Customer Reviews

Coaching the Mental Game: Leadership Philosophies and Strategies for Peak Performance in Sports and Everyday Life.

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For amateur "weekend warrior" coaches such as myself this is a topic that is far to often barely touched on if talked about at all. Telling kids to concentrate, focus and be mentally tough without teaching it like any other skill is like giving them a bat with no instruction and telling them to hit. Some will pick it up better than others due to their own make-up but all can get much better with a coach teaching them. The mental game can be taught as a skill the same as any physical skill we teach them.

This book is one that has the authentic "been-there-done-that" feel to it. It's well organized with great real world examples and has multiple lists at the end of each topic on how to make our athletes aware of the mental game and how to practice getting better at it.

This is a book you will read and re-read if you're truly interested in being the best coach you can be. It's one of those books where you can just open to any page and pick up a great idea or tip.

Harvey Dorfman is a no-BS kind of coach and his latest book is a great tool for coaches, teachers, managers, or anyone who wishes to get the edge. As a former basketball coach at various levels, I wish this book was available 15 years ago because it would have saved me a lot of trouble and mistakes!

Coach Dorfman covers three vital areas in the book: The Coach as Leader, Communicator, and Teacher; Impact Terms for Coaches, and Impact Terms for Athletes. He provides real life examples from professional, college, and high school coaches and athletes that are easy to relate to.

This is the 4th time I bought this book. I have given three away and the last one is worn out. Trying to make the most out of a player's ability is not complete until the mental aspect is addressed and this book helps with that approach. If you coach baseball, you need to have a copy.

Coaching: The Mental Game is written primarily for coaches of athletic sports, but anyone who works with youths in a leadership role can benefit from Coach Dorfman's experience and suggestions. He presents a clear description of a coach's job as well as specific and successful strategies. As in his book, The Mental Game of Baseball, the emphasis is on mental discipline.
The second part of the book consists of his observations (arranged alphabetically) on all aspects of coaching that one can consult as one would a dictionary.

The most useful book you will find on the mental game, and was very easy to ready. Great organization. A must read for any coach.

361 Pages Hardcover

ExerptPage 70 Coaching is teaching. The best coaches have something else. They have the good sense to instruct, then get out of the way. They are pedagogues not demagogues.

Table of contents
Section 1 The Coach as leader, Communicator, Teacher
Chapters:
1. Leadership & Power(s)
2. Leadership style
3. You, the leader-the coach
4. The substance of leadership
5. The coach communicates, one way or another
6. Communication: Considering the process Itself
7. Communication: The when, where, how, why-and who!
8. Coaching is teaching.
9. Learners: the Coach and athlete
Section 2 The mental game alphabet: Impact terms for the coach.
Section 3 The mental Game, A to Z: Athletes' impact terms.
Appendix A Leaders list
Appendix B "The guy in the glass"
Appendix C we learn what we've lived
Appendix D A winning way
Appendix E The final word on the mental game

This is one of the best books i have ever read. As a sport coach this book is absolutely a must read. Every coach should read this book, as it makes you reflect your own coaching methods, ideas, philosophies (if you have any formally formulated). This book has definitely good great relevance for anyone who seeks to maximize their communication skills and achieve new levels of performance. Dare i say it the book teaches you what how to be a great leader and a better person/ coach.

I purchased this book for two male friends who are high level athletic coaches. They both stated that they could not put it down. They also recommended the book to their wives to read. The wives loved it also. I just ordered one for myself.