{"product_id":"the-three-year-swim-club-the-untold-story-of-mauis-sugar-ditch-kids-and-their-quest-for-olympic-glory","title":"The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory","description":"The New York Times bestselling inspirational story of impoverished children who transformed themselves into world-class swimmers.\n\n\"A brightly told story of the triumph of underdogs ... exuberant, well-researched ... tense, vivid, and inspiring.\" ―Kirkus Reviews\n\nIn 1937, a schoolteacher on the island of Maui challenged a group of poverty-stricken sugar plantation kids to swim upstream against the current of their circumstance. The goal? To become Olympians.\n\nThey faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The children were Japanese-American and were malnourished and barefoot. They had no pool; they trained in the filthy irrigation ditches that snaked down from the mountains into the sugarcane fields. Their future was in those same fields, working alongside their parents in virtual slavery, known not by their names but by numbered tags that hung around their necks. Their teacher, Soichi Sakamoto, was an ordinary man whose swimming ability didn't extend much beyond treading water.\n\nIn spite of everything, including the virulent anti-Japanese sentiment of the late 1930s, in their first year the children outraced Olympic athletes twice their size; in their second year, they were national and international champs, shattering American and world records and making headlines from L.A. to Nazi Germany. In their third year, they'd be declared the greatest swimmers in the world. But they'd also face their greatest obstacle: the dawning of a world war and the cancellation of the Games. Still, on the battlefield, they'd become the 20th century's most celebrated heroes, and in 1948, they'd have one last chance for Olympic glory.\n\nThey were the Three-Year Swim Club. This is their story.\n\n\"An inspiring true tale of grit and determination ... Checkoway skillfully weaves vivid scenes into a larger narrative with a varied cast of characters to create a stirring, though exhaustive, account ... Pair this with The Boys in the Boat.\" ―Booklist\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 1455523453\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: BVV.1455523453.A\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Acceptable\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Checkoway, Julie\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: The item is very worn but is perfectly usable. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing  age related spots and browning . May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Blue Vase Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43118501363773,"sku":"BVV.1455523453.A","price":5.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4225\/9261\/files\/1455523453-0.jpg?v=1776720624","url":"https:\/\/www.bluevasebooks.com\/products\/the-three-year-swim-club-the-untold-story-of-mauis-sugar-ditch-kids-and-their-quest-for-olympic-glory","provider":"Blue Vase Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}