
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Paperback
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This novel is a wonderful story that will grab fans of sports. It is not just a tale about a hero; it is the story of a community. It explores how a sporting activity can keep a community together. Dale Stopperan creates dialogues that are wonderful and features the kind of banter that reflects the world of the characters. The prose is gorgeous and sprinkled with vivid descriptions. Focused and well-crafted scenes, exciting dialogues, action, and emotionally rich characters are a few of the elements that elevate the quality of this narrative, turning it into a gripping story.
Tom Kilmer replaced the retiring legendary wrestling coach in a small Iowa town recognized for its deep winning tradition. In a community where winning on the wrestling mat had become a family trait, transitioning to a new coach would not come easy, and losing would be difficult to accept.
In the coach's first year, the tradition came crashing down on the Cresco Spartans, who suffered their first losing season in twenty-eight years. The coach understood how the physical aspect of growing up working on a farm contributed to the brutal and mental toughness of being a successful wrestler. But as the wrestlers and their families struggled through personal tragedies, they found themselves depending on the young coach and his wife for support. Would his relationships with his wrestlers be enough to pull his team together before the weight of the tradition becomes too much?
This creatively written novel presents readers with an inside perspective of the life within a successful high school wrestling program in the early 1970s, displaying how the athletes, coaches, and those around them interacted, grew and dealt with adversity. Sports enthusiasts and supporters, young and old, will resonate with many of the experiences and situations that the characters find themselves within as they develop team cohesiveness in a totally individual sport.
Industry Reviews
Not an ordinary wrestling book! A fictional novel that reads like a true story!
I've read dozens of wrestling books about careers and successes in the sport - which are typically kind of dry reading. But this book surprised me by being completely new/different than what I was expecting. Although the overall story is fictional, I love how the author presents dozens and dozens of wrestling storylines that are clearly fact-based in themselves. It reads like an inspirational true story. Keeps your attention. -JohnG
I loved this book. Even if you aren't familiar or didn't grow up with wrestling, you will truly enjoy it! It's a great story based in a small midwestern town. -Lori S
I loved this novel! If you're familiar with the sport of amateur wrestling and small, prairie town dynamics, you will truly enjoy this story. If wrestling and small-town life are new to you, you will find this book intriguing and interesting. It is a novel full of support for family, friends, school, church, and community, all connected through a sport dearly loved. It's an easy, enjoyable read for adults and an extra special read for young wrestlers. -
B Kirkpatrick
January 4, 2022Loved this book. A must-read, it brought back so many great wrestling memories from what seemed to be a simpler time. The wrestlers' stories made me reminisce about going to tournaments with my friend and our dads to watch his brother wrestle. Priceless! -L. Erickson
As someone who has spent most of my life around the sport of wrestling, I was thoroughly captivated knowing what the impact of coaches can be in a community Well written, and completely enjoyed the read! -D Dollemore
Growing up in a wrestling family, this book really rang true to me. n created from shared experience, family, and community, makes this a story that anyone can enjoy. -Tom
ISBN: 9780578356556
ISBN-10: 0578356554
Published: 12th January 2022
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number of Pages: 262
Audience: General Adult
Publisher: LIGHTNING SOURCE INC
Dimensions (cm): 20.32 x 12.7 x 1.4
Weight (kg): 0.26
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