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Kid Olympians: True Tales of Childhood from Champions and Game Changers (Kid Legends #9)
By Robin Stevenson. 2024
Triumphant, relatable, and totally true biographies tell the childhood stories of a diverse group of international athletes who have captured…
the world’s attention at the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, like Simone Biles, Jesse Owens, Naomi Osaka, Tatyana McFadden, and 12 other incredible olympians.Athletes throughout history have dreamed of competing in the Olympics—and some were kids themselves when those dreams and plans began! In Kid Olympians: Summer, discover the childhood stories of legends such as: Usain Bolt, who used to skip practices to go to the arcade and play video games.Serena Williams, who sometimes hit her tennis ball over the fence on purpose!Tatyana McFadden, who had to fight to be allowed on her school’s track teamFeaturing kid-friendly text and full-color illustrations, you’ll be inspired to dream bigger, faster, and higher than ever before! The diverse and inspiring group also includes Michael Phelps, Yusra Mardini, Dick Fosbury, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Gertrude Ederle, Nadia Comaneci, Ellie Simmonds, Tommie Smith, Wilma Rudolph, and Megan Rapinoe.Undisputed: A Champion's Life
By Donovan Bailey. 2023
A memoir of Olympic glory, the value of mentorship and the courage to champion your own excellence, from the long-reigning…
world's fastest man, Canadian sprinting legend Donovan Bailey.From the lush fields of his boyhood in Jamaica, to the basketball courts of Oakville, where he came of age in one of Canada’s most thriving cultural mosaics, to his sprint toward double Olympic gold for Canada in Atlanta in 1996, Donovan Bailey got a long way on natural talent. But he also learned that in the bureaucratic world of Canadian sports, an athlete who didn't come up in the system needed to take charge of his fate if he was going to become the world’s best. As he ascended from outsider to dominant athlete, others didn’t always understand the rigour at work behind Bailey’s confident demeanour. He’d learned from watching Muhammad Ali that a champion needed to act like a champion. But media grew fixated on the sprinter’s immodesty, the likes of which they never saw from Canadian athletes, especially track athletes in the wake of the Ben Johnson doping scandal at Seoul in 1988. Bailey was having none of it, and when he called out Canada's subtle racism and contradicted the prevailing idea most Canadians had of their country, he left in his wake a media uproar and cracked wide open the nation’s moral complacency. In addition to his unforgettable 100-metre and 4x100 relay gold-medal sprints in Atlanta, Bailey's track career was a litany of records and rare accomplishments, including his audacious 1997 race in Toronto's SkyDome against American 200-metre Olympic champion Michael Johnson to determine who was really the world’s fastest man. There was no disputing the result. Bailey had been coached in success before he was seriously coached in athletics. Following the lead of his father, a machinist-turned-real estate investor, Bailey became a millionaire by the age of 21, an experience he continues to draw on as an entrepreneur and philanthropist. Frank about his dominance on the track and unapologetic for expecting as much of those around him as he expects of himself, Undisputed is an athlete's story that refuses to settle for second best.Calling the Shots: Ups, Downs and Rebounds – My Life in the Great Game of Hockey
By Kelly Hrudey, Kirstie McLellan Day. 2017
Few people have had a better front row seat to hockey history than Kelly Hrudey, whose former teammates include Mike…
Bossy, Denis Potvin, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey and Wayne Gretzky, among many others of the game’s greats. In 1987, he stood tall in net during the Easter Epic, the longest playoff game in Islanders history. Kelly made seventy-three saves (to this day an NHL record for most saves made in a playoff game) against the Capitals before Pat LaFontaine scored the winner in the fourth overtime period of Game Seven at two o’clock in the morning. Later that year, Kelly was in the Canada Cup lineup of one of the most talented teams ever assembled on ice. In 1989, he joined Wayne Gretzky and Marty McSorley on a team that took Los Angeles by storm: the Kings went all the way to the Stanley Cup final against the Canadiens in 1993. Hrudey is now a well-respected hockey analyst and broadcaster and has watched with a keen eye as the game continues to evolve. Through it all, he has seen greatness and missed opportunities, inspiring moments and outright craziness. Working with bestselling author Kirstie McLellan Day, Kelly delivers a lively and thoughtful memoir, rich in behind-the-scenes anecdotes, humour and insight.Contrarreloj
By Santiago Botero. 2023
"Dentro de la carrera ciclista muchos te dirán que no puedes, que es imposible, que no eres bueno. Pero ahíes…
donde toca ignorarlos y seguir pedaleando con la convicción clara de a dónde quieres llegar". S.B Santiago Botero saltó del ciclismo recreativo al profesional y aterrizó en Europa a los 23 años, sin saber casi nada del de porte a ese nivel. Aprender le costó varios errores que casi lo apartan de su destino. Fue un ciclista colombiano atípico: alto, rubio, universitario, con unas piernas potentes que se destacaban en la escalada, y sobre todo cuando pedaleaba solo contra el viento, en las cronos, una categoría en la que ningún colombiano había destacado antes. La contrarreloj, dijo, es una prueba masoquista: "Es uno quien se obliga, por voluntad propia, a infligirse dolor y llevar el cuerpo a la agonía sobre la bicicleta, solo para obtener el placer del triunfo". Allí encontró su lugar en este exigente deporte. Además del reloj, Botero tuvo otros rivales, incluso más peligrosos que sus colegas: la inseguridad acerca de su talento, y sus desórdenes alimenticios provocados por la ansiedad y por esa idea implícita en la práctica del ciclismo según la cual, a menor peso, mayor rendimiento. En estas páginas, Botero nos cuenta sus fortalezas y debilidades, sus luchas y renuncias, sus momentos de gloria y de dolor. Leerlo es como un viaje a las más legendarias cumbres a bordo de su bicicleta. Y desde la altura, somos capaces de admirar toda la humanidad de un campeón de talla mundial'Oi, Key': Tales of a Journeyman Cricketer
By Rob Key. 2020
The Sky Sports commentator and former Kent captain “show[s] his great cricketing brain and insight into those that play it…
and the game itself” (Royal Ascot Cricket Club).EX-England batsman Rob Key is one of the wittiest pundits on TV. Whether it’s a drizzly day-nighter in Derby or a World Cup Final at Lord’s, Key’s wizardry with the mic more than matches that which he had with the bat. In his new book, Key reflects on the past and present of an ever-unforgiving game, in so doing shining light into the darkest recesses of the locker room. What he finds there is as amusing as it is shocking, as farcical as it is fascinating. Known as one of the sharpest cricket brains around, Key casts a knowledgeable and sometimes acerbic eye over such areas as fitness, captaincy, and sledging, while delivering a close-up view of some of the biggest names in the game. More than anything, Key reveals just what it is to be a professional cricketer, the camaraderie, the comedy, and, of course, the calamity.“Key has produced a book which reflects his personality and career beautifully, a lovely gentle jaunt through the career of a likeable honest player, a player who probably deserved more chance at the highest level, but with storytelling like this, it is easy to see why his broadcasting career has blossomed and taken him now to the highest level of his new chosen career.” —Deep Extra CoverTraveling Shoes: The Story of Willye White, US Olympian and Long Jump Champion
By Alice Faye Duncan. 2023
Untold until now, here is the story of Black sprinter and long-jumper Willye B. White, who went from picking cotton…
as a child in Mississippi to competing and winning in the 1956 and 1964 Olympics.Future Olympian Willye B. White was born in 1939 in Money, Mississippi—but money was exactly what she didn&’t have. Abandoned by both her parents, she worked alongside her grandparents in the cotton fields. Willye had big dreams, though. So when her cousin noticed she was the fastest runner around, Willye jumped at the chance to put on her traveling shoes and run her way to better opportunities. And run Willye did, first for the Tennessee State Tigerbelles and then for the US Olympic team. Her struggles weren&’t over though—time and again, Willye had to remind herself, &“I believe in me,&” whether she was running and jumping or witnessing the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement.Through Alice Faye Duncan&’s signature combination of poetry and prose and Keith Mallett's lifelike illustrations, readers will be inspired by Willye White&’s persistence and will learn how she contributed to Black progress with muscle and grit.Hendo: The American Athlete
By Dan Henderson, David Kano. 2023
A riveting memoir by the first MMA double champion and two-time Olympic wrestler who cut a polarizing path as a…
firebrand figure and went on to become a legend.&“Dan Henderson is a savage. He came from a pure, wrestling background with very little striking training, and he went and became one of the most dangerous, one-punch knockout artists in the history of the sport.&” —Joe Rogan Dan &“Hendo&” Henderson was the first fighter in MMA history to become a double champion, winning championships in PRIDE Fighting Championships and Strikeforce. He faced the biggest names in MMA, on his unparalleled run through the early days of MMA through its remarkable rise in popularity, squaring off against the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Anderson Silva, Quinton &“Rampage&” Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, Michael Bisping, Vitor Belfort, and Renzo Gracie. Henderson&’s first fight against Mauricio &“Shogun&” Rua in 2011 is considered one of the greatest fights in UFC history. In this no-holds-barred look back on his life, Henderson provides context and insight into the biggest fights of his career, while reflecting on the wholly unique upbringing that shaped him into the warrior he needed to be to win. With his trademark humor, he sheds light on his two trips to the Olympics, his transformative time training in Europe and Russia, and his up-and-down relationship with Dana White. Hendo: The American Athlete is a thrilling window into the life and mind of a true legend. There will never be another fighter like Hendo.MAGIC: The Life of Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson
By Roland Lazenby. 2023
The definitive biography of the basketball legend Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, from the author of Michael Jordan: the Life. Magic Johnson…
is one of the most beloved, and also controversial, athletes in history. He lifted the dowdy sport of American pro basketball into the global spotlight, a transformation driven by his ability to eviscerate opponents with a grand sense of fun. He was a master entertainer who directed basketball to the heights of both glory and epic excess, all of it driven by his mind-blowing no-look passes and personal charm. At the charismatic height of his power, Johnson shocked the world with his personal story which pushed public awareness of the HIV and AIDs crisis. Through hundreds of interviews with Johnson's coaches, representatives past and present, teammates, opponents, friends and loved ones, including key conversations with Johnson himself, this is the first truly definitive study of the revolutionary player: the man, the icon, Magic Johnson.Great Rides According to G
By Geraint Thomas. 2023
Across the UK, into Europe and further afield, these are the training rides, races and journeys closest to his heart.…
From one-day classics in the Peak District and Snowdonia to the rolling roads of Tuscany and the wide-open vistas of New Zealand's South Island, these are the routes you'll want to ride alongside Britain's favourite cycling superstar.We ride out with him from his winter home in the south of France, and around his old Tuscan training base as a GB Olympic hopeful at the very start of his career. We take in the valley roads of the Tour de Suisse (overall winner, 2022), and the sinuous coastal roads of Milan - San Remo.We go long in Mallorca and bounce along the short cobbled secteurs of Belgium; we take in the vineyards around Adelaide and the bright blue skies of southern California.And we have guest rides too: from world champion Remco Evenepoel and his favourite winter training ride in Calpe, Spain; around Yorkshire, with Olympic mountain bike champion, world cyclo-cross champion and newly crowned winner of Strade Bianche, Tom Pidcock; in the wilds of western Ireland from champion sprinter Sam Bennett.Twenty rides, twenty adventures you'll never forget. All of this in a small-size hardback that can slide just as easily into your hand luggage as the back pocket of your jersey.Great Rides According to G
By Geraint Thomas. 2023
Across the UK, into Europe and further afield, these are the training rides, races and journeys closest to his heart.…
From one-day classics in the Peak District and Snowdonia to the rolling roads of Tuscany and the wide-open vistas of New Zealand's South Island, these are the routes you'll want to ride alongside Britain's favourite cycling superstar.We ride out with him from his winter home in the south of France, and around his old Tuscan training base as a GB Olympic hopeful at the very start of his career. We take in the valley roads of the Tour de Suisse (overall winner, 2022), and the sinuous coastal roads of Milan - San Remo.We go long in Mallorca and bounce along the short cobbled secteurs of Belgium; we take in the vineyards around Adelaide and the bright blue skies of southern California.And we have guest rides too: from world champion Remco Evenepoel and his favourite winter training ride in Calpe, Spain; around Yorkshire, with Olympic mountain bike champion, world cyclo-cross champion and newly crowned winner of Strade Bianche, Tom Pidcock; in the wilds of western Ireland from champion sprinter Sam Bennett.Twenty rides, twenty adventures you'll never forget. All of this in a small-size hardback that can slide just as easily into your hand luggage as the back pocket of your jersey.Centered: Autism, Basketball, and One Athlete's Dreams
By Tom Izzo, Anthony Ianni, Rob Keast. 2021
"They don't know me. They don't know what I'm capable of." Diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder, a form of autism,…
as a toddler, Anthony Ianni wasn't expected to succeed in school or participate in sports, but he had other ideas. As a child, Ianni told anybody who would listen, including head coach Tom Izzo, that he would one day play for the Michigan State Spartans. Centered: Autism, Basketball, and One Athlete's Dreams is the firsthand account of a young man's social, academic, and athletic struggles and his determination to reach his goals. In this remarkable memoir, Ianni reflects on his experiences with both basketball and the autism spectrum. Centered, an inspirational sports story in the vein of Rudy, reveals Ianni to be unflinching in his honesty, generous in his gratitude, and gracious in his compassion.Sports fans will root for the underdog. Parents, teachers, and coaches will gain insight into the experience of an autistic child. And everyone will triumph in the achievements of Centered.Blanco ni el orujo: Las cuatro vidas de San Román
By José Antonio Martín Otín. 2015
Un recorrido histórico de la mano de Miguel San Román, una las figuras más importantes del Atlético de Madrid. El…
libro utiliza la vida y aventuras de Miguel San Román para hablar de la historia del Atlético de Madrid. El Pechuga San Román fue portero del Atleti en los años 60. Está considerado como «el alma del Atleti», y toda una leyenda aunque en pocas ocasiones fue el portero titular.San Roman cuenta en el libro las mejores historias del Atleti, los partidos, habla de los jugadores emblemáticos de la época (Luis Aragones, etc) y también narra las historias del entorno social en el que vivió. Gran vividor y de buena planta, narra su relación con las figuras del espectáculo del momento. Sus enfrentamientos a periodistas emblemáticos, su relación con jugadores famosos de la época, no solo del Atleti, sino también del equipo contrario, el Real Madrid... También narra sus encuentros y charlas jugosas con políticos como Juan Domingo Perón, exiliado en Madrid en aquella epoca. Historias de futbol y de vida tratando de recrear la atmósfera del momento y hablando del Atleti actual con la perspectiva de quien ha sido uno de sus grandes referentes, uno de los representantes máximos del llamado sentimiento atlético.Fútbol total: Mi vida contada a Guido Conti
By Guido Conti, Arrigo Sacchi. 2015
«El fútbol se juega principalmente con la cabeza, y así se ganan los partidos; los pies vienen mucho después»Arrigo Sacchi…
La historia del hombre que nunca jugó al fútbol de manera profesional, cuya habilidad para dirigir a equipos repletos de estrellas terminó por convertirle en el entrenador de mayor prestigio en el mundo entero en la década de los 80.Después de vencer dos veces consecutivas al todopoderoso AC Milan cuando era entrenador del modesto Parma, Silvio Berlusconi le eligió para liderar la revolución de su equipo. Los primeros resultados estuvieron muy alejados de lo prometido, pero en cuanto las estrellas del Milán entendieron los conceptos de Sacchi, conocimos a uno de los mejores equipos de la historia del fútbol mundial, consiguiendo títulos consecutivos en Europa e Italia.The Race to Be Myself: A Memoir
By Caster Semenya. 2023
World champion runner Caster Semenya offers an empowering account of her extraordinary life and career, and her trailblazing battle to…
compete on her own terms. Olympian and World Champion Caster Semenya is finally ready to share the vivid and heartbreaking story of how the world came to know her name. Thrust into the spotlight at just eighteen years old after winning the Berlin World Championships in 2009, Semenya’s win was quickly overshadowed by criticism and speculation about her body, and she became the center of a still-raging firestorm about how gender plays out in sports, our expectations of female athletes, and the right to compete as you are. Told with captivating speed and candor, The Race to Be Myself is the journey of Semenya’s years as an athlete in the public eye, and her life behind closed doors. From her rural beginnings running free in the dust, to crushing her opponents in record time on the track, to the accusations and falsehoods spread about her in the press, the legal trial she went through in order to compete, and the humiliation she has been forced to endure publicly and privately. This book is a searing testimony for anyone who has been forced to stop doing what they love.Bottom of the 33rd: Hope and Redemption in Baseball's Longest Game
By Dan Barry. 2011
In “a worthy companion to . . . Boys of Summer,” a Pulitzer prize winning journalist “exploits the power of memory and nostalgia…
with literary grace” (New York Times).From award-winning New York Times columnist Dan Barry comes the beautifully recounted story of the longest game in baseball history—a tale celebrating not only the robust intensity of baseball, but the aspirational ideal epitomized by the hard-fighting players of the minor leagues.On April 18, 1981, a ball game sprang eternal. For eight hours, the night seemed to suspend a town and two teams between their collective pasts and futures, between their collective sorrows and joys—the shivering fans; their wives at home; the umpires; the batboys approaching manhood; the ejected manager, peering through a hole in the backstop; the sportswriters and broadcasters; and the players themselves—two destined for the Hall of Fame (Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs), the few to play only briefly or forgettably in the big leagues, and the many stuck in minor-league purgatory, duty bound and loyal forever to the game.With Bottom of the 33rd, Barry delivers a lyrical meditation on small-town lives, minor-league dreams, and the elements of time and community that conspired one fateful night to produce a baseball game seemingly without end. An unforgettable portrait of ambition and endurance, Bottom of the 33rd is the rare sports book that changes the way we perceive America’s pastime—and America’s past.“Destined to take its place among the classics of baseball literature.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Bottom of the 33rd is chaw-chewing, sunflower-spitting, pine tar proof that too much baseball is never enough.” —Jane Leavy, author of The Last Boy and Sandy KoufaxGeorge Allen: A Football Life
By Michael Richman. 2023
George Allen was a fascinating and eccentric figure in the world of football coaching. His remarkable career spanned six decades,…
from the late 1940s until his sudden death in 1990 at the age of seventy-three. Although he never won a Super Bowl, he never had a losing season as an NFL head coach and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002. In George Allen: A Football Life, Mike Richman captures the life and accomplishments of one of the most successful NFL coaches of all time and one of the greatest innovators in the game. A player&’s coach, Allen was a tremendous motivator and game strategist, as well as a defensive mastermind, and is credited with making special teams a critical focus in an era in which they were an afterthought. He had a keen eye for talent and pulled off masterful trades, often for veteran players who were viewed to be past their prime, who then had great seasons and made his teams much better. In addition to his coaching feats, Allen had an idiosyncratic and controversial personality. His life revolved around football 24-7. One of his quirks was to minimize chewing time by consuming soft foods, giving himself more time to prepare for games and study opponents. He lived and breathed football; he compared losing to death. Allen had contentious relationships with the owners of the two NFL teams for which he was the head coach, the Washington Redskins and Los Angeles Rams. Richman explores why he was fired by those teams and whether he was blackballed from coaching again in the NFL. Based on detailed research and interviews with family, former players, and coaches, George Allen is the definitive biography of the football coach who lived to win, loved a good challenge, and left a lasting legacy on pro football history.Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun, and Gary Williams played no small role in the making of modern college basketball. Collectively, they&’ve…
won more than 2,300 games and six national championships and reached thirteen Final Fours. All three have been enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Pitino, Calhoun, and Williams each spent more than two decades on the national stage, becoming celebrities in their own right as college basketball and March Madness became a multi-billion-dollar industry. Before Pitino became the face of the Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville programs, before Calhoun turned UConn into a national power, and before Williams brought Maryland to its first national championship, all three of these coaches cut their teeth in front of modest-sized crowds in the crumbling college gymnasiums of Boston during the 1970s and early 1980s.Boston Ball charts how this trio of coaches, seemingly out of nowhere, started a basketball revolution: Pitino at Boston University, Calhoun at Northeastern University, and Williams at Boston College. Toiling in relative obscurity, they ignited a renaissance of the &“city game,&” a style of play built on fast-breaking up-tempo offense, pressure defense, and board crashing. Part of a fraternity of great coaches—including Mike Jarvis, Kevin Mackey, and Tom Davis—they unknowingly invented Boston Ball, a simultaneously old and new path to the top of college basketball. Pitino, Calhoun, and Williams took advantage of the ample coaching opportunities in &“America&’s College Town&” to craft their respective blueprints for building a winning program and turn their schools into regional powers, and these early coaching years served as their respective springboards to big-time college basketball.Boston Ball is the story of how three ambitious young coaches learned their trade in the shadow of the dynastic Celtics, as well as the story of how the young players—in their recruitment, relationships, and basketball lives—made these teams into winners.Nazaré: Life and Death with the Big Wave Surfers
By Matt Majendie. 2023
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR JOIN THE QUEST TO SURF THE BIGGEST WAVE IN…
HISTORY.In a small fishing village on the coast of Portugal, a select band of surfers take unimaginable risks, pushing the boundaries of their death-defying sport as they seek to go bigger than ever before.Their goal? To ride the Everest of the ocean - the 100-foot wave.Sports journalist Matt Majendie is welcomed into the inner circle of Nazaré's tight community of big-wave surfers and extreme thrill-seekers, living among them for a season as he chronicles their incredible highs and terrifying lows.Follow the endeavours of Britain's leading big-wave surfer, a former plumber from Devon, Andrew Cotton; trailblazing Brazilian female surfer Maya Gabeira; current World Record holder German Sebastian Steudtner; Portuguese Nic von Rupp and jet-ski driver Sérgio Cosme, nicknamed 'the Guardian Angel of Nazaré' for his daring rescues, in this gripping read.War Room: The Legacy of Bill Belichick and the Art of Building the Perfect Team
By Michael Holley. 2011
Bill Belichick is one of the titans of today’s game of football. Now, sports commentator and bestselling author Michael Holley…
follows three NFL teams—the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, and Atlanta Falcons—from training camp 2010 through the Super Bowl and into the April draft, opening a new window into Belichick’s influence on the game. This one-of-a-kind exploration takes football fans behind the scenes of the most popular sport in America, with unprecedented insider access to the head coaches, scouts, trainers, and players who make the game what it is—including new insights from Bill Parcells, Todd and Dick Haley, and Belichick himself. For true fans of the game, and for readers of Badasses, Patriot Reign, and Boys Will Be Boys, Holley’s War Room is not to be missed.Marty Glickman: The Life of an American Jewish Sports Legend
By Jeffrey S. Gurock. 2023
The first comprehensive biography of the preeminent voice of New York sportsFor close to half a century after World War…
II, Marty Glickman was the voice of New York sports. His distinctive style of broadcasting, on television and especially on the radio, garnered for him legions of fans who would not miss his play-by-play accounts. From the 1940s through the 1990s, he was as iconic a sports figure in town as the Yankees’ Mickey Mantle, the Knicks’ Walt Frazier, or the Jets’ Joe Namath. His vocabulary and method of broadcasting left an indelible mark on the industry, and many of today’s most famous sportscasters were Glickman disciples. To this very day, many fans who grew up listening to his coverage of Knicks basketball and Giants football games, among the myriad of events that Glickman covered, recall fondly, and can still recite, his descriptions of actions in arenas and stadiums. In Marty Glickman, Jeffrey S. Gurock showcases the life of this important contributor to American popular culture. In addition to the stories of how he became a master of American sports airwaves, Marty Glickman has also been remembered as a Jewish athlete who, a decade before he sat in front of a microphone, was cynically barred from running in a signature track event in the 1936 Olympics by anti-Semitic American Olympic officials. This lively biography details this traumatic event and explores not only how he coped for decades with that painful rejection but also examines how he dealt with other anti-Semitic and cultural obstacles that threatened to stymie his career. Glickman’s story underscores the complexities that faced his generation of American Jews as these children of immigrants emerged from their ethnic cocoons and strove to succeed in America amid challenges to their professional and social advancement. Marty Glickman is a story of adversity and triumph, of sports and minority group struggles, told within the context of the prejudicial barriers that were common to thousands, if not millions, of fellow Jews of his generation as they aimed to make it in America.