Download or read book The Most Unlikely Champion written by Vera Koo and published by Balboa Press. This book was released on 2017-10-18 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vera Koo enrolled in a firearm safety course because she was afraid of guns. Goals are important to Vera, so she set hers high, completing the beginner's course, and eventually becoming the best shooter in her advanced class. Her instructor suggested she reach for an even higher goal with competitive shooting. And she did. With unflinching focus and determination, Vera became one of the most accomplished shooters ever. At age 70, she’s an eight-time women’s division winner of the prestigious Bianchi Cup Action Pistol Championship. She’s the first woman to place in the Top 20 in the Bianchi Cup competition. Vera’s story is more than that of a petite Asian woman becoming a top competitor in the male-dominated sport shooting world. It’s the story of a Chinese immigrant, raised in a traditional Chinese culture, where women deferred to their husbands and kept to their socio-economic class, succeeded in America. Vera is a successful businesswoman, accomplished athlete, and a loving wife and mother. It was never an ‘either or’ for Vera, it’s about meeting life’s challenges head-on with dogged persistence, grace, humility—and humor. With faith in herself and God, Vera has survived unexpected tragedies, tremendous hurt, and betrayal. And yet, her story is about hope, love, compassion, and forgiveness. Through all the twists and turns in her life, Vera shows us how the same grit that made her a world class athlete, helped her find joy. “Search for something you’re good at,” Vera says, "and it will take you far.” - Vera

Download or read book Most Unlikely to Succeed The Trials Travels and Ultimate Triumphs of a Throwaway Kid written by Nelson Lauver and published by Nelson Lauver. This book was released on 2011 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life in idyllic 1960s McAlisterville, Pennsylvania seems so promising to young Nelson Lauver. But undiagnosed dyslexia soon turns hope and optimism into struggle and shame as he falls far behind in school and is branded lazy. Confused, angry, and determined not to be the dumb kid, he chooses instead to become the bad kid- ending up a loner at odds with the world and with himself. Nelson resigns himself to being hopelessly different and joins the ranks of millions of Americans who try to hide their inability to read and write. At age 29, a chance encounter leads to a diagnosis of dyslexia and a profound rebirth. Ironically, the boy who was afraid to have anyone hear him try to read launches a new career as a writer, broadcaster and speaker. An estimated 10 to 20 percent of Americans suffer from a learning disability. 14 percent of American adults are considered functionally illiterate. More than personalizing these sobering statistics, this uplifting memoir goes beyond one man's account of rising above a learning disability. Most Unlikely to Succeed is an inspirational story that will speak eloquently and profoundly to anyone who has ever struggled to be heard, to be understood, or to make his or her way in the world.

Download or read book Unlikely Brothers written by John Prendergast and published by Crown. This book was released on 2011-05-17 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “You don’t look like brothers . . .” Peace activist and cofounder of the Enough Project, John Prendergast is known as a champion of human rights in Africa. But the not-so-public face of J.P. is the life he’s led as a Big Brother to Michael Mattocks. As a curious, driven, and emotionally wounded twenty-year-old, J.P. made the life-changing decision to form a “Big Brother/Little Brother” relationship with then seven-year-old Michael, who was living out of plastic bags and drifting from one homeless shelter to the next with his mother and siblings. Lacking a connection with his own brother and distancing himself from a disastrous relationship with his father, J.P. formed a unique bond with Michael the moment they met. Michael and J.P. became like family, with Michael and some of his siblings even living with J.P. one summer. In the years that followed, J.P. took Michael and his brothers on outings, whether it was fishing, playing basketball, patronizing cheap restaurants, or going on road trips. This friendship would continue for over twenty-five years as the two coped with varying degrees of violence, instability, and trauma in their own lives. Told in duet, Unlikely Brothers follows Michael as he grows up on the tough streets of Washington, D.C., where as a young teenager he watched his best friend get shot, dropped out of school, and started dealing crack cocaine shortly thereafter. By sixteen, Michael had become the kingpin of his neighborhood, guns and drugs always close at hand. Meanwhile, J.P. was traveling to and from African war zones. J.P. offered Michael a refuge from the streets, never really confronting the gravity of what Michael was going through in his adolescence. In turn, Michael afforded J.P. an escape from his own turbulent personal and professional life. As the years go by, the two swoop in and out of each other’s lives, slowly disconnecting as they disappear into their respective worlds, but making their way back to each other at a critical moment for both of them. The effect the two have on each other is extremely significant to both of their paths to redemption. Inspirational and deeply moving, Unlikely Brothers beautifully showcases how life’s most random moments can often be the most profound.

Download or read book Ten Times a Champion written by Mark C. Bodanza and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2016-04-13 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sam Jones spent his boyhood in a small city tucked away in the segregated south. In many ways, it was the most unlikely of settings for the start of a professional sports career marked by a rare kind of success. Guided by humble beginnings and values that included hard work, maturity, and respect, Sam soon discovered how much those early preparations would mean in the future as he entered college and set out on a trajectory that would eventually intersect with the Boston Celtics and produce astounding results. In his biography of the basketball legend, Mark Bodanza chronicles how Jones overcame obstacles on and off the basketball court to capture the attention of the Boston Celticsfresh from their first NBA championshipand become a surprising first-round draft pick in 1957 and, for the next twelve years, one of the games greatest champions. As Bodanza reveals Sams ultimate challenges and joys, it soon becomes evident that Jones was an extraordinary testament to what can be achieved through perseverance, integrity, and a faithful and determined effort, not just for himself but for the benefit of his team. Ten Times a Champion shares the fascinating story of a basketball legend who displayed unshakable tenacity and helped his beloved Boston Celtics achieve extraordinary goals.

Download or read book Renegade Champion written by Richard R. Rust and published by . This book was released on 2014-07-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fitzrada was a stubborn and unpredictable army horse with a death sentence until Jane Pohl was able to sway her father into buying him. Soon, Jane and Fitz were taking the Virginia show-jumping circuit by storm at a time when women were not taken seriously by their male competitors. In 1946, Jane and Fitz found themselves at the Jumper Championship

Download or read book Long Shots written by Dana O'Neil and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2017-04-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 31 years after the Perfect Game &– Villanova's shocking national championship upset over Georgetown &– Nova struck again with the Perfect Shot, taking down North Carolina in one of the most thrilling finishes in sports history. The shot and second national title in school history were the culmination of 15 years of Coach Jay Wright painstakingly building the unheralded program, through ups and downs, heartbreak and triumph. In Long Shots: Jay Wright, Villanova, and College Basketball's Most Unlikely Champion, ESPN senior writer Dana O'Neil uses exclusive access to Coach Wright and Nova basketball to delve into the inner-workings of a championship program. In the spirit of A Season on the Brink, O'Neil not only explores behind-the-scenes of the historic 2015-2016 NCAA championship season but also the improbable path that the Nova program took to college basketball immortality. In overcoming a disappointing NCAA Tournament track record, the breakup of the Big East conference as we knew it, and Nova's underdog status among traditional college hoops powerhouses, Jay Wright and his team provided the blueprint for how a “have-not” can prevail over the blue bloods the right way &– the Villanova Basketball Way.

Download or read book The Eighty Dollar Champion written by Elizabeth Letts and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-08-23 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The dramatic and inspiring story of a man and his horse, an unlikely duo whose rise to stardom in the sport of show jumping captivated the nation Harry de Leyer first saw the horse he would name Snowman on a truck bound for the slaughterhouse. The recent Dutch immigrant recognized the spark in the eye of the beaten-up nag and bought him for eighty dollars. On Harry’s modest farm on Long Island, he ultimately taught Snowman how to fly. Here is the dramatic and inspiring rise to stardom of an unlikely duo. One show at a time, against extraordinary odds and some of the most expensive thoroughbreds alive, the pair climbed to the very top of the sport of show jumping. Their story captured the heart of Cold War–era America—a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and the chance to have it all. They were the longest of all longshots—and their win was the stuff of legend.

Download or read book Unfavorable Odds written by Kim Hamilton Anthony and published by Tate Publishing. This book was released on 2010-02 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Kim Hamilton rose to fame, she was anything but a typical world-class gymnast. She wasn't white, she didn't come from a middle-class family, and she was tall for a gymnast. But facing those obstacles was nothing compared To The challenges she faced at home. There, she tumbled in a secret world filled with drugs, violence, and financial strain. She met Unfavorable Odds but found hope by persevering through the pain. Here, Kim shares the techniques she learned to catapult herself from the past into the purpose God intended for her life.

Download or read book Alva Vanderbilt Belmont written by Sylvia D. Hoffert and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-23 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating biography of the New York socialite who played a surprising role in the fight for suffrage. Born in the middle of the nineteenth century, Alva Vanderbilt Belmont was known to be domineering, temperamental, and opinionated. She married two millionaires, and pressured her daughter to wed an aristocrat. This resolve to get her own way regardless of the consequences stood her in good stead when she joined the American woman suffrage movement in 1909. Thereafter, she used her wealth, her administrative expertise, and her social celebrity to help convince Congress to pass the 19th Amendment and then to persuade the exhausted leaders of the National Woman’s Party to initiate a worldwide equal rights campaign. In this book, Sylvia D. Hoffert argues that Belmont was a feminist visionary and that her financial support was crucial to the success of the suffrage and equal rights movements. She also shows how Belmont’s activism, and the money she used to support it, enriches our understanding of the personal dynamics of the American woman’s rights movement. Drawing upon and analyzing Belmont’s own memoirs, she illustrates how this determined woman went about the complex and collaborative process of creating her public self. “Engaging . . . Highly recommended.” —Choice

Download or read book Unlikely Fighter written by Greg Stier and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some memories are permanently seared into our childhood brains with a hot iron of adrenaline and fear. For five-year-old Greg, it was the memory of his ma walking back to the house after confronting his stepdad with a splintered, bloodied baseball bat in her hand. Greg Stier was raised in a family of bodybuilding, tobacco-chewing, fist-fighting thugs. He never knew his biological father because his mom had met his dad at a party; she got pregnant, and he left town. Though his mom almost aborted him, in a last-minute twist, Greg’s life was spared for so much more. Unlikely Fighter is the incredible story of how God showed up in Greg’s life—and how he can show up in yours as well. This is a memoir of violence and mayhem—and how God can transform everything.

Download or read book The Unexpected Champion High Sierra Sweethearts Book 3 written by Mary Connealy and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: City dweller John McCall never expected to be out in the High Sierras of 1868 on a wild-goose chase to find the Chiltons' supposedly lost grandson. But now that he's out here, things have gotten even more complicated, mostly due to wildcat Penny Scott. She's not like any woman he's ever met--comfortable in the woods, with a horse, and with a gun. When Penny and John are taken against their will by a shadowy figure looking for evidence they don't have, both realize they've stumbled into something dangerous and complicated. With their friends and family desperately searching for them, Penny and John must make a daring escape. When they emerge back into the real world, they are confronted with a kidnapper who just won't stop. They must bring a powerful, ruthless man to justice, even as this city man and country woman fight a very inconvenient attraction to each other.

Download or read book To Chase a Dream written by Paul "Whitey" Kapsalis and published by Meyer & Meyer Verlag. This book was released on 2014-02-28 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winners of 8 national championships, Indiana University is to men’s college soccer what University of North Carolina is to college basketball or University of Notre Dame is to college football. To Chase a Dream is the true story of one kid’s near-impossible desire to play soccer at that national powerhouse, a kid who was told time after time that he simply wasn’t good enough and never would be. What all the doubters failed to consider was that inside the body of an under-sized, humble Paul Kapsalis was the heart of a lion. This is his journey, a story that affirms that perseverance, optimism, hard work, a willingness to learn, and kindness can lead to remarkable achievements and transform a kid who just wanted to play soccer into a leader of men. It took him 5 years, fighting through rejection and a career-threatening injury, but Paul got where he never expected to go. Here’s a chance to see how he did it.

Download or read book My Name Is Tani and I Believe in Miracles written by Tanitoluwa Adewumi and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A true story of sacrificing everything for family, living with nothing but hope, then sharing generously all they received to discover the greatest riches of all. Tani Adewumi didn’t know what Boko Haram was or why they had threatened his family. All he knew was that when his parents told the family was going to America, Tani thought it was the start of a great adventure rather than an escape. In truth, his family’s journey to the United States was nothing short of miraculous—and the miracles were just beginning. Tani’s father, Kayode, became a dishwasher and Uber driver while Tani’s mother, Oluwatoyin, cleaned buildings, while the family lived in a homeless shelter. Eight-year-old Tani jumped into his new life with courage and perseverance—and an unusual mind for chess. After joining the chess club in his public school, Tani practiced his game for hours in the evenings at the shelter. And less than a year after he learned to play, Tani won the New York State chess championship. A young boy with an aptitude for chess? Absolutely. But if you ask Tani Adewumi, he will tell you he believes in miracles and one happened to him and his family. This story will inspire, delight, and challenge you to believe, too.

Download or read book Champion written by Craig Johnson and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Celebration of Everyone Who Fulfills Their Purpose Through Unexpected Challenges Until two years of age, Craig and Samantha’s son Connor was just like other kids—playful, verbal, and affectionate. Then everything changed. He stopped talking, displayed behavioral problems, and withdrew into his own world. The official diagnosis—autism. Faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, Craig and Samantha refused to believe a meaningful life for Connor was impossible. God confirmed their faith by revealing to Craig that Connor would one day touch the lives of thousands of people around the world. Craig and Samantha held that unlikely promise in their hearts during the agonizing years ahead. Champion is a spellbinding chronicle of the twists and turns of Connor’s journey—guided by his parent’s steadfast hope in God’s promises. Through the unexpected breaking of their spirits, the Holy Spirit was poured out, culminating in a miracle that has launched a global ministry to the disabled.

Download or read book I m Next written by Bill Goldberg and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Tournament of Champions written by Phil Bildner and published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux (BYR). This book was released on 2017-06-06 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rip, Red, and their friends on the Clifton United basketball team travel to a spring sleep-away tournament.

Download or read book The Most Unlikely Leader written by Roger Smith and published by . This book was released on 2022-05-17 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time ever, Roger Smith, the former President and CEO of American Income Life Insurance and Liberty National, takes readers on an unflinching journey through his remarkable life; a life that includes astronomical business success alongside family struggles and a life-threatening battle with addiction. Written in a fast-paced, no-holds-barred style, The Most Unlikely Leader is a tour-de-force. Why 'unlikely'? By the time Smith was a teenager he was living on the streets of Santa Monica and addicted to drugs. He dropped out of high school, ran into trouble with the law, had his best friend shot right next to him while running away from a failed robbery attempt and, at one point, was so down and out and desperate for a fix in his early thirties that he walked into the Pacific Ocean expecting never to come back. While the first third of Smith's story deals with his life as a functional addict, The Most Unlikely Leader reveals how he got clean, got his mind right, got his career back and ascended to the highest role in a massive corporation. From Smith's first foray into entrepreneurship as a young boy selling comic books on the streets of New York City, to his first sales job in Compton, California, to his taking over American Income Life, this book shares the philosophy, the decisions (both good and bad) and the grit that resulted in a man without a high school diploma being put in charge of one of the largest life insurance companies in the world. Oklahoma City. Arkansas. Baltimore. Chicago. Dallas. Washington, D.C. These are just a few of the stops we'll visit as Smith rose through the ranks of American Income relying on nothing but his wit, work ethic and his evolving understanding of what it takes to build teams and lead national organizations. Part leadership manual, part business manifesto and part memoir, The Most Unlikely Leader is the rare leadership book you won't be able to put down.