Athlete Biography

When “Renaissance runner” (New York Times) Alexi Pappas - Olympic athlete, actress, filmmaker, and writer - was four years old, her mother died by suicide, drastically altering the course of Pappas’s life and setting her on a search for female role models. When her father signed his bereaved daughter up for sports teams as a way to keep her busy, female athletes became the first women Pappas looked up to, and her Olympic dream was born. At the same time, Pappas had big creative dreams, too: She wanted to make movies, write, and act.

From playground to pro court—this is where legends begin. Packed with inspiring stories of 25 basketball superstars, this book helps kids see what it really takes to succeed: hustle, heart, and never giving up. Each legend—from historic icons to today’s game-changers—has a story that motivates and teaches life lessons. Chapters include a life lesson, top 5 highlights, 10 fun facts, and a mini bio Features male and female players from different backgrounds and eras High-interest nonfiction for boys and girls ages 7–13 Great for classroom libraries, sports fans, and future MVPsThis ...

Inspire your young athlete with real stories of soccer greatness. This high-energy guide features 20 of the most legendary players from around the world—past and present—who overcame obstacles, worked hard, and reached the top through grit and determination. Designed for ages 7–13, this book turns sports fans into motivated readers and dreamers. Each chapter includes a life lesson, top 5 moments, 10 fun facts, and a quick bio Features global icons—men and women—across all positions Perfect for fans of the World Cup, youth soccer players, and PE classrooms Engaging layout keeps ...

By age twenty, at the height of the Jazz Age, Trudy Ederle was the most accomplished swimmer in the world. She’d won Olympic gold and set a host of world records. But the greatest challenge remained: the English Channel. Only a few swimmers, none of them women, had ever made the treacherous twenty-one mile crossing. Trudy’s failed first attempt seemed to confirm what many naysayers believed: No woman could possibly accomplish such a thing. In 1926, Ederle proved them wrong.

Tia Toomey, the world’s fittest woman, has won the CrossFit Games an incredible six years in a row and is undeniably a true warrior. She has also trained for the Winter Olympics in bobsledding, competed in the Summer Olympics in weightlifting, and was a Commonwealth Games gold medalist. She is, in short, one of the most accomplished and dominant athletes in human history. But for Tia physical fitness is only a small part of overall strength. More important is building mental toughness.

Big dreams start at home plate. This powerful collection features 28 all-time greats who didn’t just play baseball—they changed it. From historic trailblazers to modern sluggers, each chapter introduces a legendary player who showed how far focus, hustle, and determination can go. Each story includes a life lesson, best moments, fun facts, and mini bio Features male and female players across generations Perfect for ages 8–13, especially fans of Little League and MLB Great way to inspire perseverance, self-discipline, and goal-settingBaseball teaches more than sports—it teaches life....

In Brave Enough, Jessie Diggins reveals the true story of her journey from the American Midwest into sports history. With candid charm and characteristic grit, she connects the dots from her free-spirited upbringing in the woods of Minnesota to racing in the bright spotlights of the Olympics. Going far beyond stories of races and ribbons, she describes the challenges and frustrations of becoming a serious athlete.

From the moment she burst onto the MMA scene, Ronda Rousey was unbeatable. She repeatedly strung together back-to-back flawless victories, racking up a collection of records and forever changing the face of sports as the UFC’s first female champion. A superstar in her sport, she transcended athletics, appearing in blockbuster films and becoming a role model for women everywhere. Then, on November 15, 2015, it all came crashing down. In OUR FIGHT, Rousey explores the greatest challenge of her life and, ultimately, how she rebuilt her life into something better in the aftermath.

From noted ESPN commentator and journalist Kate Fagan, the heartbreaking and vital story of college athlete Madison Holleran, whose death by suicide rocked the University of Pennsylvania campus and whose life reveals with haunting detail and uncommon understanding the struggle of young people suffering from mental illness today.

More than a century ago, a woman ran in the very first modern Olympic marathon. She just did it without permission. Award-winning journalist Maggie Mertens uncovers the story of how women broke into competitive running and how they are getting faster and fiercer every day—and changing our understanding of what is possible as they go.

Oksana Masters was born in Ukraine—in the shadow of Chernobyl—seemingly with the odds stacked against her. She came into the world with one kidney, a partial stomach, six toes on each foot, webbed fingers, no right bicep, and no thumbs. Her left leg was six inches shorter than her right, and she was missing both tibias.

De’Aaron Fox: Racing to Greatness is the definitive biography of one of the NBA’s fastest, most dynamic guards. From Houston’s gritty playgrounds to leading the Sacramento Kings with poise and precision, Fox’s story is not just about athleticism—it’s about calculated evolution, leadership under pressure, and mastering the mental game. This book goes beyond the highlights. It explores Fox’s formative years, his pivotal season under Coach Calipari at Kentucky, and his breakout as a high-IQ, clutch performer in the NBA. Through behind-the-scenes detail, readers witness how Fox ...

On the last night of the 2021 CrossFit Games, ten thousand fans watched in horror as Brooke Wells’ elbow dislocated under the weight of a 190-pound barbell. This is the extraordinary story of what happened next: How Wells pulled off a highly improbable comeback that transformed her mentally and physically into one of the fittest women in the world. In Resilient, Wells provides a refreshingly honest, authentic account of how she overcame fear, self-doubt, and a slew of unexpected obstacles to return to the CrossFit Games less than a year after undergoing total elbow reconstruction.

As a kid, Jackie Robinson loved sports. And why not? He was a natural at football, basketball, and, of course, baseball. But beyond athletic skill, it was his strength of character that secured his place in sports history. In 1947 Jackie joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the long-time color barrier in major league baseball. It was tough being first - not only did "fans" send hate mail but some of his own teammates refused to accept him.

Born and raised in West Philadelphia, Kareem thought he and his siblings would always be stuck in “The Bottom”, a community and neighborhood devastated by poverty and violence. Riding their bicycles through Philly’s Fairmount Park, Kareem’s brothers discover a barn full of horses. Noticing the brothers’ fascination with her misfit animals, Lezlie Hiner, founder of The Work to Ride stables, offers them their escape: an after school job in exchange for riding lessons. What starts as an accidental discovery turns into a love for horseback riding.

Ignite your child's imagination with the thrilling pages of "Inspiring Sports Stories for Curious Minds: 18 Athlete Biographies and How They Became the Best in the World". This captivating collection of tales takes your young reader on an unforgettable journey, delivering a front-row seat to the lives of 18 global sports superstars. Every turn of the page reveals a new adventure, a new challenge overcome, and a new champion standing tall. From the soccer fields of Brazil to the tennis courts of the United States, from the swimming pools of Australia to the cricket pitches of India, the ...

Mike Trout is a standout MLB outfielder. Learn about his childhood and his rise to becoming a baseball superstar.

When Chloe Dalton was eight years old, she would practise her goal kicks in the half-time break of her brothers' rugby matches, all the while telling impressed onlookers: 'Girls don't play rugby.' Sixteen years later, Chloe Dalton won Olympic gold playing rugby sevens for Australia and is now a fixture in the AFLW. In 2020, she started her own news platform, The [Female] Athlete Project, because while she was surrounded by women achieving incredible things in sport, nobody was hearing about them.

To many, Walter Johnson is the greatest pitcher of all time. He was a star second to none from the dawn of the game's modern era through the "Golden Age of Sports" of the Roaring Twenties. The playing career of "The Big Train", as the sportswriters called him, spanned the era of such greats as Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Lou Gehrig, and Al Simmons. Johnson knew every President from William Howard Taft to Franklin Roosevelt, and was friends with the likes of Will Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks.

Wall Street Journal reporters Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg offer a deeply reported account of the intertwined sagas and legacies of two of the greatest soccer players of all time—Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo—examining how their rivalry has grown from a personal competition to a multi-billion-dollar industry, paralleling the stunning rise, overwhelming excesses, and uncertain future of modern international soccer.