Full Description
There are very few original voices. Rick Walton is one. Beautiful Games, despite being something of a sequel to The Dots Will Not Be Joined, stands out, feels unique. Sure, it's about a life in sport and the power of and necessity for active cultures but Walton again takes on the universe. It's charged, unashamedly philosophical: 'authentic, wise, and beautiful'.
Largely autobiograpical - 'to be clear and true' - the book is in three sections. 'Formations' leads off in a mire of weird-but-all-pervasive discrimination, in Northern England: with young lives somehow made blissful by familial love and several hours of footie *every day*. The local park becomes not just the place to head cannonballs but the site of something big. Heading a football becomes big.
Then there is crushing, multiple loss, addressed directly, remembered through tears. Then adventure, with sport often the way in, across the hemisphere, from Grimsby to Thunder Bay and back to Wales. The wonders; the 'soccer'; the Italians; the knives. Madness; hilarity; joy. Big, filmic, relatable stories.
Part Two is about who has inspired this life in games - and maybe how. So brilliance and good practice. All Blacks; Clough; Guardiola; Stokes/McCullum and England Women Cricket. Not a comprehensive list but a nod towards genius, behaviours, 'positives'.
Part Three is where the author - an award-winning sports coach and teacher - makes the Case for Sport. Why and how. By looking at nuts and bolts: Sport Development; research; critical insights; urgency. We drive towards the conclusion that we must, for our communities, for our wellbeing, get moving.
Contents
DEDICATION. ix
THE PROLOGUE. xi
PART ONE: FORMATIONS. 1
ONE - UNWISE TENDENCIES. 3
TWO - STARK CONTRAST ALERT. 12
THREE - CANNONBALLS. 17
FOUR - ALL ABOUT THE IMPACT. 26
FIVE - DEATH INTERVENETH. 30
SIX - NOW DAD. BUT MUM BATTLES ON. 34
SEVEN - INTERNATIONAL. 48
EIGHT - IMPOSTORS. AND SYLLABLES. 60
NINE - OH CANADA; A CASE OF YOU. 66
TEN - 'CULTURE', SIX HUNDRED
WOMEN AND A KNIFE. 75
PART TWO: PRACTICE. 85
ELEVEN - 'NO PLACE FOR
A SENSITIVE BOY'. 87
TWELVE - BEHAVIOURS: ALL BLACKS. 92
THIRTEEN - A KIND OF PURITY: CLOUGH. 100
viii
FOURTEEN - GUARDIOLA. 107
FIFTEEN - (Don't mention the) BAZBALL. 121
SIXTEEN - WOMEN. 130
SEVENTEEN - HONOURABLE MENTIONS. 144
EIGHTEEN - RIGHT NOW. 154
PART THREE: THE CASE FOR SPORT. 161
NINETEEN - TEAM/COMMUNITY/
TRIBALISM. 163
TWENTY - JUST ONE EXPERIENCE. 169
TWENTY-ONE - WORK EXPERIENCE. 175
TWENTY-TWO - THE CASE FOR ACTIVITY
(NOT JUST FOR SPORT). 179
TWENTY-THREE - OUR SURVEY SAID. 186
TWENTY-FOUR - HOW? 197
TWENTY-FIVE - LEGACY. 204
TWENTY-SIX - THREADS. 208
