Sports & Recreation

Cincinnati Soul resurrects the inspiring legacies of the Cincinnati Tigers, the Cincinnati Cuban Stars, and other Black baseball teams in Cincinnati.

It sheds light on the players’ remarkable skills, what life was like as a Negro Leaguer, and the barriers they overcame, ensuring their stories are remembered and celebrated. By exploring the socioeconomic and cultural backdrop of Cincinnati during the era of the Negro Leagues, Cincinnati Soul provides a comprehensive understanding of the environment in which these teams thrived and how they were integral to the community and the broader civil rights movement.

Cincinnati Soul weaves together the personal stories of the players, coaches, and fans, offering an intimate glimpse into the lives and experiences of those involved in Cincinnati’s Black baseball teams. It highlights the contributions these teams made to modern baseball within the city and nationally, the enduring legacy of these teams, and their role in shaping the sport as we know it today.

In the rich history of Major League Baseball (MLB), a transformative journey is unfolding…

Women are rising to prominent positions in team management, coaching, and leadership.

An increasing number of female coaches and front office leaders are making their mark in the league, signaling a positive change in the traditionally male-dominated field. Breaking through barriers, challenging stereotypes, and reshaping the landscape of a historically male-dominated industry, these women are pioneers in a movement toward greater diversity and inclusion within the sport of baseball. 

Leveling the Playing Field captures the compelling stories, triumphs, and challenges of women ascending the ranks of MLB coaching and leadership, exploring how their contributions are not only reshaping the front offices of teams and who is on the field but also influencing the future of America’s pastime.

Authored by Al Lautenslager, Leveling the Playing Field serves as a powerful testament to the evolving role of women in a traditionally male-centric arena.  

Great coaching isn’t just about strategy—it’s about understanding people. The best teams aren’t just built on talent; they thrive on trust, communication, and emotional intelligence.

A Coach’s Guide to the Enneagram provides a game-changing framework for coaches who want to lead with impact, connect deeply with their players, and build a championship culture. By using the Enneagram, a powerful tool for understanding motivation and behavior, coaches will learn how to bring out the best in each athlete, improve team dynamics, and navigate challenges with confidence.

With practical insights, real-world coaching examples, and a deep dive into the nine unique personality types, this informative guide equips coaches to adapt their leadership approach, foster resilience, and create lasting influence both on and off the field.

Winning is important, but building strong, motivated, and inspired athletes is what truly sets great coaches apart. A Coach’s Guide to the Enneagram will help coaches step up their leadership and transform the way they coach.

The Indy 500: Where Speed Meets Tradition

“. . . The Indy 500: A Year-Long Quest to Win the Greatest Spectacle in Racing tells the story well. A great work about a singular event, the largest single-day sporting event in the world—the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.”
— Paul Page, Award-winning journalist and broadcaster, long-time “Voice of the 500,” and member of both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indiana Broadcaster Halls of Fame

The Indianapolis 500 is more than just a race—it’s an American institution. Every year, over 350,000 fans pack the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, making it the largest single-day sporting event in the world. With a legacy spanning over a century, the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is a thrilling blend of tradition, danger, and drama, where legends are made and dreams are shattered at over 230 miles per hour.

In The Indy 500: A Year-Long Quest to Win the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, Ray Hartjen takes readers on a spellbinding journey leading up to the 108th running of the race in 2024. From the final laps of the 2023 showdown to the checkered flag of 2024, this book captures the intense battles, personal rivalries, and high-stakes moments that define the sport.

Inside, you’ll discover:

• The inside story of how teams and drivers prepare for the biggest race of the year.
• The thrill and heartbreak of qualifying, where 34 cars fight for only 33 spots.
• The final-lap drama that makes the Indy 500 one of the most unpredictable events in motorsports.

Buckle up—because this race is far from over.

Live by the sword, die by the sword. Pittsburgh was built on steel—and almost destroyed by it.

Pittsburgh’s vertically integrated steel industry was foundational in the growth of America, and it returned economic prosperity to the region for over a century. But when a myriad of domestic and global factors unsettled the local industry’s competitiveness, the city suffered through economic turmoil. 

The city of Pittsburgh found unlikely heroes in their traditionally also-ran professional football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Reflecting the city’s tough, hard-nosed, working class citizens, the Steelers rose to prominence and galvanized the community to persevere against the challenges of its deindustrialization transformation. Built of steel, then crippled by steel, Pittsburgh was eventually saved by the Steelers.

Immaculate: How the Steelers Saved Pittsburgh weaves together the historical stories of Pittsburgh and its beloved professional football team like the linear strands of DNA—antiparallel, twisting throughout, and irrevocably connected together. Beginning with the history of the region, Immaculate weaves together the area’s early history with the Steelers’ origins, tracing the rise of the Steelers against the contextual backdrop of the steel industry’s collapse and the city’s unfolding crisis. The Steelers provided the foundational inflection point for Pittsburgh’s “New Economy” to emerge and prosper. 

Immaculate brings to life the colorful stories and people that shaped a city and a team over the rich tapestry of profoundly different eras.

Written with empathy, passion, and practicality, The Spartan Mindset is a masterclass in performance communication and a must-have for high performers and leaders seeking to achieve excellence in the classroom, onstage, at the office, on the playing field, and within everyday life. 

Considered one of the leading experts on performance communication and coaching theory in sports, “Coach Reed” Maltbie has shaped coaching philosophies at some of the top sporting organizations in the world. His newest book, The Spartan Mindset, effectively leverages his master’s degrees in both performance psychology and early childhood development with his 30 years of working with Olympians, Professional athletes, and world champion coaches to demystify the brain's role in high-performance environments. 

In this groundbreaking work on language, the brain, and performance environments, Coach Reed’s masterful storytelling is woven with insightful observations and cutting-edge research to help competitors change the way they communicate with themselves and those they lead—so that anyone can access their best performance. The Spartan Mindset features real-life examples that demonstrate how the right words can spark amazing results. Reed provides readers with a roadmap for shifting the performance mindset, triggering skill pathways in the brain, and igniting a competitive fire that will help any performer access their best day yet. 

Elite performers in need of an edge, former champions seeking to recapture success, and everyday competitors wanting to get unstuck will find easy to follow and easier to apply concepts like:

• Strategies for Eliminating peril words that prevent their best performances
• Advice for properly Employing power words that compel their peak performance
• A framework for Creating transformational words that can trigger success in themselves and those they lead
  

Sara Erdner, PhD, CMPC asked athletes one question: What do you wish you could have told your coach but, for whatever reason, never did? Athletes responded to this question via confidential letters, providing a wealth of knowledge for coaches, sport administrators, and all who care for athletes. From heartfelt thank-you letters to painful accusations and everything in between, Dear Coach gives athletes a rare platform in the sports reform debate, beginning a much-needed conversation between athletes and coaches directly.

Yet, the communication problems in sport are not just personal but systemic. Dear Coach, also gives coaches and administrators the opportunity to write their own Dear Coach letter and explore how their own coaches may have influenced their current practice. Grounded in research and compassion for athletes and coaches alike, Dear Coach gives coaches practical tools to create higher-quality coach-athlete relationships that will not only achieve better performance outcomes, but optimal well-being for all parties inside and outside sport.

Within Ten Principles of a Character Coach, Coach Gary Waters defines a character coach as someone who lives a life with integrity, honesty and moral values. He speaks specifically on how the sport of basketball has been riddled with scandals in recent years on the high school and college levels; and how the governing authorities are committed to repairing the reputation of college basketball. Ten Principles of a Character Coach addresses many of the issues that young men and women are experiencing in the athletic arena today. Coach Waters believes character and values need to be a high priority in those individuals tasked with guiding young people, as well as themselves. Furthermore, Coach Waters is convinced that following the principles within Ten Principles of a Character Coach will benefit anyone in developing their character.

Your Best Golf Begins After 50 offers a unique approach for golfers who feel their technique is changing, becoming more inconsistent as they age, and have persistent aches and pains. This approach integrates body health, mindset, mobility, and technique into one easy, simple to use system so they can play their best golf today and every day. The goal is to help middle aged golfers understand the body-swing connection, how this impacts their golf, and how this can be used to also improve their health. Your Best Golf Begins After 50 gives them a system and method to play their best golf as they age and stay healthy. It is targeted to middle aged golfers, but golfers of all ages can enjoy and benefit from this approach.

Look no further, Not Your Average Runner is for everyone. With humor, compassion, and lots of love, Jill Angie delivers the goods: overcoming the challenges of running with an overweight body and giving individuals’ self-esteem an enormous boost in the process. This isn't a guide to running for weight loss, or a simple running plan. It shows readers how a woman carrying a few (or many) extra pounds can successfully become a runner in the body she has right now. Jill Angie is a certified running coach and personal trainer who wants to live in a world where everyone is free to feel fit and fabulous at any size. She started the Not Your Average Runner movement in 2013 to show that runners come in all shapes, sizes and speeds, and, since then, has assembled a global community of revolutionaries that are taking the running world by storm.

If you would like to be part of the revolution, flip to the inside and find out more!

Many people find themselves living a life they in no way predicted or foresaw. With the Wind is an attempt to show that although people are different in so many ways, they are more alike than they may realize. It is there in that place of likeness that lays the root to the joy that is sought after. The joy, just as the likeness, was there all along.

With the Wind is a true story, written by the man himself who ran his way out of poverty in Rural Kenya, to becoming a collegiate track star and National Champion, to now wearing the Army Green and serving in the US Military. Within its pages, Sam Chelanga gives his raw and inspirational take on life and paves the way to finding the champion within everyone.

North American junior hockey expert and author Nick Olynyk also reveals what he learned from playing under future NHL coaches, sitting along side to-be professional goons and ultimately getting his chance at a championship in his final season. His story draws the lessons from hockey that any young man can use to achieve success in career, relationships and ultimate purpose throughout life. It’s a beauty.

No one knows who first put a sail on a surfboard, but everyone would agree that Fred Haywood pioneered the sport of windsurfing. Few know he is also an Olympic contender who swam a record-breaking backstroke alongside his friend Mark Spitz. Before he discovered speed sailing, he surfed with the likes of Gerry Lopez, exploring exotic undiscovered surf spots around the world. Only his friends know how growing up on the island of Maui influenced him to carry his success with humility and generosity, stressing camaraderie over competition and preferring fun over fanfare.

RACING WITH ALOHA weaves throughout the inspiration Fred Haywood’s dad instilled in him, which blended a pervasive commitment to accomplishment with a liberating attitude that all is well, all the time. Fred embodied his father’s lessons to become a professionally successful, easygoing, sincerely humble man who is respected and beloved by all—friends and competitors alike.

RACING WITH ALOHA is a delightful story that will enchant anyone who loves or longs for the timeless mystique of the Hawaiian Islands. Young readers will delight in the story of a youth who swam with sharks—by accident, of course—and who was as surprised as his coach and teammates to find himself featured in Sports Illustrated magazine. Water aficionados will long for the days of surfing undiscovered beaches. And the countless windsurfing enthusiasts who trekked to Maui in the 1980s, following in Fred’s wake, will relish the memories he shares of windsurfing Ho’okipa, the legendary beach still boasting some of the biggest waves in the world.

In Fit 2 Finish, Dr. LeBolt takes a sport scientist's eye to the training of our soccer-loving kids. She distills the gems of two decades of coaching and injury prevention training to display the methods that have worked to make her athletes safer, healthier and more effective, all while never losing the fun. Coaches at all levels can apply the Fit2Finish principles to every facet of their coaching: warm up, skills and drills, game play, post game routines, recovery, rest and preparing for the next game. Fit 2 Finish is the training manual and the game plan for the coach who's first objective is to keep kids healthy and in the game.

Yes, we must address the 'too much, too early' in today's youth sports, but while we go about changing the culture, the kids who are currently in it need saving. Today's coaches can start now by taking the Fit2Finish method straight to their practice field. If strong, balanced, healthy, high-performing athletes are what we're after, then Fit 2 Finish will get us there.

Parents whose children desire to achieve the highest level in their sport, particularly hockey, find tools to aid their children in not just growing as athletes, but as people. Young athletes may have hopes of being on a college, NHL or Olympic team one day, but not many make it that far. Utilizing philosophies employed by Navy SEALS to build strong leaders and teams alongside anecdotes from years of experience in training and raising athletes, Jennifer Matras lays the groundwork for athletes to develop into better friends, teammates, and students. More than a book that focuses on the how-to's of building speed or strength, Building an Uncommon Champion shares details of Competitive Edge Skating, Inc.’s program, which is designed to give children an uncommon advantage with proven techniques to enhance and sustain their abilities in the arena, weight room, and classroom along with building world class leadership skills. Parents learn to help their children tap into their God-given tools to be the best they can be, leaving common for someone else!

The number of kids who love to play soccer has exploded in the last decade. Unfortunately, so has the number of sports injuries. Why? More games, more competitions, and early specialization have all contributed, but so have our methods of training them. High pressure to perform along with an increased volume and intensity of training has combined to hamper young soccer athletes. They favor one side, overuse one muscle group, and do it over and over again. This is a recipe for injury.

In Fit 2 Finish, Dr. LeBolt takes a sport scientist's eye to the training of our soccer-loving kids. She distills the gems of two decades of coaching and injury prevention training to display the methods that have worked to make her athletes safer, healthier and more effective, all while never losing the fun. Coaches at all levels can apply the Fit2Finish principles to every facet of their coaching: warm up, skills and drills, game play, post game routines, recovery, rest and preparing for the next game. Fit 2 Finish is the training manual and the game plan for the coach who's first objective is to keep kids healthy and in the game.

Yes, we must address the 'too much, too early' in today's youth sports, but while we go about changing the culture, the kids who are currently in it need saving. Today's coaches can start now by taking the Fit2Finish method straight to their practice field. If strong, balanced, healthy, high-performing athletes are what we're after, then Fit 2 Finish will get us there.

Horse coaching and therapy benefits are unique and sometimes ‘mysterious’. In The Business of Coaching with Horses, Equine Alchemy Certified Coach and Facilitator Schelli Whitehouse illustrates exactly what it takes to experience balance, abundance, and a sustainable equine-assisted coaching practice. Schelli’s own life journey and work with horses has become an integrated celebration of purpose and prosperity as she works to see equine-assisted coaching and therapy become a valuable ‘go-to’ modality for personal and professional transformation—as popular as yoga and Starbucks!

Through colorful personal stories, client case studies, and advice from industry experts, The Business of Coaching with Horses guides equine-assisted practitioners through 7 essential skills for building a thriving business with horsepower. Complete with an online companion workbook, Schelli helps readers establish and build upon their own foundation of personal core principles and unique expertise in order to provide value, structure, and transformation for their ideal clients. Part business branding, part money mindset mastery, and part service design, The Business of Coaching with Horses is a loving kick-in-the-pants and a journey to the heart of success for any Horse and Soul Business.