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Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated: How I Became a Champion
The powerful and inspiring story of an all-American wrestler who defied the odds
Anthony Robles is a three-time all-American wrestler, the 2011 NCAA National Wrestling Champion, and a Nike-sponsored athlete. He was also born without his right leg. Doctors could not explain to his mother, Judy, what led to the birth defect, but at the age of five, the one-legged toddler scaled a fifty-foot pole unassisted. From that moment on, Judy knew without a doubt that her son would be unstoppable.
When Anthony first began wrestling in high school, he was the smallest kid on the team and finished the year in last place. Yet Anthony's family and coaches supported his decision to continue, and he completed his junior and senior years with a 96 - 0 record to become a two-time Arizona State champion.
In college, Anthony had to prove all over again that he could excel. Despite hardships on and off the mat—including the temptation to quit school and get a job to help his family when they lost their home to foreclosure - Anthony focused his determination and became a champion once again.
Since winning the national championship in March 2011, Anthony has become a nationally recognized role model to kids and adults alike. But Unstoppable is not just an exciting sports memoir or an inspirational tale of living with a disability. It is also the story of one man whose spirit and unyielding resolve remind us all that we have the power to conquer adversity - in whatever form.
Anthony Robles is a three-time all-American wrestler, the 2011 NCAA National Wrestling Champion, and a Nike-sponsored athlete. He was also born without his right leg. Doctors could not explain to his mother, Judy, what led to the birth defect, but at the age of five, the one-legged toddler scaled a fifty-foot pole unassisted. From that moment on, Judy knew without a doubt that her son would be unstoppable.
When Anthony first began wrestling in high school, he was the smallest kid on the team and finished the year in last place. Yet Anthony's family and coaches supported his decision to continue, and he completed his junior and senior years with a 96 - 0 record to become a two-time Arizona State champion.
In college, Anthony had to prove all over again that he could excel. Despite hardships on and off the mat—including the temptation to quit school and get a job to help his family when they lost their home to foreclosure - Anthony focused his determination and became a champion once again.
Since winning the national championship in March 2011, Anthony has become a nationally recognized role model to kids and adults alike. But Unstoppable is not just an exciting sports memoir or an inspirational tale of living with a disability. It is also the story of one man whose spirit and unyielding resolve remind us all that we have the power to conquer adversity - in whatever form.
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First published September 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
March 13, 2018
The majority of the book was difficult to get through, but I ended up finishing it, and the end was pretty good. It had lots of elements of struggle, success, perseverance and was filled with emotion.
February 10, 2017
The book Unstoppable was one of the better biographies I have read. Usually peoples biographies are boring, but Anthony Robles story is very interesting. If you like sports and competition you might like this book.
January 24, 2018
As a former wrestler myself I know how hard the sport is and how competitive it gets. I was able to relate to his training and recognized some of the moves he did. It’s a very good motivational story
September 25, 2012
I found Unstoppable to be a wonderfully inspiring read. I couldn't put it down....I couldn't stop reading. What a remarkable man and a remarkable life he has traveled so far. The love he has for his mother is endearing. Even though I am not a wrestling fan, I feel like I am now! Anothony Robles' writing makes this book informative, uplifting, and very moving. I have passed this book on to my 13 year old son as I think he will enjoy it as much as I did. I am giving it a strong 4 star review!
My rating system is as follows:
5 stars - Excellent, Worth Every Penny, Made It Into My Personal Library!
4 stars - Great book, but not a classic.
3 stars - Good overall, generally well written.
2 stars - Would not recommend based on personal criteria.
1 star - Difficult to read, hard to finish, or didn't finish. Wouldn't recommend purchasing or reading.
In accordance with the FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, you should assume that every book I review was provided to me by the publisher, media group or the author for free and no financial payments were received, unless specified otherwise.
My rating system is as follows:
5 stars - Excellent, Worth Every Penny, Made It Into My Personal Library!
4 stars - Great book, but not a classic.
3 stars - Good overall, generally well written.
2 stars - Would not recommend based on personal criteria.
1 star - Difficult to read, hard to finish, or didn't finish. Wouldn't recommend purchasing or reading.
In accordance with the FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, you should assume that every book I review was provided to me by the publisher, media group or the author for free and no financial payments were received, unless specified otherwise.
March 4, 2014
Before I read this book I had watched Anthony Robles win the NCAA Wrestling Championships 3 or 4 years ago. It had been so amazing to see how well he could do with such a setback, but he never really looked at only having one leg as an impairment. He says in this book that he can do everything just like everyone else, and with some things he could do even better than others. I loved reading this. It has been on my bucketlist to meet him for a while now. Hopefully that happens someday. I recommend this book to anyone looking for an inspiring sports book. And I really think all wrestlers should read this book. There is so much to learn from him. He is an awesome, amazing, inspiring person. And so humble. Definitely read this everyone!!!
April 1, 2025
3.5 rounded up
September 14, 2025
#Binge Reviewing my previous Reads # Sports #Motivational
Anthony Robles’ memoir Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated is ostensibly about wrestling—about how a one-legged young man defied the expectations of doctors, coaches, and a culture obsessed with symmetry and normalcy to become an NCAA wrestling champion. But to read this book as merely a “sports memoir” would be to miss its deeper resonance. It is not only about athletic triumph; it is about the redefinition of what strength means, the reframing of disability, and the stubborn insistence that self-worth cannot be dictated by what others perceive as lacking.
Reading Robles’ narrative, one is drawn into the duality at the heart of any story of resilience: the tension between society’s gaze and the individual’s self-construction. Society told him, from the moment of birth, that his missing right leg was an absence, a tragedy, and a permanent disadvantage. Robles, with time, discipline, and extraordinary determination, inverted that logic. What others called weakness became his signature advantage. His body did not conform to the expectations of wrestling orthodoxy, but he carved a style, a rhythm, and a strategy that turned so-called deficiency into a weapon. In that sense, Unstoppable is both autobiography and manifesto: it is a record of how to insist on one’s own narrative, even when the world insists otherwise.
Wrestling, in the book, is both literal and symbolic. On the mat, Robles developed a style uniquely his own. His unusual leverage, his explosiveness from the left leg, and his upper body strength transformed him from an awkward beginner to a master technician. The technical detail of how he adapted his moves is fascinating to anyone who loves the sport. However, the metaphorical weight of wrestling is even greater. To wrestle is to struggle, to resist, to engage in hand-to-hand battle with what is pressing against you. Robles wrestled against opponents, yes, but also against prejudice, against his own moments of doubt, and against the fatigue of endless training.
Larson’s The Devil in the White City gives us spectacle against darkness; Brown’s The Boys in the Boat offers teamwork as salvation. Robles’ memoir distills something more intimate: the struggle of one body against itself, and one individual against the definitions of others. He makes us see that every life is lived on a mat of sorts. We all grapple with forces larger than ourselves, often unseen, often unfair. Wrestling, then, is not only about points or takedowns but about the moral theatre of persistence.
One of the most powerful aspects of the book is its candid treatment of disability—not as inspiration porn, not as saccharine “look what he can do despite his condition,” but as a reassertion of perspective. Robles never denies the difficulty. He speaks honestly of the stares, the bullying, and the logistical frustrations of daily life. But what he consistently resists is the reduction of his identity to the absence of a leg. The missing limb is not the defining element of his humanity; it is one characteristic, alongside discipline, humour, family loyalty, and faith.
This framing matters, especially in a culture that often commodifies disability into simplistic narratives of overcoming. Robles refuses that simplification. He does not romanticize his struggle, but neither does he allow it to be pitied. He situates himself firmly in the lineage of athletes whose greatness comes not from ignoring difference but from embracing it.
The memoir emphasizes that no triumph occurs in a vacuum. Robles’ mother is a central figure—a single parent whose refusal to coddle her son shaped his independence. In passages that describe her sacrifices and unyielding encouragement, one senses that Robles’ story is also hers. The ethos of persistence, of refusing to be defined by circumstance, is transmitted through her example.
Faith, too, threads through the narrative—not as dogma, but as grounding. Robles consistently attributes his perseverance to belief in a plan larger than his own. For him, religion is not about erasing hardship but about giving hardship meaning. In this sense, Unstoppable becomes a dialogue between internal determination and external scaffolding: family, faith, and mentors who helped carve possibility out of doubt.
Robles’ story is deeply American in its resonance. It echoes the nation’s love affair with the underdog, the Rocky Balboa archetype, and the narrative of someone dismissed as unworthy who then proves triumphant on the grandest stage. Yet Robles’ memoir complicates the trope. The underdog, in his case, is not simply fighting a more powerful opponent; he is fighting structural assumptions—coaches who doubted him, recruiters who overlooked him, and commentators who saw novelty rather than greatness.
By the time he stood atop the NCAA podium in 2011, undefeated at 36-0, his triumph was not only athletic but also cultural. He had shifted the frame of possibility. His gold medal was less a personal decoration than a collective reorientation of what an athlete with a disability could achieve.
The prose, co-authored with Austin Murphy, is direct, accessible, and largely unadorned. This is fitting: Robles’ story does not require rhetorical flourish. It carries its own gravity. The style allows readers to move quickly, to inhabit the pace of training and competition, while pausing at moments of reflection.
There are passages of almost cinematic clarity—the exhaustion of cutting weight, the roar of the NCAA finals, and the loneliness of being sidelined or underestimated. The book is structured to move with the rhythm of seasons, echoing the cadence of an athlete’s life: preparation, competition, recovery, and renewal. It is honest enough to include setbacks, injuries, and doubts, which prevents it from drifting into hagiography.
A reflective reading of Unstoppable prompts one to ask: what does it mean to live with limitation? The book offers no universal prescription, but it provides a framework: acknowledge difficulty, adapt uniquely, persist relentlessly. This framework has application far beyond athletics.
In education, business, or creative life, Robles’ principle is clear: stop wishing for different cards, and learn to play the ones you’ve been dealt with mastery. His story becomes a metaphor for all situations in which difference—whether physical, social, or economic—is framed as deficit. The act of reframing, of finding advantage in supposed weakness, is the true artistry of survival.
With triumph comes visibility. Robles’ narrative also gestures toward the responsibility of representation. After his NCAA win, he became not only an athlete but also a symbol. He carried the weight of speaking for others with disabilities, of embodying inspiration. The book reflects on the tension of this role: the honour of being a role model, but also the burden of constantly being read as a metaphor rather than as an individual.
Here lies one of the memoir’s quieter truths: every victory is double-edged. To be celebrated for resilience is also to be forever tethered to struggle in the public imagination. Robles navigates this with grace, neither rejecting the symbolic role nor allowing it to eclipse his personal identity.
A decade after its publication, Unstoppable remains profoundly relevant. In an era when social media magnifies both prejudice and inspiration, Robles’ insistence on self-definition is instructive. The cultural conversation around disability has evolved, but the tension between tokenism and authentic representation persists. His memoir reminds us that the real triumph is not in inspiring others per se, but in living fully and authentically. Inspiration is a byproduct, not the goal.
Moreover, in a time when discussions of mental health and resilience dominate headlines, Robles’ emphasis on persistence without denial feels essential. He does not sugarcoat hardship, nor does he drown in it. He acknowledges pain, then pushes forward. That rhythm is perhaps the essence of resilience: not absence of suffering, but continuity despite it.
Placed alongside other sports memoirs, Unstoppable resonates with the likes of Jim Abbott’s Imperfect (the story of a one-handed MLB pitcher) or Bethany Hamilton’s Soul Surfer. Yet Robles’ book stands apart because wrestling itself is such an intimate, unforgiving sport. There is no team to share the burden, no equipment to mask disadvantage, no margin for error. Every bout is a distillation of will against will, body against body. That makes his triumph especially stark.
In literary terms, the book carries the stripped-down honesty of narratives like Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning—not in the scale of suffering, but in the clarity of insight. It also echoes Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, in its portrayal of resilience as both endurance and transcendence.
Unstoppable is more than the story of a champion wrestler; it is the articulation of a philosophy of life. It demonstrates that disadvantage is often a matter of perception, that what appears limiting may in fact be liberating when reframed. It teaches that success is not about conformity to expectation, but about mastery of one’s own unique form.
The word “undefeated” in the subtitle refers not only to his perfect season but to the larger stance he has taken toward life. Defeat is inevitable in bouts, in injuries, in setbacks. But the undefeated spirit—the refusal to be defined by loss—is what Robles embodies. His memoir invites us not to romanticize resilience, but to practice it: daily, quietly, relentlessly.
In the end, what lingers after closing the book is not the scoreboard of his victories but the ethic he lives by: that obstacles are not roadblocks but raw material, that life’s “missing pieces” can become engines of innovation. Robles’ story compels us to look at our own lives and ask: what am I calling a weakness, and how might it become my strength?
Anthony Robles’ memoir Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated is ostensibly about wrestling—about how a one-legged young man defied the expectations of doctors, coaches, and a culture obsessed with symmetry and normalcy to become an NCAA wrestling champion. But to read this book as merely a “sports memoir” would be to miss its deeper resonance. It is not only about athletic triumph; it is about the redefinition of what strength means, the reframing of disability, and the stubborn insistence that self-worth cannot be dictated by what others perceive as lacking.
Reading Robles’ narrative, one is drawn into the duality at the heart of any story of resilience: the tension between society’s gaze and the individual’s self-construction. Society told him, from the moment of birth, that his missing right leg was an absence, a tragedy, and a permanent disadvantage. Robles, with time, discipline, and extraordinary determination, inverted that logic. What others called weakness became his signature advantage. His body did not conform to the expectations of wrestling orthodoxy, but he carved a style, a rhythm, and a strategy that turned so-called deficiency into a weapon. In that sense, Unstoppable is both autobiography and manifesto: it is a record of how to insist on one’s own narrative, even when the world insists otherwise.
Wrestling, in the book, is both literal and symbolic. On the mat, Robles developed a style uniquely his own. His unusual leverage, his explosiveness from the left leg, and his upper body strength transformed him from an awkward beginner to a master technician. The technical detail of how he adapted his moves is fascinating to anyone who loves the sport. However, the metaphorical weight of wrestling is even greater. To wrestle is to struggle, to resist, to engage in hand-to-hand battle with what is pressing against you. Robles wrestled against opponents, yes, but also against prejudice, against his own moments of doubt, and against the fatigue of endless training.
Larson’s The Devil in the White City gives us spectacle against darkness; Brown’s The Boys in the Boat offers teamwork as salvation. Robles’ memoir distills something more intimate: the struggle of one body against itself, and one individual against the definitions of others. He makes us see that every life is lived on a mat of sorts. We all grapple with forces larger than ourselves, often unseen, often unfair. Wrestling, then, is not only about points or takedowns but about the moral theatre of persistence.
One of the most powerful aspects of the book is its candid treatment of disability—not as inspiration porn, not as saccharine “look what he can do despite his condition,” but as a reassertion of perspective. Robles never denies the difficulty. He speaks honestly of the stares, the bullying, and the logistical frustrations of daily life. But what he consistently resists is the reduction of his identity to the absence of a leg. The missing limb is not the defining element of his humanity; it is one characteristic, alongside discipline, humour, family loyalty, and faith.
This framing matters, especially in a culture that often commodifies disability into simplistic narratives of overcoming. Robles refuses that simplification. He does not romanticize his struggle, but neither does he allow it to be pitied. He situates himself firmly in the lineage of athletes whose greatness comes not from ignoring difference but from embracing it.
The memoir emphasizes that no triumph occurs in a vacuum. Robles’ mother is a central figure—a single parent whose refusal to coddle her son shaped his independence. In passages that describe her sacrifices and unyielding encouragement, one senses that Robles’ story is also hers. The ethos of persistence, of refusing to be defined by circumstance, is transmitted through her example.
Faith, too, threads through the narrative—not as dogma, but as grounding. Robles consistently attributes his perseverance to belief in a plan larger than his own. For him, religion is not about erasing hardship but about giving hardship meaning. In this sense, Unstoppable becomes a dialogue between internal determination and external scaffolding: family, faith, and mentors who helped carve possibility out of doubt.
Robles’ story is deeply American in its resonance. It echoes the nation’s love affair with the underdog, the Rocky Balboa archetype, and the narrative of someone dismissed as unworthy who then proves triumphant on the grandest stage. Yet Robles’ memoir complicates the trope. The underdog, in his case, is not simply fighting a more powerful opponent; he is fighting structural assumptions—coaches who doubted him, recruiters who overlooked him, and commentators who saw novelty rather than greatness.
By the time he stood atop the NCAA podium in 2011, undefeated at 36-0, his triumph was not only athletic but also cultural. He had shifted the frame of possibility. His gold medal was less a personal decoration than a collective reorientation of what an athlete with a disability could achieve.
The prose, co-authored with Austin Murphy, is direct, accessible, and largely unadorned. This is fitting: Robles’ story does not require rhetorical flourish. It carries its own gravity. The style allows readers to move quickly, to inhabit the pace of training and competition, while pausing at moments of reflection.
There are passages of almost cinematic clarity—the exhaustion of cutting weight, the roar of the NCAA finals, and the loneliness of being sidelined or underestimated. The book is structured to move with the rhythm of seasons, echoing the cadence of an athlete’s life: preparation, competition, recovery, and renewal. It is honest enough to include setbacks, injuries, and doubts, which prevents it from drifting into hagiography.
A reflective reading of Unstoppable prompts one to ask: what does it mean to live with limitation? The book offers no universal prescription, but it provides a framework: acknowledge difficulty, adapt uniquely, persist relentlessly. This framework has application far beyond athletics.
In education, business, or creative life, Robles’ principle is clear: stop wishing for different cards, and learn to play the ones you’ve been dealt with mastery. His story becomes a metaphor for all situations in which difference—whether physical, social, or economic—is framed as deficit. The act of reframing, of finding advantage in supposed weakness, is the true artistry of survival.
With triumph comes visibility. Robles’ narrative also gestures toward the responsibility of representation. After his NCAA win, he became not only an athlete but also a symbol. He carried the weight of speaking for others with disabilities, of embodying inspiration. The book reflects on the tension of this role: the honour of being a role model, but also the burden of constantly being read as a metaphor rather than as an individual.
Here lies one of the memoir’s quieter truths: every victory is double-edged. To be celebrated for resilience is also to be forever tethered to struggle in the public imagination. Robles navigates this with grace, neither rejecting the symbolic role nor allowing it to eclipse his personal identity.
A decade after its publication, Unstoppable remains profoundly relevant. In an era when social media magnifies both prejudice and inspiration, Robles’ insistence on self-definition is instructive. The cultural conversation around disability has evolved, but the tension between tokenism and authentic representation persists. His memoir reminds us that the real triumph is not in inspiring others per se, but in living fully and authentically. Inspiration is a byproduct, not the goal.
Moreover, in a time when discussions of mental health and resilience dominate headlines, Robles’ emphasis on persistence without denial feels essential. He does not sugarcoat hardship, nor does he drown in it. He acknowledges pain, then pushes forward. That rhythm is perhaps the essence of resilience: not absence of suffering, but continuity despite it.
Placed alongside other sports memoirs, Unstoppable resonates with the likes of Jim Abbott’s Imperfect (the story of a one-handed MLB pitcher) or Bethany Hamilton’s Soul Surfer. Yet Robles’ book stands apart because wrestling itself is such an intimate, unforgiving sport. There is no team to share the burden, no equipment to mask disadvantage, no margin for error. Every bout is a distillation of will against will, body against body. That makes his triumph especially stark.
In literary terms, the book carries the stripped-down honesty of narratives like Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning—not in the scale of suffering, but in the clarity of insight. It also echoes Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, in its portrayal of resilience as both endurance and transcendence.
Unstoppable is more than the story of a champion wrestler; it is the articulation of a philosophy of life. It demonstrates that disadvantage is often a matter of perception, that what appears limiting may in fact be liberating when reframed. It teaches that success is not about conformity to expectation, but about mastery of one’s own unique form.
The word “undefeated” in the subtitle refers not only to his perfect season but to the larger stance he has taken toward life. Defeat is inevitable in bouts, in injuries, in setbacks. But the undefeated spirit—the refusal to be defined by loss—is what Robles embodies. His memoir invites us not to romanticize resilience, but to practice it: daily, quietly, relentlessly.
In the end, what lingers after closing the book is not the scoreboard of his victories but the ethic he lives by: that obstacles are not roadblocks but raw material, that life’s “missing pieces” can become engines of innovation. Robles’ story compels us to look at our own lives and ask: what am I calling a weakness, and how might it become my strength?
March 27, 2025
I thought it was a really inspiring book and very well written, It was very hooking and I found myself wanting to read more a lot of the time
February 5, 2015
As a wrestler, it is very inspirational to hear a story about a 3 time all american and NCAA Champion that only wrestled with one leg.
December 9, 2020
This is one of my favorite books! It is an autobiography about a person of color, who was born with only one leg to a single mom. The children and main character, Anthony Robles, tells his story about being labeled as "disabled" as a child who wanted to be super active. He fell in love with the sport of wrestling and he overcame the struggles he had competing with only having one leg compared to his opponents who had two. Robles grew up in Arizona in a low-income household and he ended up being a NCAA Champion. This book is a great story about overcoming the labels and stereotypes that are placed on us from the minute we are born based on how we look and the family we are born into. He talks about his struggles and how his disabilities do not make him any less capable than anyone else, it just means that he and the people he works with, might have to come up with some more creative solutions. I love how this book focuses on the importance of diversity and seeing the value and potential in each individual. It also gives a real and raw insight to the struggles a low-income, disabled person goes through, this is something we in America do not always address. This book I would say is definitely for middle school and high school as it is a novel. I also think this is a great book to have in classrooms because it relates to a different audience of children who might be really into sports or who do have a physical disability. This book provides representation of a lot of different identities people may have, and provides insight to those who might not know all of these perspectives.
July 16, 2025
I am not an avid wrestling fan, keep up with college sports, or had any idea who Anthony Robles was before picking up this book, but I do love to read a good autobiography. That being said, this was an okay autobiography.
I appreciated the flow and the feel of the book, when reading it you get the sense it was written as Mr. Robles would tell the story, in his own words. Sometimes this made the reading a bit cumbersome or had an odd cadence to the sentence structure, and although I had to read a few sentences more than once, I got the gist of what he was saying.
One thing I clearly understood about this book is that wrestling is a difficult sport. The fact that Mr. Robles was able to push himself to such extremes to reach his goals is inspiring. Interesting was the theme throughout the book where the reader has to question if Mr. Robles has an advantage being without a leg as a wrestler. It is a weird dichotomy of thoughts as one can not deny that life has to be harder maneuvering without a leg but there is some merit in the questions of how one less limb could change the dynamics of the sport. Again, I know nothing of wrestling.
All in all, a good and quick read if you are looking for an inspirational story. Be warned, there is a lot of pages recounting particular matches and particular wrestlers that starts to feel a little redundant to the average reader who has no knowledge about the sport or any interest in the techniques of wrestling. But, the knowledge that Anthony Robles worked hard, pushing through tough times emotionally and physically, is written well throughout all the pages.
I appreciated the flow and the feel of the book, when reading it you get the sense it was written as Mr. Robles would tell the story, in his own words. Sometimes this made the reading a bit cumbersome or had an odd cadence to the sentence structure, and although I had to read a few sentences more than once, I got the gist of what he was saying.
One thing I clearly understood about this book is that wrestling is a difficult sport. The fact that Mr. Robles was able to push himself to such extremes to reach his goals is inspiring. Interesting was the theme throughout the book where the reader has to question if Mr. Robles has an advantage being without a leg as a wrestler. It is a weird dichotomy of thoughts as one can not deny that life has to be harder maneuvering without a leg but there is some merit in the questions of how one less limb could change the dynamics of the sport. Again, I know nothing of wrestling.
All in all, a good and quick read if you are looking for an inspirational story. Be warned, there is a lot of pages recounting particular matches and particular wrestlers that starts to feel a little redundant to the average reader who has no knowledge about the sport or any interest in the techniques of wrestling. But, the knowledge that Anthony Robles worked hard, pushing through tough times emotionally and physically, is written well throughout all the pages.
August 20, 2018
Unstoppable is a biography of an extraordinary guy name Anthony Robles. I really enjoyed reading this book because it wasn’t as boring as any other biographies out there. This was an interesting biography to read. In my opinion the story kind of moved slowing but it was because the author wanted to give some really specific details in his biography. That was something I didn’t like but it was still awesome and very interesting to read. The author himself was my favorite character as he was very brave and “unstoppable”. Even though he was missing a leg, nothing would stop him to do what he wanted to achieve. The moral of this biography was that if you are really determined to achieve what you want than nothing can stop you from achieving your goals.
March 16, 2025
I love a book about sports. My husband is a wrestling coach and my daughter is a wrestler. We actually watched the movie that coincides with this book, which is how I learned about the book. Needless to say, as always, the book is better than the movie, but they're both good. If you want to read a novel about somebody just obtaining what may seem like the unobtainable, this is it. Robles's story is so good and I found myself tearing up multiple times, especially as I got to the end. He could have given up at multiple different times and he did not. I would love to be able to hear him speak.
September 24, 2018
I had some pretty high hopes for this book, and while Anthony Robles has some very inspiring things to say about persistence, challenges, not viewing himself as being different, etc., so much of this book is dedicated to play-by-play of wrestling matches and tournaments. As someone who knows nothing about the sport, it felt like work to get through it. For a wrestler or a fan of wrestling, I imagine this is a great book. It just wasn't for me.
March 12, 2020
This book was actually really good. Despite, his disability, Austin strived as a wrestler. His disability is the fact he only had one leg, he still was a better wrestler than most. He started off trying to play football but realized hopping around the field would not help his career at it whatsoever. Later on, he was forced to watch wrestling games and stated he didn't want to try it at all. He received many more motivational speeches, he decided to go into wrestling.
May 24, 2019
I really enjoyed the book. I loved how the author described his journey from losing to becoming a champion. I was surprised when he chose ASU instead of the D1 school. I understand his thoughts but I personally would not agree.
December 6, 2022
This book is an easy read and very relatable. It gives the reader insight and understanding about what hard work is and about gratitude in life. It would be very good for H.S. English. Many students need to hear inspirational and uplifting stories from a new perspective.
April 28, 2019
My dad was mentioned several times! Anthony is an inspiration.
Read
September 18, 2019inspiration, motivation, determination
October 9, 2019
Very inspirational. Read the book in two sittings. If you are a wrestling fan you will especially like this book because he explains his wrestling moves in five detail.
June 20, 2020
Inspiring. Great story especially if you’re a wrestling fan.
January 17, 2022
Such an inspiring story. Really enjoyed hearing Anthony’s journey.
Read
July 22, 2022look dad i read a book about wrestling
Read
December 29, 2022Amazing read
April 5, 2024
As a wrestlers and a coach I think this book is a great book of what dedication and perseverance can do for someone. The read was a little rough at times but still a good book.
December 19, 2024
Great story. Anthony and his mom had a lot of resilience growing up. Page turner.
February 6, 2025
A quick, easy to read inspirational and emotional story about struggle, competition, dedication and perseverance.
February 23, 2025
Epic story from and amazing individual!! From what he overcame and accomplished at the same time makes him a legend in my eyes!!
March 30, 2025
Much better than the movie!
April 10, 2025
Great Book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews