An all-encompassing look at the penalty kick, soccer's all-or-nothing play-its legendary moments and the secrets to its success No stretch of grass has been the site of more glory or heartbreak in the world of sports than the few dozen paces between goalkeeper and penalty kicker in soccer. In theory, it's simple: place the ball beyond a single defender and secure a place in history. But once the chosen players make the lonely march from their respective sides of the pitch, everything changes, all bets are off, and anything can happen. Drawing from the hard-won lessons of legendary games, in-depth statistical analysis, expert opinion, and the firsthand experience of coaches and players from around the world, journalist Ben Lyttleton offers insight into the diverse attitudes, tactics, and techniques that separate success from failure in one of the highest-pressure situations sports has to offer.

Emotion is central to human character, infiltrating our physiological functions and our mental constitution. In sport, athletes feel emotion in specific ways, from joy to anger and despair. This is the first book to examine emotion in sport from a philosophical perspective, building on concepts developed by ancient Greek and modern philosophers. For instance, how is Aristotle's concept of catharsis applied to the sports field? How about power as advanced by Nietzsche, or existentialism as discussed by Kierkegaard? Emotion in Sports explores the philosophical framework for the expression of emotion and relates it to our psychological understanding, from the perspective of both athlete and spectator. A fascinating and useful read for students, researchers, scholars, and practitioners in the fields of sport sciences, philosophy, and psychology.

What separates the good from the truly great players? How do football managers get the best out of their team? How do you come back from a crushing defeat to win? In How to Win The Secret Footballer teams up with The Secret Psychologist to crack the secrets of success and share with us the tricks and tips that keep the best players at the top of their game. Exploring the winning mindset from confidence to concentration, exposing the successes, the failures and the frauds, this inspirational, funny and thought-provoking book will shock and entertain. And while most of us will never dribble like Messi or strike like Suarez, we can learn to think like them -- and aim to succeed at football, and at life.

In this book, leading international experts in their respective fields examine and explain the impact of the psychological preparation of elite athletes in their journey to attain excellence. The chapters included in this book, edited by world-renowned scholars Tsung-Min Hung, Ronnie Lidor, and Dieter Hackfort, discuss various theoretical and practical issues related to the use of psychological programs in elite individual and team sports. The objectives of the book are threefold: to examine theoretical and practical aspects of the use of psychological preparation in elite sports; to present the psychological interventions, strategies, and techniques utilised by experienced sport psychology consultants who have worked with elite athletes for many years; to describe the philosophies of consultation, procedures to be used, and consultation frameworks of sport psychology consultants working with elite athletes from different cultures, regions, and continents around the globe. The knowledge gleaned from this book can be used in psychological preparations aimed to help elite athletes in individual and team sports improve their psychological skills and mental readiness for practices, games, and competitions.

"Take a minute to slip into the mind of one of the world's greatest soccer players and imagine a stadium around you. Picture a performance under the lights and mentally play the perfect game."

Technique, speed and tactical execution are crucial components of winning soccer, but it is mental toughness that marks out the very best players - the ability to play when pressure is highest, the opposition is strongest, and fear is greatest. Top players and coaches understand the importance of sport psychology in soccer but how do you actually train your mind to become the best player you can be?

Soccer Tough demystifies this crucial side of the game and offers practical techniques that will enable soccer players of all abilities to actively develop focus, energy, and confidence. Soccer Tough will help banish the fear, mistakes, and mental limits that holds players back. Soccer psychology consultant Dan Abrahams shares the powerful techniques that have helped him develop reserve team players to become international players, and guided youth team players from slumps to first team contracts.

Covering the mental triumphs of some of the world's leading players - Soccer Tough will help you become the best player you can be. Soccer Tough is for amateur and professional players of all levels, as well as coaches. This book explores how the best soccer players in the world think and gives the reader step-by-step ways to do the same.

Performance Excellence: Stories of Success from the Real World of Sport and Exercise Psychology provides concise and effective lessons on a variety of psychological skills and broader concepts within the domains of exercise, sport, and performance psychology. These skills and concepts include team cohesion, dynamics, and leadership; goal-setting, motivation, and adherence; exercise identity, athletic identity, transitions, and self-awareness; mental training; mindset; and facing and overcoming challenges such as anxiety, burnout, and rehabilitation. Each chapter includes a short educational piece that centers on the select concept and subsequent examples that highlight how the concept works in real life. At the end of each lesson a few takeaways are provided. Over 60 stories of real-world examples provide poignant and compelling lessons and make the material come alive. These stories show the reader in an accessible and engaging way how to apply the sport and exercise psychology concepts outside the classroom. Ultimately, Performance Excellence serves as a wonderful resource for students, as well as for sport and exercise practitioners.

An inspiring and thought-provoking new book that explains the power of applying reverse-engineering to all areas of your life, from a cycling champion who has proven its success. Dan Bigham is the captain of an amateur British track cycling team who rose from obscurity to beat professional, multi-million-pound teams at the highest level. Alongside hard work and dedication, Dan credits his success to one thing: reverse-engineering the result. In Start at the End, Dan uses his own story as well as wider examples and case studies from the worlds of business, personal development and other sports to demonstrate how this approach can help you succeed in any walk of life. Following each stage of the process, from setting goals and assessing your tools to developing the plan and delivering optimum performance, this book will fully explain how to set out and enact the system. A revolutionary new look at a powerful age-old wisdom, Start at the End is a fascinating exploration of how we can achieve success and proof that no goal is impossible. *** 'Start at the End isn't just a great story, but a really nice reminder of how to approach performance forensically, intelligently and purposefully – and that these lessons don't just belong in cycling but in all areas of high performance' Dr Josie Perry 'Phenomenal ... Absolutely fascinating ... Incredible stuff, really clever' Stephen Dixon, Sky News

Over the past fifteen years, there has been a great increase in the knowledge of eating disorders in sport and effective means of treatment. In this book, the authors draw on their extensive clinical experience to discuss how to identify, manage, treat, and prevent eating disorders in sport participants. They begin by examining the clinical conditions related to eating problems, including descriptions of specific disorders and a review of the relevant literature. Special attention is given to the specific gender and sport-related factors that can negatively influence the eating habits of athletes. The second half of the book discusses identification of participants with disordered eating by reviewing symptoms and how they manifest in sport; management issues for sport personnel, coaches, athletic trainers, and healthcare professionals; treatment; and medical considerations, such as the use of psychotropic medications. A list of useful resources is included in an appendix, as well as a glossary of important terms.

'Colour-Fit is an amazing resource that helped me realise one of sports greatest achievements' Wes Morgan, Captain of Leicester City Premier League winning team The Colour-Fit Method has only been available to those in professional sport - a secret weapon for athletes to optimise body shape, health and performance. Now, Colour-Fit's founder Dr Tom Little lets you in on the secret, too. The Colour-Fit Method is a revolutionary approach to nutrition and fitness. With over 120 recipes and meal plans, and multiple tailored training and nutrition plans to suit a range of goals, the simple, sustainable and evidence-based method outlined in The Colour-Fit Method will help you to look and feel better, perform at your best and lead a healthier and more active life. Dr Tom Little is a performance and health specialist with over twenty years' professional experience. His Colour-Fit method has rapidly become a revolutionising force in elite sport, having been used by many of the world's best-loved teams, including Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, St Helens, Welsh Rugby Union, Saracens, Melbourne Demons, Sri Lankan Cricket and Manchester United, in addition to multiple motor sport, triathlon and combat athlete champions. 'Colour-Fit is one of the best methods I've seen in years' Tony Strudwick, Head of Performance, Arsenal Academy and Welsh FA

Taking a refreshingly different approach to the subject, this new textbook uses original case studies of psychological support work with individual athletes and groups to illustrate the underlying theory and inform the reader of cutting edge practice in the field. It addresses 'real world' issues and helps the student understand the problems and challenges that the sport psychologist faces and is employed to resolve.

The book begins by exploring the use of case studies as a professional method for disseminating applied knowledge and practice in sport psychology. The remaining chapters constitute the core of the book: the case studies themselves. Each case study demonstrates scientific rigour in reporting the background information, initial assessment, intervention and monitoring, evaluation of the intervention, and also considers consultant effectiveness through reflective practice. The chapters also contain summaries and an accompanying set of questions for students.

Written by a team of experienced practitioners this book shows how sport psychology actually works in practice. As such it will prove invaluable to students of sport psychology in both sport and exercise science and psychology programmes. It will also be an extremely useful resource for coaches and sports professionals undergoing training in sport psychology.

"I wish I had this book over thirty years ago--I genuinely believe it would have prolonged my career at the highest level." --Tony Jacklin Imagine being able to achieve the perfect mental state to make your best possible swing over every shot? Being fearless at critical putts and stepping up with an inner calm that allows you to play your best golf, every time you stand over the ball. "Silent Mind Golf" removes the mystery behind the mental mastery that lies at the heart of peak performance. A lifelong golfer and one of the world's leading motivational speakers, Robin Sieger has developed a practical guide to mental conditioning that will enable any golfer, amateur or professional, to get to grips with the dynamics crucial to getting into the zone. Too often golfers concentrate all their efforts on technique, in the belief it is only the mechanics of the game they have to master. Instead, free of jargon, with easy-to-follow examples, personal anecdotes from the world's most successful players, and a CD of mental conditioning exercises specifically tailored to golfers, this unique book will be your guide to developing the single most neglected, least understood, and ultimately decisive area of the game: mental strength.

Mixed methods research techniques, combining both quantitative and qualitative elements, have become well established throughout the social, behavioural and natural sciences. This is the first book to focus on the application of mixed methods research in the movement sciences, specifically in sport, physical education and dance. Researchers and practitioners in each of these fields are concerned with the study of habitual behaviour in naturalistic contexts, and of the concurrent and sequential nature of events and states, precisely the kind of work that multi-method research design can help illuminate. The book is arranged into four sections. The first provides a thorough overview of mixed methods procedures and research design, and summarizes their applicability to the movement sciences. The remaining sections then offer detailed case studies of mixed methods research in team and individual sports (analyzing hidden patterns of play and optimising technique); kinesics and dance (analyzing motor skills behaviour in childhood, and the complexity of motor responses in dance); and physical education (detecting interaction patterns in group situations, and optimizing non-verbal communication by teachers and sports coaches). Mixed Methods Research in the Movement Sciences offers an important new tool for researchers and helps to close the gap between the analysis of expert performance and our understanding of the general principles of movement science. It is important reading for any student, researcher or professional with an interest in motor control, sport and dance pedagogy, coaching, performance analysis or decision-making in sport.

As sport has become more intense, professional and commercialized so have the debates grown about what constitutes acceptable behaviour and fair play, and how to encourage and develop good sporting behaviour, particularly in children and young people. This book explores the nature and function of values in youth sport and establishes a framework through which coaches, teachers and researchers can develop an understanding of the decision-making processes of young athletes and how they choose between playing fairly or cheating to win.

The traditional view of sport participation is that it has a beneficial effect on the social and moral development of children and young people and that it intrinsically promotes cultural values. This book argues that the research evidence is more subtle and nuanced. It examines the concept of values as central organizing constructs of human behaviour that determine our priorities, guide our choices, and transfer across situations, and considers the value priorities and conflicts that are so useful in helping us to understand behaviour in sport. The book argues that teachers and professionals working with children in sport are centrally important agents for value transmission and change and therefore need to develop a deeper understanding of how sport can be used to encourage pro-social values, and offers suggestions for developing a curriculum for teaching values through sport in differing social contexts.

Spanning some of the fundamental areas of sport practice and research, including sport psychology, sport pedagogy, practice ethics, and positive youth development through sport, and including useful values and attitudes questionnaires and guidance on their use and interpretation, this book is important reading for any student, researcher, coach or teacher with an interest in youth sport or physical education. "

This practical and highly accessible guide, written by British Cycling’s Lead Psychologist, will explore the importance of psychology in achieving peak cycling performance. The book will transfer the sport psychology strategies used to win Olympic gold and equip individuals with the psychological skills to pursue performance excellence in cycling and in daily life.

For the last three Olympic Games the Great Britain Cycling Team has dominated the Velodrome events and is regarded as one of the most successful elite sporting set-ups in Olympic history. The emergence of sport psychology as a critical aspect of the Great Britain Cycling Team’s success has sparked wide interest in the psychological skills required to perform. This book will transfer the sport psychology strategies used to assist elite cyclists to win Olympic gold to individuals seeking to improve their own performance and psychological wellbeing on and off the bike.

The Cycling Mind will take the reader through the key stages of an athlete’s pathway, from training through to competition, and provide guidelines to developing the psychological skills to compete at their best. In addition the strategies explored in the book can be applied across all high-pressure performance environments, including business and daily life.

Standing the test of time, "Gymnastics Psychology" is the ultimate reference guide which holds the keys to the challenges of working with young people in gymnastics. For the first time, an entire collection of papers on "Gymnastics Psychology" by Drs. Joe Massimo and Sue Massimo, is available to athletes, coaches, and parents across the globe. Whether you are a beginning competitor or Olympian, coach or gym owner, judge or parent, you'll find the answers to many of your questions and the keys to realizing one's peak potential in the sport of gymnastics.
Are You Ready to Improve Your Gymnastic Performances?
Do You Want to Enhance Your Coaching Skills?
Are You Concerned about Your Involvement in Your Child's Athletics?
If you answered "YES" to any of the questions above, then "Gymnastics Psychology" holds the keys to unlocking the potential to your success.
"Gymnastics Psychology" takes a comprehensive look at the factors that are necessary for training champions while emphasizing concern for the athlete's psychological status, regardless of the level of achievement. The easy-to-follow articles cover the interpersonal relationships of coaches and athletes, psychological issues pertaining to motivation and fear management, meet preparation and goal setting, as well as vital family, school and peer relationships.
"Gymnastics Psychology" is understandable and expertly captures the excitement of the field while explaining basic concepts and principles while showing how they can be applied in the gymnastic setting. So, whether you are a coach, gymnast, or parent, this collection of articles by the authors provides you with definitive insight in the areas of psychological development and competitive behaviors that are critical to success.

Mental toughness is one of the most common terms used in sport by athletes, coaches, spectators and the media. However, it is also one of the least understood terms. This book examines the characteristics and development of mentally tough sport performers, and presents the cutting-edge research in this area. Within these chapters, the author proposes that mental toughness is a personality style and mindset, and presents a compelling case for its inclusion within the positive psychological paradigm.

This second edition has been updated to include new material on the characterisation, conceptualisation, measurement, and development of mental toughness. As in the first edition the book includes a historical overview of empirical research, and also describes the conceptual arguments behind this research.

Now packed with even more rigorous scientific evidence and bang up-to-date anecdotes from the world of sport, the book presents a fascinating explanation of why some athletes are successful, and how and why they stay on top. Mental Toughness: The Mindset Behind Sporting Achievement will be essential reading for all sport psychology, sport science, sport studies, and coaching students.

Mixed methods research techniques, combining both quantitative and qualitative elements, have become well established throughout the social, behavioural and natural sciences. This is the first book to focus on the application of mixed methods research in the movement sciences, specifically in sport, physical education and dance. Researchers and practitioners in each of these fields are concerned with the study of habitual behaviour in naturalistic contexts, and of the concurrent and sequential nature of events and states, precisely the kind of work that multi-method research design can help illuminate. The book is arranged into four sections. The first provides a thorough overview of mixed methods procedures and research design, and summarizes their applicability to the movement sciences. The remaining sections then offer detailed case studies of mixed methods research in team and individual sports (analyzing hidden patterns of play and optimising technique); kinesics and dance (analyzing motor skills behaviour in childhood, and the complexity of motor responses in dance); and physical education (detecting interaction patterns in group situations, and optimizing non-verbal communication by teachers and sports coaches). Mixed Methods Research in the Movement Sciences offers an important new tool for researchers and helps to close the gap between the analysis of expert performance and our understanding of the general principles of movement science. It is important reading for any student, researcher or professional with an interest in motor control, sport and dance pedagogy, coaching, performance analysis or decision-making in sport.

Motor Learning in Practice explores the fundamental processes of motor learning and skill acquisition in sport, and explains how a constraints-led approach can be used to design more effective learning environments for sports practice and performance. Drawing on ecological psychology, the book examines the interaction of personal, environmental and task-specific constraints in the development of motor skills, and then demonstrates how an understanding of those constraints can be applied in a wide range of specific sports and physical activities.

The first section of the book contains two chapters that offer an overview of the key theoretical concepts that underpin the constraints-led approach. These chapters also examine the development of fundamental movement skills in children, and survey the most important instructional strategies that can be used to develop motor skills in sport. The second section of the book contains eighteen chapters that apply these principles to specific sports, including basketball, football, boxing, athletics field events and swimming.

This is the first book to apply the theory of a constraints-led approach to training and learning techniques in sport. Including contributions from many of the world's leading scholars in the field of motor learning and development, this book is essential reading for any advanced student, researcher or teacher with an interest in motor skills, sport psychology, sport pedagogy, coaching or physical education.

• How can the skills of the sport psychologist be put to best use within a football club?
• How can a sport psychologist help elite footballers perform at their maximum level?

In this groundbreaking guide to the role of the sport psychologist within elite and professional football, leading sport psychologist Mark Nesti argues that working closely with coaches and players to create a receptive environment is vital if psychologists are to add maximum value to team and individual performances.

Drawing on a decade's professional experience working at the top level of English football, Nesti offers a detailed guide to delivering sport psychology in an elite team sport environment, from practical drills on the training field to shaping organizational behaviour at club level. The book explores the full range of issues and themes that define the role of the professional sport psychologist working in football today, including:

• mental skills training
• group cohesion and team dynamics
• counselling, trust and confidentiality
• transitions in football
• managerial and coaching philosophies
• structure, communication and organizational psychology.

The book is illustrated throughout with real-world case studies, drawing on research into sixteen professional clubs across five European countries, and concludes by suggesting how other elite team sports can learn from the experiences of professional football. This is the only book to outline a holistic approach to psychology in football and the to offer such a rich combination of theory and practice. It is therefore essential reading for all students of sport psychology and all psychologists and coaches working in elite team sport.

Sport and Exercise Psychology Research: From Theory to Practice provides a comprehensive summary of new research in sport and exercise psychology from worldwide researchers. Encompassing theory, research, and applications, the book is split into several themed sections. Section 1 discusses basic antecedents to performance including fitness, practice, emotion, team dynamics, and more. Section 2 identifies factors influencing individual performance. Section 3 discusses applied sport psychology for athletes and coaches, and section 4 includes approaches from exercise psychology on motivation and well-being. The book includes a mix of award winning researchers from the European Sport Psychology Association, along with top researchers from the U.S. to bring an international overview to sport psychology.

Motor Learning in Practice explores the fundamental processes of motor learning and skill acquisition in sport, and explains how a constraints-led approach can be used to design more effective learning environments for sports practice and performance. Drawing on ecological psychology, the book examines the interaction of personal, environmental and task-specific constraints in the development of motor skills, and then demonstrates how an understanding of those constraints can be applied in a wide range of specific sports and physical activities.

The first section of the book contains two chapters that offer an overview of the key theoretical concepts that underpin the constraints-led approach. These chapters also examine the development of fundamental movement skills in children, and survey the most important instructional strategies that can be used to develop motor skills in sport. The second section of the book contains eighteen chapters that apply these principles to specific sports, including basketball, football, boxing, athletics field events and swimming.

This is the first book to apply the theory of a constraints-led approach to training and learning techniques in sport. Including contributions from many of the world's leading scholars in the field of motor learning and development, this book is essential reading for any advanced student, researcher or teacher with an interest in motor skills, sport psychology, sport pedagogy, coaching or physical education.

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.

Building an Uncommon Champion helps parents guide their athletic children to learning lifelong principles to be confident, mentally tough, and capable of developing deeper, more meaningful relationships. Parents whose children desire to achieve the highest level in their sport, particularly hockey, find tools to aid their children in not just growing as athletes, but as people. Young athletes may have hopes of being on a college, NHL or Olympic team one day, but not many make it that far. Utilizing philosophies employed by Navy SEALS to build strong leaders and teams alongside anecdotes from years of experience in training and raising athletes, Jennifer Matras lays the groundwork for athletes to develop into better friends, teammates, and students. More than a book that focuses on the how-to's of building speed or strength, Building an Uncommon Champion shares details of Competitive Edge Skating, Inc.'s program, which is designed to give children an uncommon advantage with proven techniques to enhance and sustain their abilities in the arena, weight room, and classroom along with building world class leadership skills. Parents learn to help their children tap into their God-given tools to be the best they can be, leaving common for someone else!

This book is a practical resource designed for clinicians, researchers, and advanced students who wish to learn about single-case research designs. It covers the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of single-case designs, as well as their practical application in the clinical and research neurorehabilitation setting. The book briefly traces the history of single-case experimental designs (SCEDs); outlines important considerations in understanding and planning a scientifically rigorous single-case study, including internal and external validity; describes prototypical single-case designs (withdrawal-reversal designs and the medical N-of-1 trial, multiple-baseline designs, alternating-treatments designs, and changing-criterion designs) and required features to meet evidence standards, threats to internal validity, and strategies to address them; addresses data evaluation, covering visual analysis of graphed data, statistical techniques, and clinical significance; and provides a practical ten-step procedure for implementing single-case methods. Each chapter includes detailed illustrative examples from the neurorehabilitation literature. Novel features include: A focus on the neurorehabilitation setting, which is particularly suitable for single-case designs because of the complex and often unique presentation of many patients/clients. A practical approach to the planning, implementation, data analysis, and reporting of single-case designs. An appendix providing a detailed summary of many recently published SCEDs in representative domains in the neurorehabilitation field, covering basic and instrumental activities of daily living, challenging behaviours, disorders of communication and cognition, mood and emotional functions, and motor-sensory disabilities. It is valuable reading for clinicians and researchers in several disciplines working in rehabilitation, including clinical and neuropsychology, education, language and speech pathology, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. It is also an essential resource for advanced students in these fields who need a textbook for specialised courses on research methodology and use of single-case design in applied clinical and research settings.