The Ultimate Athlete

About this book

We are born with the God-given right to move efficiently gracefully and joyfully. We lose this right only through societys mind-body split faulty modes of physical education and overemphasis on "winning." George Leonards simple and radical notion is that within each of us regardless of age sex or physical condition there exists an ultimate athlete waiting to be born. With a poets passion fifth-degree aikido black belt Leonard evokes the transcendent moment in sportthe catch that defies gravity and chance the play that makes time stand stillas emblematic of the Greater Game of embodiment itself of life and death a Game we all can play to depth and breadth of body and soul. The Ultimate Athlete helped create the participatory sports boom of the 1970s and 1980s. This revised edition is addressed to a new generation of ultimate athletes.