Bewildered by the array of sporting confessions we’ve been producing in recent years? Our illustrator, Paul Warren, has very helpfully compiled all the titles into one easy image!
Hardly a day goes by without someone telling us off about our bodies: they’re too big, too small, in the wrong place at the wrong time, or they just don’t behave in the way we want them to.
How we interact with contemporary sport can be a productive way to explore our relationship with our bodies and how they respond to the demands we make of them. We follow performers and athletes, clubs and countries, the ups and downs of the elite; and we are encouraged – daily – to get off our sofas and run that elusive marathon, to join in and be part of some team or another. We identify, and sometimes, over-identify with our sporting heroes. We become appalled at their behaviour when they fall from grace, but can’t help getting drawn into their stories, whatever age we are, and whatever age they are.
The Confessions series of books explore these matters in, hopefully, an entertaining and thought-provoking manner. Whilst a particular sport might be more prominent, the books themselves are not really about that sport at all. Tennis Player explored dreams and delusions; Footballer, loneliness; Basketball Player was my take on the COVID-19 pandemic, Figure Skater explored the expectations of growing up and adulthood.
Swimmers follows in this tradition through relating the trials and tribulations of 18-year-old Leo. A Generation Z-er who’s already been on the receiving end of too much sturm und drang in his life so far: the COVID-19 pandemic has left its mark on his confidence, the behaviour of recent governments has left him despairing of any political change, ever, anywhere and the “Climate Crisis” has rattled his belief in the future of the planet. You can read all about it here:
Confessions of the Ageing Swimmers
What would you do if you heard someone confess to the most heinous moral crime but there was nothing you could do about it?
Inspired by events and overheard conversations in some of Lincoln’s and Nottingham’s finest swimming pools as well as some of oldest Biblical myths, Swimmers aims to give you an entertaining insight into just why there are more swimming pools than churches these days.
And if that’s not enough, you can read all about Confessions of an…
Ageing Tennis Player here
Ageing Footballer here
Ageing Figure Skater here
Ageing Cyclist here
Ageing Golf Player here
Ageing Rugby Player here
and last but not least,
Aspiring Basket Ball Player here!
Just imagine what the future possibilities are!
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