Customer Reviews

Bring Your "A" Game: A Young Athlete's Guide to Mental Toughness

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I am not a child and I'm not an athlete, but I read this book to learn about some of the psychological aspects of sports training, and how I can apply it to my own life and career as an artist.

The book is clearly written and spells out various strategies that a young athlete can use to develop "mental toughness." These include imagery, negative thought-stopping, coming up with pre-performance routines, and dealing with setbacks. I especially liked the section that explains whether a person is process or outcome-oriented (I was surprised to find out what I was!), and I liked the advice about how to build confidence.

This book is essential reading for any young athlete that wants to compete at a high level, and should also be required reading for that athlete's parents as well. Much of the information can be used by non-athletes who want to prepare for presentations or performances, or anyone who wants to learn how to get to the top of their chosen field, as well. I found it had better advice and was less gimmicky than many of the pop psychology books I've read over the years.

I bought this book for my daughter who is a competitive swimmer. She is 12 years old and really gets extremely anxious during swim meets. Since her anxiety is created within herself, I started searching means to help her deal with this issue. Fortunately I stumbled on Bring Your A Game by Jennifer Etnier and I was very impressed with this book. I can't believe that it just came out when I really started trying to figure out ways to help my daughter cope with her anxiety. It is very well written and my daughter and I really enjoyed reading it together and discussing the topics outlined in the book. Not only has this book helped my daughter reduce her anxiety during swim meets, but also for taking test in school. I would highly recommend this book for all young people to read. Thank you!

This book has great introductory insight for young athletes about what it takes to be mentally tough, not just in sports but in school and day to day life. It is very comprehensive but presented in a way that middle school and high school aged kids alike can grasp. My 13 year old brother has really liked the tools presented at the end of each chapter to use as he charts out his monitored progress.

I think this is a very good read, EVEN AS AN ADULT, for seeing how we are both our own 1) coach and 2)athlete in everything we do - as an employee, a spouse, a parent, a student... in any area of our life where we have aspirations, goals, and challenges/obstacles to reaching our objectives.

There are also some very healthy and simple empowerment strategies, examples, and mental "tricks" for helping helping to ensure long-haul success! The concepts are explained very thoughtfully, with acknowledgement and anticipation beforehand of the proverbial "what-if"'s that typcially come up when discussing some of these matters.

Much appreciated!