I'm Rufus Griskym and this is the next big idea.

Today, life lessons from an Olympic track star, the coach of the country's worst hockey

team, and a middle-aged journalist turned mediocre surfer, swimmer, and juggler.

Do you like sports? I do. I wasn't very sporty in high school, but I've gotten more

and more interested in midlife, which is probably why I'm into the middle-aged stuff, cycling.

I've somehow become one of those guys with a little bit of a belly in a ballerina suit.

I'm not quite sure how that happened, and I'm currently mildly obsessed with trying to rebuild my tennis game.

And when I'm not skating across the tennis court, one of my favorite things to do, I don't think I'm alone here,

is to recline on the couch while other people on television perform extraordinary athletic exertions.

There's nothing like sipping a cup of tea while watching someone run a four-minute mile.

More inspiring still is learning the personal stories behind great athletic achievements.

Last week, I listened to three bookbites about the power, privilege, and occasional pain of participating in sports,

whether at the highest or lowest level. A bit of background here.

Every season, we ask the authors of the most groundbreaking new books to distill those books down to five big ideas,

and then read them aloud. We call them bookbites, the best new books in 12 minutes of audio.

Today, I thought I'd share three that have reinvigorated by dedication to my physical and mental fitness.

Up first, Olympic runner Alexi Papas, tells us what her athletic pursuits taught her about self-reliance, mental health,

embracing pain, and achieving her dreams.

Next, John U-Bacon shares the surprising lessons he learned coaching the country's worst high school hockey team.

And finally, journalist Tom Vanderbilt makes a rousing case for being an amateur athlete at NEH.

I love these bookbites, and I learned a lot from them. I hope you do too.

Hi, I'm Jonathan Fields, tuned into my podcast for conversations about the sweet spot between work, meaning, and joy,

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