Sports Psychology Books

The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

W. Timothy Gallwey

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Subjects -> Sports -> Miscellaneous -> Sports Psychology
Subjects -> Sports -> Racket Sports -> Tennis -> General
Subjects -> Sports -> Racket Sports -> Tennis -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A phenomenon when first published in 1972, the Inner Game was a real revelation. Instead of serving up technique, it concentrated on the fact that, as Gallwey wrote, "Every game is composed of two parts, an outer game and an inner game." The former is played against opponents, and is filled with lots of contradictory advice; the latter is played not against, but within the mind of the player, and its principal obstacles are self-doubt and anxiety. Gallwey's revolutionary thinking, built on a foundation of Zen thinking and humanistic psychology, was really a primer on how to get out of your own way to let your best game emerge. It was sports psychology before the two words were pressed against each other and codified into an accepted discipline.

The new edition of this remarkable work--Billie Jean King called the original her tennis bible--refines Gallwey's theories on concentration, gamesmanship, breaking bad habits, learning to trust yourself on the court, and awareness. "No matter what a person's complaint when he has a lesson with me, I have found the most beneficial first step," he stressed, "is to encourage him to see and feel what he is doing--that is, to increase his awareness of what actually is."

There are aspects of psychobabble and mysticism to be found here, sure, but Gallwey instructs as much by anecdote as anything else, and time has ultimately proved him a guru. What seemed radical in the early '70s is now accepted ammunition for the canon; the right mental approach is every bit as important as a good backhand. The Inner Game of Tennis still does much to keep that idea in play. --Jeff Silverman

Mind Gym : An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence

Gary Mack, David Casstevens

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: McGraw-Hill Amazon Marketplace: 57 new & used starting at $8.41

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Exercise & Fitness -> Swimming
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Mental Health -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Mental Health -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Best one for athletes! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I have read several books on the mental game in sports and this is by far the best. I work with collegiate and professional athletes and recommend this so often that Gary Mack should send me a commission!!!

not what i expected 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

a solid read, but i was expecting a book that got more into the intricacies of sports psychology, but this book seems to focus more on your thinking off the court then on it.

Well-written and entertaining 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you want to read an inspiring book on the power of the mind in sports, then this book is for you. It is not too packed with information, but it underlines many of the important points in mental coaching. Great stories and examples make it an uplifting read. The only thing missing was a step-by-step instruction guide to mind management - practice makes perfect.

Editorial Review:

Drawing on his work with some of the top teams in professional sports, noted sport psychology consultant Gary Mack shares with you the same techniques and exercises he uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle." These 40 accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes will help you gain the "head edge" over the competition.

We Might As Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind a Record-Setting Eight Tour de France Victories

Johan Bruyneel, Bill Strickland

Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Houghton Mifflin Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $12.50

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Subjects -> Sports -> Individual Sports -> Cycling -> General
Subjects -> Sports -> Individual Sports -> Cycling -> General AAS
Subjects -> Sports -> Miscellaneous -> Sports Psychology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

On the tour and inside the mind of Johan Bruyneel, the winningest team leader in cycling history and the mastermind behind the success of the world's most celebrated champion, Lance Armstrong

Johan Bruyneel knows what it takes to win. In 1998, this calculating Belgian and former professional cyclist looked a struggling rider and cancer survivor in the eye and said, "Look, if we're going to ride the Tour, we might as well win." In that powerful phrase a dynasty was born. With Bruyneel as his team director, Lance Armstrong seized a record seven straight Tour de France victories. In the meantime, Bruyneel innovated the sport of cycling and went on to prove he could win without his superstar -- in 2007 he took the Tour de France title with a young new team and a lot of nerve, sealing his place in sports history forever.

We Might as Well Win takes readers behind the scenes of this amazing nine-year journey through the Alps and the Pyrenees, revealing a radical recipe for winning that readers can adapt from the bike to the boardroom to life. We witness Bruyneel's near-death crash and comeback as a rider. We are privy to the many ways he and Armstrong outsmarted their opponents. We listen in on the team's race radios to hear the secret strategies that inspire greatness from a disparate team. We learn how to make sure "not winning" isn't the same as "losing" as Bruyneel struggles to prove himself -- post-Armstrong -- with new riders, new strategies, and skeptics around every corner.

Whether mounting a difficult climb, or managing a team of thirty riders and forty support staff from a miniature car hurtling along narrow European roads, or looking a future legend in the eye and willing him to believe, Bruyneel is, and has always been, the consummate winner. Readers will relish this inside tour.

A Champion's Mind: Lessons from a Life in Tennis

Pete Sampras, Peter Bodo

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Subjects -> Sports -> Biographies -> General
Subjects -> Sports -> Biographies -> General AAS
Subjects -> Sports -> Miscellaneous -> Sports Psychology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Pete Sampras is arguably the greatest tennis player ever, a man whose hard-nosed work ethic led to an unprecedented number one world ranking for 286 weeks, and whose prodigious talent made possible a record-setting fourteen Grand Slam titles. While his more vocal rivals sometimes grabbed the headlines, Pete always preferred to let his racket do the talking.

Until now.

In A Champion’s Mind, the tennis great who so often exhibited visible discomfort with letting people “inside his head” finally opens up. An athletic prodigy, Pete resolved from his earliest playing days never to let anything get in the way of his love for the game. But while this single-minded determination led to tennis domination, success didn’t come without a price. The constant pressure of competing on the world’s biggest stage—in the unblinking eye of a media machine hungry for more than mere athletic greatness—took its toll.

Here for the first time Pete speaks freely about what it was like to possess what he calls “the Gift.” He writes about the personal trials he faced—including the death of a longtime coach and confidant—and the struggles he gutted his way through while being seemingly on top of the world. Among the book’s most riveting scenes are an early devastating loss to Stefan Edberg that led Pete to make a monastic commitment to delivering on his natural talent; a grueling, four-hour-plus match against Alex Corretja during which Pete became seriously ill; fierce on-court battles with rival and friend Andre Agassi; and the triumphant last match of Pete’s career at the finals of the 2002 U.S. Open.

In A Champion’s Mind, one of the most revered, successful, and intensely private players in the history of tennis offers an intimate look at the life of an elite athlete.

Bloody Confused!: A Clueless American Sportswriter Seeks Solace in English Soccer

Chuck Culpepper

Amazon Price: $11.16 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Broadway Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $8.07

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Subjects -> Sports -> Football (American) -> General
Subjects -> Sports -> Football (American) -> General AAS
Subjects -> Sports -> Miscellaneous -> Essays

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Chuck Culpepper was a veteran sports journalist edging toward burnout . . . then he went to London and discovered the high-octane, fanatical (and bloody confusing!) world of English soccer.

After covering the American sports scene for fifteen years, Chuck Culpepper suffered from a profound case of Common Sportswriter Malaise. He was fed up with self-righteous proclamations, steroid scandals, and the deluge of in-your-face PR that saturated the NFL, the NBA, and MLB. Then in 2006, he moved to London and discovered a new and baffling world—the renowned Premiership soccer league. Culpepper pledged his loyalty to Portsmouth, a gutsy, small-market team at the bottom of the standings. As he puts it, “It was like childhood, with beer.”

Writing in the vein of perennial bestsellers such as Fever Pitch and Among the Thugs, Chuck Culpepper brings penetrating insight to the vibrant landscape of English soccer—visiting such storied franchises as Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool . . . and an equally celebrated assortment of pubs. Bloody Confused! will put a smile on the face of any sports fan who has ever questioned what makes us love sports in the first place.

Golf is Not a Game of Perfect

Dr. Bob Rotella

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Features:

• Mental Game
• Hard Cover

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Contemporary
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> General AAS
Subjects -> Sports -> Coaching -> Golf -> Psychology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 77 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Far from perfect but a worthwhile cure for insomnia 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Dr Bob Rotella is extremely well known in golf education for his advice on how to train your mind to play your best golf. He has helped some distinguished players including Tom Kite.

His basic philosophy is:
1. Believe you can achieve your golfing dream.
2. Have no swing thoughts or any thoughts about swing mechanics when you play.
3. Focus on a target for the ball: the smaller the better.
4. Stay in the present: forget previous shots (good and bad), don't think about the score for the round (good or bad). This will only distract you.

I have awarded this a one star. This is perhaps harsh, perhaps a three star would be appropriate but here is why I did:

My average handicap is 25 (27 in competition). I have been playing for three years and in the past 7 months as much as 5 or 6 times a week. I eat, sleep and dream golf. I devour new books and DVDs from the big names and some of the less well known.

I regularly watched the golf channel UK (RIP) and read Golf Digest online. My best rounds are around 85. My theoretical best (best scores per hole on different days) is 63.

In spite of starting this great game of golf at the age of 40, I've done well in many other sports and activities (squash, snowboarding, fencing, motorsport, aviation) and believe I should be able to play at a good level: regularly in the 80s and why not, with training and perseverance, in the 70s.

In short, my profile matches that of the target reader for this book. I had high expectations of this book and was hoping to discover new information and techniques on how to train my mind to get the best from my golf.

In reality, I found nothing new here. Most of the advice really is common sense and common place in all the golf related material I've encountered. Bob spends too much time covering what not to think. In the audio version, Bob drones on so much he sent me to sleep. Sadly, I have to say, the book is not worth the money and I can not recommend it.

Editorial Review:

In this extraordinary book and with his clients, Bob Rotella creates an attitude and a mindset about all aspects of a golfer's game, from mental preparation to competitiion.

The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak Performance

H A Dorfman

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Diamond Communications Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $9.31

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Subjects -> Sports -> Baseball -> General
Subjects -> Sports -> Baseball -> General AAS
Subjects -> Sports -> Miscellaneous -> Sports Psychology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

What every serious Ball player should read 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

A great tool for coaches & players at all levels. If you don't understand the mental part of the game, this is the book for you.

Chuck Schumacher
Owner -- Chucks Gym
Baseball & Martial arts
Training & Conditioning

Must Have 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is as much about life as it is about baseball. The positive re-enforcement the book gives about accomplishing almost anything is the true message.
Whenever you or one of your players is struggling, go back to this book to refresh a slumping attitude.

THE BASEBALL BIBLE 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The Mental Game of Baseball is an outstanding read. It is loaded with useful information. It is refered to as the "baseball bible". Anyone from little league coach, high school coach, college coach, player, or parent should take the time to read this book. It gave me (a college baseball coach) a new found respect and understanding for the mental side of baseball. I recommend this book to every baseball enthusist out there.

Editorial Review:

In this book, authors H.A. Dorfman and Karl Kuehl present their practical and proven strategy for developing the mental skills needed to achieve peak performance at every level of the game.

Finding Your Zone: Ten Core Lessons for Achieving Peak Performance in Sports and Life

Michael Lardon

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Features:

• Paper Back
• Michael Lardon, M.D.
• Forward by David Leadbetter
• Ten Core Lessons for Achieving Peak Performance in Sports and Life

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Self-Help -> Personal Transformation
Subjects -> Sports -> Miscellaneous -> Sports Psychology
Subjects -> Sports -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

All I can say is WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I started reading this book, and could not put it down. A few hours later I was finished, read it literally cover to cover. All I can say is WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!! It's great. I'll read it again and again (I'm like that-- I read good books over and over).

The book was fascinating, and put so many pieces of the puzzle together for me regarding optimizing your mental state to perform well in sports (or life as the case may be). I've been in that Zone in my athletic life, but wasn't quite sure how I got there or why. I definitely enjoyed being there, and often wondered when that magic would come back. And I feel like I now have the tools to put me back, which is a nice feeling. So, I thank the kind doctor for taking the time to write a book like this.

If you're an athlete, and especially in a sport that involves intense concentration with nerves often defining the moments, like tennis, golf, ping pong, fencing, etc., this book is a MUST READ. Wait, let me say that again, MUST READ.

I have ordered over 18 copies of this book to give to friends/family/business associates. It's that good.

Editorial Review:

Therapist, physician, and mental coach Dr. Michael Lardon shares what he's discovered about reaching the state in which "thoughts and actions are occurring in complete synchronicity," and how this state is accessible to all, not just the few. Learn how to transform desire into will, channel emotions to victory, trust instincts and keep it simple, conquer fear through acceptance, and perform under pressure. Leading golf instructor David Leadbetter writes in the foreword that professional athletes and weekend warriors alike "will find this book a gem."

The Mental Edge

Kenneth Baum

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Exercise & Fitness -> General
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Subjects -> Sports -> Miscellaneous -> Sports Psychology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

sharpen the edge 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

A great, concise read . I thought this book really helped my tennis game and I'd recommend it in a heartbeat.

A Useful Reminder 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

There is not much that is new here in the field of Mental Preparation and Approach to your chosen sport or occupation but its great beauty lies in the way it is presented. The message is clear, simple and easy to follow. One can relate to many of the scenarios painted and the steps outlined for preparing and implementing plans are simple, straightforward and very practical.

You Are What You Think You Are 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Even after over 25 years of active involvement in the martial arts, it still never ceases to amaze me on how little effort and time is spent by the majority of athletes (regardless of their particular sport) on the mental aspect of what they are doing, while focusing too much time on the physical aspects.

I found the information contained in this book, and the way the author presented it, to be truly outstanding and extremely valid and beneficial to anyone involved in literally any type of sporting activity from the most complex to the seemingly simplest.

Sure a lot of what the author presents has been presented many times before and in different ways, but the way the author presented the material in this book made the information seem perhaps even more relevant and easy to understand.

As the old saying goes, "You are what you think you are" and truly no truer words have been spoken on the subject. If you are contemplating purchasing this book, then it is obvious that you actually do need this book. The few dollars that you will pay for the information provided in this book is inconsequential indeed to the improvements you will see in your chosen athletic activity if you read, study, and implement the methods presented within its pages.

Shawn Kovacich
Martial Artist/Author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series.

Heads-Up Baseball : Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time

Tom Hanson, Ken Ravizza

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: McGraw-Hill Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $4.99

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Subjects -> Sports -> Baseball -> Essays & Writings
Subjects -> Sports -> Baseball -> General
Subjects -> Sports -> Baseball -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"This book provides practical strategies for developing the mental skills which help speed you to your full potential."---Dave Winfield

What does it mean to play heads-up baseball? A heads-up player has confidence in his ability, keeps control in pressure situations, and focuses on one pitch at a time. His mental skills enable him to play consistently at or near his best despite the adversity baseball presents each day.

"My ability to fully focus on what I had to do on a daily basis was what made me the successful player I was. Sure I had some natural ability, but that only gets you so far. I think I learned how to focus; it wasn't something that I was necessarily born with." -- Hank Aaron

"Developing and refining my mental game has played a critical role in my success in baseball. For years players have had to develop these skills on their own. This book provides practical strategies for developing the mental skills that will help speed you toward your full potential." -- Dave Winfield