Features interviews with Graeme Fowler (England cricketer), Nigel
Owens (Welsh International Rugby Union referee), Baroness Tanni
Grey-Thompson (Paralympian), Kieren Emery (GB lightweight rower),
Mark Enright (jockey), Michelle Bergstrand (British cyclo-cross
champion), Luke Stoltman (five-times Scotland's Strongest Man),
Jack Rutter (Paralympian and England cerebral palsy football
captain), and Ruth Walczak (GB Lightweight Rower). The demands of
the high-performance athlete are huge, with many celebrated for
their achievements, and put on a pedestal for admired personality
traits such as discipline, sacrifice, commitment, and focus. This
book seeks to explore the celebrated traits of the high-performance
athlete and, by doing so, to increase awareness of the
vulnerability that such traits also present. Through discussion
with professional sports people and presentation of their own
personal stories the book explores obsessionality, masochism, and
focus, and how these characteristics can enhance performance on the
field yet hinder life off it and may even develop into clinically
diagnosable mental health difficulties. In psychology, assessments
are based on statistical phenomena; the title Skewed to the Right
is based on the 'bell curve' that is shown through a graph whereby
the majority sit in the middle with a few clusters at either on of
the extremes. The suggestion is that elite athletes are 'skewed to
the right' on a number of key traits that put them between the
'general' population and those with a clinical diagnosis. The book
opens with an exploration of weight-restricted sport and how making
weight is achieved through practices that become culturally
acceptable in the sporting world yet would be seen to be classified
as clinically diagnosable eating disorders in the medical world. It
then moves on to personality traits that help and hinder - those
skewed to the right: masochism, obsessionality, and focus. Part 3
looks at one trait skewed to the left - acceptance - that many
sportspeople struggle with. The book closes with a section
exploring points of vulnerability for all athletes and ends with a
look at where we can go from here. The aim of the book is to
increase social awareness of the reality of life for the successful
high-performance athlete and the challenging dynamics that exist in
sporting culture today. It will be of interest to psychologists,
psychotherapists, trainees, and anyone with an interest in sporting
culture.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
