Think like Britain's greatest living Olympian: Ten steps to push your limits and achieve the impossible from the one of the world's greatest swimmers 'The most dominant sportsperson in Great Britain today - and perhaps ever' Telegraph From one of the best elite athletes on the planet comes a book bursting with no-nonsense advice on how to locate your inner gladiator, and first-hand wisdom to help you push yourself beyond what you thought was possible. We are all capable of locating greatness within us and achieving hitherto unimaginable feats. Whether you are old and wise or young and bursting with energy, there are limits you are imposing on yourself that this book will help you reconsider. Adam Peaty shows you how to take more control of your life and helps you both discover and develop your talents. He shares his own ten secrets to a winning mental attitude, whether it be at home, at work, on the sports field, or within ourselves. This is an inspirational handbook for personal achievement and positive living. THE GLADIATOR MINDSET will inspire you to find and develop your talent and have the confidence to believe in yourself. Let's be better than we were yesterday. "Hopefully, this is a catalyst for not only Team GB but also the people back home to go to another gear, to say: 'We've been through a tough time, there's been a lot of complaining, a lot of excuses, a lot of negative things, but now we've got to switch our mindset.'" - Adam Peaty

Interpersonal coordination is an important feature of all social systems. From everyday activities to playing sport and participating in the performing arts, human behaviour is constrained by the need to continually interact with others. This book examines how interpersonal coordination tendencies in social systems emerge, across a range of contexts and at different scales, with the aim of helping practitioners to understand collective behaviours and create learning environments to improve performance. Showcasing the latest research from scientists and academics, this collection of studies examines how and why interpersonal coordination is crucial for success in sport and the performing arts. It explains the complex science of interpersonal coordination in relation to a variety of activities including competitive team sports, outdoor sports, racket sports, and martial arts, as well as dance. Divided into four sections, this book offers insight into: the nature, history and key concepts of interpersonal coordination factors that influence interpersonal coordination within social systems interpersonal coordination in competitive and cooperative performance contexts methods, tools and devices for improving performance through interpersonal coordination. This book will provide fascinating insights for students, researchers and educators interested in movement science, performance analysis, sport science and psychology, as well as for those working in the performing arts.

Written by an international team of expert contributors, this unique global and authoritative survey explores in full but accessible detail the basic constructs and concepts of modern sport and exercise psychology and their practical application. The book consists of 62 chapters, written by 144 contributors, deriving from 24 countries across the world. The chapters are arranged in nine cohesive sections: sport and exercise participants; the influence of environments on sport and exercise; motor skills; performance enhancement; building and leading teams; career, life skills and character development; health and well-being enhancement; clinical issues in sport psychology; and professional development and practice. Each chapter contains chapter summaries and objectives, learning aids, questions, exercises and references for further reading. Its comprehensive scale and global reach make this volume an essential companion for students, instructors and researchers in sport science, sport and exercise psychology, psychology, and physical education. It will also prove invaluable for coaches and health education practitioners.

I can. It is the mantra of many successful athletes. The successful athletes we all enjoy watching and aspire to join don't just work physically hard - they learn how to use their brain really well too. In their time in sport they have learnt tonnes of mental skills and have honed a performance focused mindset to give themselves the best chance of achieving their sporting dreams. This book is designed to help you become one of these athletes. Someone whose body can already show off brilliant sporting skills but who now wants to learn to master the mental skills too. The book covers what it takes to be successful, how to handle competition nerves, ways to push harder and get braver, techniques to build your confidence, ways to improve your emotional control, activities to increase your concentration and focus, tactics for dealing with setbacks and injury, advice on how to feel comfortable in the sporting world and finally tips on how to look after your wellbeing as an athlete. In each chapter there are questions to think about and answer, activities to complete and elite insights and interviews from some of the best athletes in the world. The skills we cover will not only help you in sport, but also in school, music, and any other hobbies. So, if you want to be able to say 'I can' with confidence and know that you can handle whatever your sport throws at you, then open up this book and get started on developing your mindset for sporting success.

Over the last forty years, running has grown from a niche sport for a handful of committed club athletes into one of the Western world's most popular pastimes. In Running, Identity and Meaning, Neil Baxter asks: What kinds of people have been drawn to running in such numbers? What do they seek from the sport? And what does running's popularity tell us about ourselves and the society we live in today? Delving into the great paradox of running: that despite its low cost of entry and inclusive ethos, the sport remains riven by inequalities, Baxter showcases how gender, class, age and ethnicity influence whether and how different groups participate in the sport, and explores its role in the reproduction of social structure and the search for distinction. By considering running simultaneously as a technique of self-cultivation, a social field in which forms of capital and status are at stake, and an important source of meaning and identity for millions of people across the world, this book equips readers to understand the many diverse links between the sport, society, and individual identities.

Foreword by Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson From a top mental conditioning coach-"the world's best brain trainer" (Sports Illustrated)-who has transformed the lives and careers of elite athletes, business leaders, and military personnel, battle-tested strategies that will give you tools to manage and overcome negativity and achieve any goal. He knows how to win. More, he knows the many ways-subtle, brutal, often self-inflicted-we lose. As the most trusted mental coach in the world of sports, Trevor Moawad has worked with many of the most dominant athletes and the savviest coaches. From Nick Saban and Kirby Smart to Russell Wilson, they all look to Moawad for help finding or keeping or regaining their com petitive edge. (As do countless business leaders and members of special forces.) Now, at last, Moawad shares his unique philosophy with the general public. He lays out lessons he's derived from his greatest career successes as well as personal setbacks, the game-changing wisdom he's earned as the go-to whisperer for elite performers on fields of play and among men and women headed to the battlefield. Moawad's motivational approach is elegant but refreshingly simple: He replaces hardwired negativity, the kind of defeatist mindset that's nearly everybody's default, with what he calls "neutral thinking." His own special innovation, it's a nonjudg mental, nonreactive way of coolly assessing problems and analyzing crises, a mode of attack that offers luminous clarity and su preme calm in the critical moments before taking decisive action. Not only can neutral thinking raise your performance level-it can transform your overall life. And it all starts, Moawad says, with letting go. Past failures, past losses-let them go. "The past isn't predic tive. If you can absorb and embrace that belief, everything changes. You'll instantly feel more calm. And the athlete-or employee or parent or spouse-who's more calm is also more aware, and more times than not ... will win."

The volume makes a key evidence-based contribution in an under researched area Is a comprehensive and all-encompassing work, with an up-to-date conception of relevant theory and topics including an appreciation of the wide range of dynamics of wellbeing (e.g., looking at mental health and not only mental illness). Brings together and excellent editorial team who have great deal of knowledge and experience in sports and health alongside scientifically-grounded work.

Although psychiatrists and other mental health clinicians interested in sports practice already have the necessary general skills to help competitive athletes deal with adversity and the multitude of emotions that sports can elicit, most typically they lack the sports-specific knowledge necessary to truly help these patients and clients. In Sports Psychiatry: Strategies for Life Balance and Peak Performance, the long-time team psychiatrist for the Baltimore Orioles and the Baltimore Ravens intends to remedy this knowledge gap by sharing his unique perspective and rare expertise in cultivating athletes' peak performance while promoting team unity, sound judgment, personal growth, pride, and a lasting sense of accomplishment.

The book: - Explains sports culture and team structure and function, vividly describing the environment in which elite competition takes place- Focuses on the shifting nature and intensity of athletes' emotions -- the highs that come with success and the lows that accompany poor performance -- and describes the situations that magnify them, including injury and pain, media scrutiny, the availability of performance-enhancing drugs, and the fear of both failure and success- Addresses critical topics, such as regulating energy, recognizing and controlling stress, preparing mentally for performance, and treating mental disorders common to athletes- Draws on the author's length of experience and clinical observations, the evidence base of sports psychiatry, and fascinating stories of athletes at all levels to inform, teach, encourage, and inspire.

Although written for mental health professionals, the book will also be of great interest to primary care and sports medicine physicians, athletic trainers, team owners and managers -- and of course -- the athletes themselves. Engaging and insightful, Sports Psychiatry is the go-to book for those in need of practical strategies for supporting and attaining peak performance.

Skill Acquisition in Sport gives academics, students, coaches and practitioners the broadest and most scientifically rigorous grounding in the principles and practice of the field. Fully revised, updated and restructured, the third edition integrates theory and practice, and provides more material on practical application than ever before. Divided into four sections - providing instruction and feedback, organizing effective practice, training high-level skills, and the theories and mechanisms underpinning skill acquisition - the book covers a full range of key topics, including: the role of errors and rewards in motor learning instructions, demonstrations and feedback imagery in motor learning constraints-based and self-directed learning technique change, creativity training and visual gaze training practicing under pressure the neurophysiology of learning. Based on the latest research, including chapters on emerging topics, and written by a global cast of world-leading experts, Skill Acquisition in Sport is an essential textbook for any kinesiology or sport science student taking skill acquisition, expertise development or motor learning classes.

Sports are an amazing environment in which to raise children. The benefits they gain from athletic participation are many, including physical, personal, and social. Yet, there is also a dark side to today's youth sports culture, as an emphasis on winning has made what was once fun become a burden for many young athletes. As a result, parents can't always be certain their children's athletic involvement will be safe and enjoyable. In Raising Young Athletes: Parenting Your Children to Victory in Sports and Life, Dr. Jim Taylor-an internationally-recognized authority on sport psychology, child development, and parenting-offers a guiding hand to help parents ensure their children's sports participation encourages positive attitudes and promotes healthy developments as they move toward adulthood. The role of parents in shaping their children's sports experience has never been more important, and Dr. Taylor shows parents how to send the right messages to their young athletes with clear and practical advice. Whether playing sports just for fun or with aspirations to play professionally, Raising Young Athletes helps parents steer their children toward a healthy, positive experience. As such, their participation will become an impactful part of their lives that will prepare them to be victorious both in sports and in life.

Mindfulness- and acceptance-based approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness Acceptance Commitment (MAC) are gaining momentum with sport psychology practitioners who work to support elite athletes. These acceptance-based, or third wave, cognitive behavioral approaches in sport psychology highlight that thought suppression and control techniques can trigger a metacognitive scanning process, and that excessive cognitive activity and task-irrelevant focus (self-focused attention such as trying to change thoughts) disrupts performance. Using this perspective, the aim of sport psychology interventions is not to help the athletes engage in the futile task of managing and controlling internal life. Rather, it suggests that sport psychology practitioners should work to increase athletes' willingness to accept negative thoughts and emotions in pursuit of valued ends. Key aspects of such interventions include: teaching athletes to open up and accept, teaching athletes to mindfully engage in the present moment, and helping athletes formulate the values and engage in committed actions towards these values. The goal of Mindfulness and Acceptance in Sport: How to Help Athletes Perform and Thrive under Pressure then is to provide students, researchers, practitioners, and coaches of sport psychology with practical guidance for implementing mindfulness and acceptance approaches in their work with athletes. This book brings together highly experienced practitioners and shares their working methods, exercises, and cases to inspire the sport psychology profession.

Presenting an empirically underpinned synthesis of research and theory, while offering guidance for applied practitioners, this is the first book to comprehensively map the psychology of learning, playing, and coaching the world's favourite sport. The book provides a complete analysis of key topics that capture the broad range of football psychology such as personality, motivation, cognition, and emotion; coaching and team essentials; psychological skills for performance enhancement; and developing players in youth football. Including contributions from a range of international researchers, each chapter provides a review of the relevant literature, key theories, real-world examples, and reflections on how knowledge can be applied in practice. Split into four sections, the book covers a diverse range of topics relevant not only to coaching and performance but also to personality development and health promotion. Essential reading for any student, researcher, or professional in the area, the book is the most cutting-edge overview of how psychology can explain and improve the way football is both played and understood.

Confidence affects how we deal with stress and how we fulfill our potential to achieve the results we desire. In sports and in life, confidence is the underlying factor determining mental and physical performance, leading to overall success. This book by experienced mental performance specialist Isabelle Hamptonstone contains a collection of powerful techniques and tips to help hockey players overcome lack of confidence. Clear instructions and illustrative case studies show how training the brain to develop and sustain hockey confidence can upgrade results and help players make smarter, quicker decisions under pressure. Hamptonstone shares step-by-step guidelines gleaned from her years of research working with the giants in the game of hockey. Some of the greatest hockey players in the world have used these very same steps to change their game and their lives. Added to this base of personal knowledge, the book references inspiring moments of mental performance by Wayne Gretzky, Doug Lidster, Scott Niedermayer, Shane Doan, Darryl Sydor, Jarome Iginla, and Mark Recchi. This pragmatic and positive book is a game-changing guide and valuable resource for anyone interested in high-performance hockey, as well as a valuable tool for self-development.

Elite sport can be an unforgiving and harsh environment. This book explores psychological predictors of wellbeing and performance excellence in elite level athletes, and presents an innovative approach for optimizing mental wellbeing and sporting performance. Jointly developed by performance psychologists, clinical psychologists and sport scientists the Flexible Mind approach draws on contemporary psychological theory and research to help athletes build 'psychological flexibility' - the ability to experience challenging thoughts and emotions and still be true to one's values. A range of case studies relating to different sports are used to demonstrate how three core components - Being Present, Being Open and Doing What Matters - can improve athletes' performance and wellbeing. This book will be a game-changing resource for sports psychologists, mental health practitioners, coaches and support staff who are committed to helping athletes to excel and stay well.

In 1985 Mike Brearley published The Art of Captaincy, revealing how he steered Middlesex and England to victory with his team of first-class cricketers. He got the absolute best out of his players, inspiring Ian Botham to new heights against the Australians in 1981. Few cricketers have had a greater impact on the amateur game than these two. Every captain would love Brearley's degree in people, as well as a hardhitting all-rounder like Botham. But theirs was a barely recognisable game from the one we play on often dishevelled grounds up and down the country with ragtag teams of ageing, deluded or hungover friends and acquaintances. Now, Charlie Campbell offers us a New Testament to Brearley's Old Testament, as he guides us through the realities of captaining an amateur team. Herding Cats picks its way through the minefield of an amateur's season: from the excitement and hope of pre-season nets, to the desperate scramble to gather 11 players for a frosty game on a far-flung, desolate pitch; from decoding the casual phrase 'I bat a bit', to setting a field of players who can't catch or throw; from handling the most delicate egos, to dealing with a case of the yips; from frequent moments of despair, to sudden and joyful glimpses of unexpected glory. For all those of us who recognise ourselves, our teammates, our friends and partners in the shambling joy of amateur cricket more than in the top-class international game, Campbell lights a path through a weekend world of play at the beating heart of the world's second most popular sport.

The Double-Goal Coach is filled with powerful coaching tools based on Jim Thompson's Positive Coaching Alliance. These strategies reflect the "best-practices" of elite coaches and the latest research in sports psychology.Hundreds of workshops have shaped these tools for maximum effectiveness and ease of use. The lessons and activities can be used in the very next practice to make sports fun and to get the best from players.

The Double-Goal Coach provides the framework for coaches and parents to transform youth sports so sports can transform youth -- allowing young athletes to enjoy sports while learning valuable life lessons.

Foreword by Ciara In this breakthrough book, the author of Wall Street Journal bestseller It Takes What It Takes provides life-changing, step-by-step guidance on how to successfully navigate adversity and defeat negativity by downshifting to neutral thinking. It's easy to be positive when everything is coming up roses. But what happens when life goes sideways? Many of us lapse into a self-defeating negative spiral that makes it hard to accomplish anything. Getting to Neutral is a step-by-step guide that shows readers how to use mental conditioning coach Trevor Moawad's innovative motivational system to defeat negativity and thrive. Neutral thinking is a judgment-free, process-oriented approach that helps us coolly assess situations in high-pressure moments. Moawad walks readers through how to downshift to neutral no matter how dire the situation. He shows us how to behave our way to success, how to determine and practice our values in a neutral framework, and how to surround ourselves with a team that helps us to stay neutral. Filled with raw, inspiring stories of how Trevor navigated health challenges with neutral thinking as well as insights drawn from some of the world's best athletes, coaches, and leaders, Getting to Neutral will help readers learn to handle even the most complex and turbulent situations with calm, clarity, and resolve.

This work deals with the infancy, adolescence and maturity of sport in Latin American society. It explores ways in which sport illuminates cultural migration and emigration and indigenous assimilation and adaptation.

Shows how sport has grown in Latin America Continuing the series on sport in regions of the world, this volume deals with the infancy, adolescence and maturity of sport in Latin American society. It explores ways in which sport illuminates cultural migration and emigration, indigenous assmiliation and adaptation, and sport as an indicator and reflection of social, political and economic change.

As sport has grown, progressively replacing religion, in its power to excite passion, provide emotional escape, offer fraternal (and increasingly sororital) bonding, it has come to loom larger and larger in the lives of Europeans and others. It has become an inescapable reality linking public environment with intimate experience and thus offers the historian an opportunity to inspect and attempt to grasp all the dimensions of the recent past and their relative share in individual and collective experience. This collection considers the evolution of modern sport in Europe and examines its role in shaping masculine identity.

The fitness boom of the last two decades has led to many people incorporating exercise into their lifestyles through activities such as jogging and aerobics. However, whilst many physical and psychological health benefits have been documented, far too few people actually take part in enough exercise to glean significant improvements, and this is much more a problem for women than men.
Femininity and the Physically Active Woman explores one reason many women offer for their lack of involvement in sport and exercise - that they are not the 'sporty' type. Precilla Y.L. Choi argues that the 'sporty' type is masculine, and to determine how this notion might affect women's self-perceptions, she critically examines the experiences of women athletes, bodybuilders, recreational exercisers and girls' physical education. What emerges is the importance of visible differences between women and men, in terms of muscularity, strength and agility in order to maintain the gender order. Thus, if a girl or woman wishes to play the masculine game of sport she must do so in conformity with a number of patriarchal rules which ensure she is first and foremost recognised as a heterosexual feminine being.
Contributing to a psychology of the physically active woman by examining women's experiences from critical feminist and gendered perspectives, Femininity and the Physically Active Woman will be of great interest to students, researchers, practitioners and teachers from a range of disciplines.
Precilla Y.L. Choi is the British Association for the Advancement of Science's Joseph Lister Lecturer for 2000. She has co-edited, with Paula Nicolson, Female Sexuality (Prentice Hall).

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Contents:
Preface. I Introduction. II Key Elements in Reversal Theory. III Into Sport: Aspects of Participation and Preference. IV Skating on Thin Ice: The Special Attraction of Dangerous Sports V We are the Champions!: Winning and Losing in Sport. VI Up for the Match?: Experiencing Arousal and Emotion in Sport. VII Get Your Retaliation in First: Aggression and Violence in Team Contact Sports. VIII The Feel-Good-Factor: Sport, Exercise, and Psychological Well-Being. IX Over the Top?: Stress in Competitive Sports. X Rethinking the Script: Future Directions in Reversal Theory Sports Research and Practice. Appendix A: Summary of Studies Investigating Dominance in Sport (Chapter III). Appendix B: Summary of Studies Investigating Dominance in Risk Sports (Chapter IV). Appendix C: Summary of Studies Investigating Success and Failure in Sports (Chapter V). Appendix D: Telic Dominance Scale (TDS). Appendix E: Negativism Dominance Scale (NDS). Appendix F: Telic State Measure (TSM) Appendix G: Tension and Effort Stress Inventory

The ground-breaking mind management model for confidence, success and happiness - over 1 million copies sold Do you sabotage your own happiness and success? Are you struggling to make sense of yourself? Do your emotions sometimes dictate your life? The Chimp Paradox is an incredibly powerful mind management model that can help you understand yourself and others, and become a happy, confident, healthier and more successful person. Prof Steve Peters explains the struggle that takes place within your mind and then shows how to apply this understanding to every area of your life so you can: - Recognise how your mind is working - Understand and manage your emotions and thoughts - Manage yourself and become the person you would like to be The Chimp Mind Management Model is based on scientific facts and principles, which have been simplified into a workable model for easy, everyday use so that you can identify what is preventing you from living a happier, more successful life. Packed with key facts that explain how you function as well as exercises for you to work with, the Chimp Model will help you develop the emotional skills and practical habits to become the person you want to be and live the life you want to live.

""10-Minute Toughness" is a solid mental training program. In fact I feel it is the best of its kind. . . . It's] what the title says: ten minutes a day that connects your talents and abilities to the outcome you're seeking. As a retired NFL player looking forward, I can see as many applications for the toughness Jason Selk's program brought out of me in the business world as there were on the football field."
--Jeff Wilkins, Former NFL Pro Bowl Kicker

"The mental side of the game is extremely important. "10-Minute Toughness" helps the players develop the mental toughness needed for success; it really makes a difference."
--Walt Jocketty, General Manager of the 2006 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals

"Jason Selk has spent a tremendous amount of time and energy developing effective mental-training programs and coaches workshops. He is truly committed to helping individuals and teams to perform at their very best, when it really counts."
--Peter Vidmar, Olympic Gold Medalist

Mental training is a must for high performance both on the field and off. But simply hoping for mental toughness isn't going to build any mind muscles. You need a proven routine of daily exercises to get you where you want to go. "10-Minute Toughness" is your personal coach for boosting brainpower and achieving a competitive edge in whatever game you play. With quickness and ease, you'll learn how to master your own mind and psych out your opponents using personalized techniques from one of America's most successful sport psychology consultants. Like no other program available, the 10-Minute Toughness (10-MT) routine gets you ready for the competition in just ten minutes a day.