Sign-In
Cart
The Gymnast: Disability, Sport, and Romance Memoir
Paperback
Publisher: Hellgate-Triborough Books
Published: Sep 10 2024
Pages: 302
Weight: 0.89
Height: 0.63 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The Gymnast might have been an everyman memoir: Patrick grew up hard and fast in the New York of the 1950s and '60s. He found a sport and then a career he was passionate about. Found love, raised a family.
Except The Gymnast isn't any old coming-of-age tale. Patrick contracted polio, and one of his legs atrophied because of it. He became the boy with the repulsive leg, as he called it, and for a long time, he didn't believe he'd have a normal life.
With grit and dedication (and lots of luck), Patrick forged the life he wanted. He successfully competed on Big Ten and NCAA championship gymnastics teams and coached the sport at the collegiate level. He earned a PhD with an emphasis in exercise science. After a turbulent romance, he married his childhood sweetheart, and they raised three children.
Humorous and sad, heartwarming as much as it is heart-wrenching, The Gymnast follows a unique thread that weaves together disability, sport, and romance. Few stories talk about disabled people dealing with sex, romance, bullying, and competing successfully at the highest level of sport. Patrick may have grown up different, but his compelling story will resonate with every reader.
1 different editions
Also available
Also from
Bird, Patrick J.
Also in
Biographies General
The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle and Generally Have
Rubin, Gretchen
Paperback
Bar Yarns and Manic-Depressive Mixtapes: Jim Walsh on Music from Minneapolis to the Outer Limits
Walsh, Jim
Hardcover
Virus Hunter: Thirty Years of Battling Hot Viruses Around the World
Peters, C. J.
Olshaker, Mark
Paperback
Through No Fault of My Own: A Girl's Diary of Life on Summit Avenue in the Jazz Age
Irvine, Coco
Paperback
From Here to the Great Unknown: Oprah's Book Club: A Memoir
Keough, Riley
Presley, Lisa Marie
Hardcover
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin
Hardcover
Undercover Junkie: Chasing Highs, Confronting Killers, and Unraveling in the Chaos
Cartwright, Brent
Hardcover
Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty
Clinton, Hillary Rodham
Hardcover
Covet the Comeback: How a Son of Greek Immigrants Found Success, Lost Everything, Then Built a Fashion Empire
Garkinos, Christos
Paperback
We Will Be Jaguars (Reese's Book Club Pick): A Memoir of My People
Anderson, Mitch
Nenquimo, Nemonte
Hardcover
The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science
Sobel, Dava
Hardcover
Undercover Junkie: Chasing Highs, Confronting Killers, and Unraveling in the Chaos
Cartwright, Brent
Paperback
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
Sheldrake, Merlin
Paperback
Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue
Purnell, Sonia
Hardcover
True Gretch: What I've Learned about Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between
Whitmer, Gretchen
Hardcover
The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty
Bauerlein, Valerie
Hardcover
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
Gwynne, S. C.
Paperback
What in the World?!: A Southern Woman's Guide to Laughing at Life's Unexpected Curveballs and Beautiful Blessings
Morgan, Leanne
Hardcover
Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!)
Lenz, Bethany Joy
Hardcover
Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend
Romney, Rebecca
Hardcover
The 38 Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to his son: Perspectives, Ideology, and Wisdom
Rockefeller, J. D.
Paperback
Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark
Henion, Leigh Ann
Hardcover
Reality Check: Making the Best of the Situation - How I Overcame Addiction, Loss, and Prison
Sorrentino, Mike The Situation
Hardcover
The Survivor: How I Made It Through Six Concentration Camps and Became a Nazi Hunter
Lewkowicz, Josef
Hardcover
Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail
Lankford, Andrea
Paperback
Sisters in Science: How Four Women Physicists Escaped Nazi Germany and Made Scientific History
Campbell, Olivia
Hardcover
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Nezhukumatathil, Aimee
Paperback