Challenge: How To Succeed Beyond Your Dreams

By Hobart Sherwood Billingsley

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0998635707
• ISBN13: 9780998635705
• Release Date: May 2017
• Publisher: Learn to Swim Program, LLC
• Length: 378 Pages
• Weight: 1.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

“Challenge” is the triumphant story!

“Challenge” is the triumphant story of a boy who suffered from an impoverished childhood and broken family, but who met life’s challenges with amazing determination. As a child, Hobie Billingsley was too poor to afford a membership to the YMCA, so he snuck in and learned to dive as a 12 year old. However, the YMCA’s coach almost crushed his dream when he told Hobie that he wasn’t cut out to be a diver, and denied him the opportunity to compete with the team. Broken-hearted, Hobie cried his eyes out, but a fierce determination rose up in him and he was able to defy his coaches disheartening words. Hobie became a champion diver, then a coach at Indiana University, and finally one of the most influential figures in the history of diving. His Olympic gold and bronze medalists include Lesley Bush, Kenneth Sitzberger, Mark Lenzi, Cynthia Potter, Win Young, and Jim Henry. His divers at I.U., including Rick Gilbert, won more than 100 national diving championships. Hobie’s story embodies the modern history of diving, and includes extraordinary episodes such as Lesley Bush’s stunning upset at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. She had little experience diving from the ten-meter tower just months before the competition, and went on to win the gold medal under Hobie’s guidance. Hobie vividly describes the 1972 Olympics in Munich during which Israeli athletes were murdered. Hobie was nearby in the Olympic village when the tragedy took place, and he describes the grief he felt as he was preparing divers for the games. However, Hobie put aside his personal feelings and generously coached his divers so they could do their best, as he did throughout his career. For this reason, he was one of the most loved coaches in the history of the sport. Today, Hobie’s legacy is carried on by his former divers who are now coaches at universities, high schools, and swim clubs throughout the United States. For any reader who is striving to achieve a goal, deeply-felt story of Hobie Billingsley's life will be an inspiration.