moscow Olympics: The Reunion' by Sue MacGregor via stream or download.
Short stories
There are a lot of sports out there, and it can be quite tricky to know what you might enjoy or be good at. Perhaps there's a sport you've always wanted to try, or maybe you've never really considered many of the activities on offer. Either way, short stories about sports can be just the thing to peak further curiosity and find out more.
The Sports Zone books by David Orme cover a vast array of sports including diving, potholing, water skiing, climbing, swimming, triathlon and more! The short stories follow characters as they explore these various pursuits, so you can explore them too!
Listening Books members can borrow 'Sports Zone' books by David Orme on MP3 CD.
We hope that these sporting books might take your fancy, and that you're up for giving sport a go!
And to anyone who's still not keen on giving sport a try, just be grateful, at least you're not a Mayan... in Mayan football the losers were killed!
This post was written by Holly Newson.
