Showing results by narrator "Ben Mercer" in All Categories

For many, playing professional sport is the Dream Job. Few manage it, very few make it to the top and for the rest, life is very different. This is their story. In Fringes, Ben Mercer invites you to witness life at the outer edges of professional rugby. This is a first hand account of what life is like as a journeyman professional athlete. You play, but to the wider public you don't exist. You earn but you don't drive a flash car. You sometimes pack out a stadium but sometimes, you play in a deserted park. This is the story for the majority of sports professionals.

It's you. As the speed of change in elite sports has increased, the support infrastructure around head coaches has not kept up. This has left many coaches—supposedly experts in human performance—walking zombies who don’t sleep, don’t exercise, and don’t see their families. To succeed in the modern sporting world, head coaches must face some hard truths. By grappling with these truths, which cut to the very core of who they are as human beings, head coaches can get out of their own way and achieve all-new levels of personal performance.

Tomas has always been told that now, dragons are extinct, and so he can't believe it when a mysterious stranger invites him to join a secret society, the Dragonseer Guild—and tells him that not only do dragons still exist, but also that Tomas has a very special power... he can summon his very own dragon! But Tomas faces a difficult choice, and he and his dragon, Ironskin, must learn to trust each other—and together, they have to save their home from a deadly threat.

From the CEO and co-founder of Hope for Justice, author of Impossible Is a Dare, and creator of the Dear 26-Year-Old Me podcast comes an honest, compelling, and inspiring collection of wisdom and experience to empower those in business and ministry to see their world-changing vision become a reality. In Relentless Pursuit, Ben Cooley speaks with self-made billionaires, Grammy-award winning musicians, megachurch pastors, and network marketers, who give unprecedented access to the challenges, struggles, and doubts they have faced on their journey.

In the land of Draconis, there are no dragons. Once, there were. Once, humans and dragons were friends, and created the great city of Rivven together. But then came the Dragon Storm, and the dragons retreated from the world of humans. To the men and women of Draconis, they became legends and myth. Young dragonseer Mira and her dragon Flameteller love finding out how things work and fixing them, and so they're excited to learn about the ancient magic that powers the home of the Dragonseer Guild—and helps keep its existence a secret.

At some point, we all ask ourselves, 'What am I truly good at?' Finding out what makes us stand apart is increasingly important in a world of infinite choice. Everyone has a Superstrength. You could be a student nearer the beginning of your learning journey considering your next steps. Perhaps you’re a leader looking to build a team of varying skillsets. Superstrengths shows you how to get ahead of the bunch. Superstrengths is a concept that is being used at the highest levels of sporting competition but, like 10,000 hours or marginal gains, it has a far broader range of applications.

From Bridgewater Associates to Netflix, some of North America's largest companies admit to being heavily influenced by concepts from pro sports. So what do these companies know that others don't? The answer is simple: People innovation can be a competitive advantage. Through in-depth interviews and meticulous research, Where Others Won't dives deeper than ever before into professional sports from around the world to uncover over 50 easily implementable people strategies to help you win.

"Even four-and-a-half years on from leaving rugby, there's value in this for me." What do you do? It's the first thing we get asked when we meet someone. Being a pro athlete is a great answer. It excites people. It's unusual. It's special. But what happens when you don't have a good answer? What happens when your good answer is over? Endgame will help you answer that question. It's a handbook written by a former athlete to help others take on their own career transitions and find a new game to play.

It's the Maze Festival in the city of Rivven, and young dragonseer Ellis and his dragon Pathseeker are determined to be the first to complete the three mazes in the grounds of the king's palace and win this year's tournament. But after they discover someone secretly using dangerous dragon magic, Ellis and Pathseeker face a far greater challenge—and it will take all of their skills and courage to find their way back home, and keep the existence of the dragons a secret from the king.

Cara has spent her life on the streets, relying on her wits—and a mysterious voice that seemed to live inside her head—for survival. She's amazed when she learns that the voice actually belongs to a dragon—her dragon—and she's invited to join a hidden society, the Dragonseer Guild, for those who can summon their own dragon.

But Cara isn't used to having friends, and so when she and her dragon Silverthief uncover a dangerous secret, they must decide who they can trust... and their lives will depend on it.