The Mental Athlete [Paperback]

Kay Porter (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0736046542 | ISBN-13: 978-0736046541 | Publication Date: July 8, 2003 | Edition: 1

Improved mental ability means improved sports performance. Athletes who excel do so not just because of their physical abilities but because of their mental awareness, preparation, and skills as well. The Mental Athlete will help improve your overall performance by providing the tools, guidance, and practical insight you need to sharpen your mental skills.

This conditioning manual for the mind will help you

·further enhance mental strengths and address weaknesses through effective
self-assessments,
·increase confidence in personal abilities and avoid the fear of failure,
·heighten awareness of inner-thought processes and learn ways to improve them,
and
·be free of inhibitions to initiate action and to respond intuitively and
positively to challenges.

No matter what sport you play and at what level you play, you will find this practical, reader-friendly book useful because it not only lets you know what you need to do to improve your mental abilities, but it also shows you how to improve them. It contains exercises, tests, and worksheets that help you move through the steps of mental achievement.

In addition, The Mental Athlete contains the following features:

·Sections that cover specific sports and issues
·Sport-specific visualizations for football, soccer, volleyball, and many
other sports
·Information on issues such as team building; recovering from injuries; and
letting go of mistakes, losses, anger, and fear

Take full advantage of your physical skills by fully developing your mental skills—the aim of The Mental Athlete!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kay Porter, PhD, has worked in the sport psychology field since 1979 and has trained hundreds of athletes and teams. She is the owner of Porter Performance Systems, a training, counseling and consulting company. Formerly a professor at the University of Oregon, she spent 13 years as a sport psychology consultant to the athletic department.

She is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee Sport Psychology Registry and a consultant in sport psychology, certified by the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AAASP). She is considered an international expert in the field of mental training and has given presentations and workshops at conferences nationally and internationally.

Porter is a former varsity athlete in tennis and was a national champion in master's track in the 1500 meters and competed in master's running for 20 years. Additionally, she coaches a walking group every year for the Portland Marathon. Porter has published more than 30 articles on mental training and peak performance and has produced two videotapes and 20 recorded guided visualizations for sports performance. She wrote The Mental Athlete in its original version and was published in English, German, French, and Japanese. Additionally, she is the author of a book titled Visual Athletic published by W.C. Brown/McGraw-Hill.

Porter lives in Eugene, Oregon, and enjoys running and walking marathons, hiking, meditating, and traveling. For more information on Kay Porter visit www.thementalathlete.com.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Human Kinetics; 1 edition (July 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0736046542
• ISBN-13: 978-0736046541
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Sports Psychology
  • #91 in Books > Medical Books > Medicine > Sports Medicine

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mental Athlete is the most beneficial book I've ever read!, February 23, 2006

By 

N. Tompkins "caledoniamist" (Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mental Athlete (Paperback)

This is the best mental training book that I have ever found. In 1985 I was on the National Team for my sport, but I was not up to par for the other aspects of my sport. I found "The Mental Athlete" and it totally changed my athletic life. The book teaches you how to visualize, do relaxation exercise, run mental training programs, etc. Even though it is not specific to my sport, you can incorporate the techniques into any sport. It is an amazing book. It is not a boring, hard to understand technical book, it is written very well. This book took me from a good athlete to a National Champion (many times over). This book is worth it's weight in gold.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read with step by step instruction, January 25, 2009

By 

Jazz lover (Springfield VA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Mental Athlete (Paperback)

I bought this book along with "The Mental Edge" for my college freshman daughter who is extremely busy with school and basketball. I wanted an easy step by step guide to help her with the demands and pressure of basketball. The author gives many examples of positive affirmations and actual scripts of visualizations, for specific sports, that are easy for someone who isn't used to self help type language to understand. There are good sections on an athlete's anger (which I consider frustration since it's anger at yourself) and fear (choking). The book isn't full of cheesy anecdotes. I considered this book far better than The Mental Edge.

One disappointment is the part on breathing. I can't even call it a section since it's basically a paragraph. If one isn't familiar with breathing techniques from yoga, martial arts, lamaze etc. than it isn't very clearly explained. A few diagrams and breathing execises should have been used since this is an important aspect of mental strength and is mentioned elsewhere in the book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for focus, August 8, 2010

By 

Vicky Mello - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mental Athlete (Paperback)

I read this book while training to walk my first marathon. It gave me some great tips for preparing for the "Big Day". Kay provides some wonderful pointers to turn your mind from saying "I can't go on" to saying "I will finish this race". I used her ideas in my race and was successful. I would recommend this book for all athletes.