Book Collection Project
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!1 Collection: Women in Athletics My first two true loves were sports and books. Growing up, I always kept a book in my mother’s car so that I could read on the way from school to soccer practice, from soccer practice to tennis practice, and on the way home when practices were over. One of the most agonizing decisions I faced daily in elementary school was whether I should sit in the shade and read during recess or play a game of pickup basketball. My grandmother and I regularly made the two-hour commute from my hometown to Starkville to watch the Mississippi State University women’s basketball team. I would read throughout the entire duration of the car ride there and back with a break in between to watch my favorite team play my favorite sport. Early in life, I became interested in learning more about the sports I loved to play. I wanted to know everything about every sport: the rules, the histories, and the best players and coaches. I visited both my school and city libraries nearly every day and quickly went through all the books they had that related to sports. Around this time, I discovered the beautiful thing that is Ebay. I began to order books about sports with money that I received from my grandfather for working hard in school and making good grades. I looked forward to the end of each quarter of school because that meant I would be able to buy more books. Thus began my collection. Most of my books that I did not purchase myself were given to me as Christmas gifts from Santa Claus. The box of books that is inevitably hidden somewhere under the tree is what I have looked forward to opening most each Christmas morning for as long as I can remember. Sometimes, Santa even gets my books autographed. For example, Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw wrote a note to me in Courting Success, which is one of my favorite pieces in my collection. !2 Reading about sports combines two of the things about which I am most passionate and is a simple joy in my life for which I am very grateful. Both competition and reading can provide an escape from everyday life to another world where anything you can dream has the potential to become reality. The books about women in sports that I have acquired over the years are particularly special to me. I remember watching many of these women, such as Abby Wambach, play their respective sports when I was a child. I watched others, like Pat Summitt, coach with a fierceness that I admired so greatly. As hard as it is to imagine now, there was a time in fairly recent history during which women were not allowed to participate in athletics. The women in my books battled lack of opportunity, rigid gender roles, and discrimination in sports, showing the world that they were indeed capable of more than what most believed. They are my role models for opening doors for women in athletics. I cannot imagine my life without being able to play and enjoy the sports that they pioneered and championed. I want to be like them, and to be like them I have to learn all about them. Books make that possible. Reading is such an intimate act. There is almost no other way in which you can get to know someone as well as you can when you read the words they have written. I have met many of the coaches and athletes from my books, and it is always an amazing experience. Sadly, it is not possible for me to meet each and every one of these incredible women and spend enough time with them to really get to know them. Through reading their stories, it feels as though we have formed a real connection. These perceived connections are my favorite aspect of my collection of books about women in sports and are why this collection is so important to me. !3 Annotated Bibliography Blais, Madeleine. In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle: a True Story of Hoop Dreams and One Very Special Team. Grove Press, 2017. Madeleine Blaise chronicles the story of the Amherst Lady Hurricanes, a high school basketball team that won the Massachusetts state championship behind All-American Jamila Wideman, who would go on to play for Tara VanDerveer at Stanford University. Blais beautifully captures the story of these dedicated young women who served as role models and symbols of strength in their community. I received this book as a Christmas gift; it fits in nicely with my collection because it portrays women who worked very hard to achieve success and who served as examples for others to follow. Catchings, Tamika, and Ken Petersen. Catch a Star: Shining through Adversity to Become a Champion. Revell, a Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2017. Tamika Catchings tells of how she pushed through many challenges in her life to become a standout college basketball player for Pat Summitt at the University of Tennessee. Despite suffering from a hearing impairment, Catchings became an NCAA and WNBA champion as well as an Olympic gold medalist. Since Tamika Catchings is such an inspirational and important woman, and I preordered this book as soon as possible; it was added to my collection upon its publication. Drysdale, Ann Meyers, and Joni Ravenna. You Let Some GIRL Beat You?: the Story of Ann Meyers Drysdale. Behler Publications, 2012. Ann Meyers Drysdale writes about her life and how she worked tenaciously to become a phenomenal basketball player who broke countless gender barriers in sports. Drysdale !4 was the first woman to be offered a full athletic scholarship to a Division One school, and she also became the first woman to sign an NBA contract. She describes the importance of Title IX and the doors that she helped open for women around the country as well as the progress that is yet to be made for women in all aspects of society. I received this book as a Christmas gift and was delighted to add the story of such an important figure in athletics to my collection. Franklin, Missy, et al. Relentless Spirit: the Unconventional Raising of a Champion. Dutton, 2016. Swimmer Missy Franklin and her parents recount the path she took to become an Olympic gold medalist. Franklin made her first appearance in the Olympics at age 17 and became a role model for young women worldwide. In this book, she describes not only her athletic feats and how she achieved them, but also how she gained confidence in herself outside of the pool. This book was added to my collection when I received it as a Christmas gift shortly after Franklin competed in the 2016 Olympic games. Foudy, Julie. Choose to Matter: Your Guide to Being Courageously You. ESPN W., 2017. Former Olympic gold medalist Julie Foudy passes on to readers the actions and attitudes that have allowed her to achieve success on the soccer field and and in life. Foudy includes anecdotes from her life, interviews with other inspirational women, and exercises to practice the lessons she lists. I was very excited for the release of this book and purchased it (fittingly) at one of my sister’s soccer tournaments in Memphis, TN the week it became available. !5 Goldberg, Jeff. Bird at the Buzzer: Uconn, Notre Dame, and a Women's Basketball Classic. Univ Of Nebraska Press, 2013. Journalist Jeff Goldberg provides an account of the rivalry between the University of Connecticut and the University of Notre Dame women’s basketball teams. Goldberg describes the 2001 season which culminated in a star-studded Big East Tournament championship game between two of the best teams in the country. This game was the first women’s basketball game to be named an ESPN “Instant Classic” and drew unprecedented national attention to women’s college basketball. This book was purchased in 2013 after I attended the NCAA National Championship and saw UConn win; I added this book to the collection because I wanted to learn more about the storied history of UConn women’s basketball and how they became such a dominant force in the sport. Hamilton, Suzy Favor. Fast Girl: a Life Spent Running from Madness. Dey St., an Imprint of William Morrow Publishers, 2016. In this autobiographical work, Suzy Favor Hamilton tells of how she discovered a love for running and became one of the most well-known female runners in United States history. She also unveils details about her struggle with bipolar disorder, her time spent working as an escort in Las Vegas as a result of her manic behavior, and how she was finally diagnosed and able to begin rebuilding her life. This book was recently added to the collection because I wanted a wider variety of sports to be included, and I was interested in the mental health aspect of her story. !6 Hamm, Mia, and Aaron Heifetz. Go for the Goal. HarperCollins World, 2001. Olympic and World Cup champion Mia Hamm provides insight into her life and the path she took to become one of the most famous athletes of all-time. Hamm humbly describes the setbacks and triumphs she has faced, while giving lessons about life and soccer. Included are soccer drills meant to hone the technical skills that Hamm believes to be instrumental for players young and old. Mia Hamm made such an impact on the world of sports and is one of the first female athletes I remember admiring as a child; when I came across this book I jumped at the opportunity to add it to my collection.