Customer Reviews

Sports Psychology For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyles Paperback))

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As an educator of 36 years, holding an MS Degree (plus 60 hrs.
of continued Graduate credit) and awarded Master Teacher of Ohio
status, I find this book a great resource for anyone interested
in helping children create a balanced life! Most prevalent in the
news recently are the multitude of head injuries and other lifelong
injuries caused by inappropriate expectations of parents and coaches
for young children to achieve physical (sports related)accomplishments beyond their developmental capabilities. Be sure to read the section entitled "Differentiating Between Your Motivation and Your Kids'(motivation)!" This is a "real-life" manual for all
adults seeking to create a healthier future for our children!

I have truly enjoyed reading this book- I have found it helpful not only as I help my children deal with the mental challenges of sports, but also for my every day situations. I have been recommending this book to all of my friends. Thanks!

This book was recommended to me by a business partner as we were discussing how to improve our children's "mental conditioning" as they have reached their apex of physical conditioning and prowess in their highly competitive high school and collegiate sports. For both of our children, they are very strong at their given sports however there was the grey area of how to get them to overcome the mental obstacles and distractions they have created internally and externally.

With that being said, I would highly recommend this book for persons in similar circumstances, in addition to those who are playing at a higher level. The exercises prescribed are very intuitive and the personal stories conveyed are relevant to players and coaches (parents) alike. We all know how to train our bodies to the given sports we participate in through numerous forums, yet struggle when it comes to conditioning our minds to perform as we have trained our bodies. This book is fantastic in creating a balance between the physical and mental aspects of the game. Very well written with little physiological "babble" to dazzle the non PhD'd reader.

Great resource and should be read and referred to more than once.

Jay M. Rasmussen

Not being a collegiate or professional athlete, I was a little skeptical about purchasing this book. It was after a recent conversation with a friend about my current struggles with my weight loss, that this book was highly recommended to me. "Sports Psychology for Dummies" taught me a lot about goal setting, motivation and even how to handle, what would have been before, devastating set backs. All while keeping my perspective on my overall goal. I have been implementing the techniques that Dr. Smith and Dr. Kays have suggested in the book for over three weeks now and not only have I already seen a difference in my body, but also in my overall mental attitude! "Sport Psychology for Dummies" is not just a GREAT resource for athletes, parents of athletes or coaches, but also a valuable tool for people like me: The everyday person who is looking to improve themselves both physically and mentally. Thank you Dr. Smith and Dr. Kays!

This book is a great resource for athletes, coaches, and parents of athletes, but the information is also useful to performers from any discipline. The techniques presented are focused on optimizing the mental skills and mindset needed for consistent high-level performance, useful to those in the performing arts, music, etc. Anyone desiring to increase confidence and consistently perform at peak levels will find this book invaluable.

Parents that have children who are involved in sports certainly know how competitive it is in today's world. Many people go to extraordinary lengths to make sure their child is the best. I believe this book is an excellent source of information for parents, athletes and coaches. This book offers many different concepts that need to be addressed regarding today's athlete that want a competitive edge and want to be successful in their sport. Each chapter is self-contained and offers information that is very specific. I also liked looking through the table of contents because it helped me turn to the appropriate chapters and what concepts I wanted to focus on with my athletes.

This book sounds great! I especially like the chapters on coaching today's athlete and parenting an athlete. As a mother who has had two athletes in the family, the parenting chapter is good!

I have coached soccer at the high school or collegiate level for the past 18 years, and for the past three years I have worked as an Assistant Women's Soccer Coach at Purdue University. I have read Sports Psychology for Dummies and have found it very beneficial, and have already used it with our athletes. I found the Confidence Cycle very useful in helping to explain to some of our players how to build and maintain their confidence, in their own abilities and in the team's ability. Another area that I have found particularly relevant to me and to show our players are the anecdotes that the authors have from their own experiences working with high school, college and professional athletes.
We have just had our end of the season meetings with all of our players, and I found myself continually referencing the ideas, of journaling, doing mental imagery, and task management as opposed to time management. I have found the book extremely useful in helping me better explain to our athletes ways they can organize their daily tasks, and how they can improve their motivation and confidence both on the soccer field and in the classroom. I know this book will be on my desk, and I will continually reference it when I need to refresh my memory and come up with different ways of motivating and getting the most out of our players. I would highly recommend this book for any coach, or athlete who is serious about maximizing their own or their teams potential.

As a sport psychology professor and consultant, I currently teach courses and conduct research in applied sport psychology and have been providing consultation services to high school, college, and elite level athletes and coaches for over 17 years, including the 2002, 2006, and 2010 U.S. Olympic Snowboard teams. So when it comes to sport psychology, I am no dummy. But I learned a number of useful ideas after reading "Sports Psychology for Dummies" that I will implement as a sport psychologist, youth sport coach, and parent of kids in sport. Drs. Smith and Kays have done an excellent job of turning theoretical sport psychology knowledge into practical information that can be applied by athletes and coaches at all levels as well as parents looking to better enhance and support their children's participation in sport.

Robert J. Harmison, Ph.D.
Kibler Professor of Sport Psychology, James Madison University
Director of Sport Psychology, JMU Athletics

I recently finished reading this book & I found it to be very easy to follow and enjoyable to read. The chapters are well-organized, & I especially love how each one has personal vignettes from the authors based on their respective professional practices. The stories & examples really bring to life the concepts within the book. I also like how there are exercises throughout each chapter that challenge the reader to put the words into practice. Very helpful & kept me engaged with the content. I found the words of advice & wisdom in every chapter very helpful. My favorite is in chapter 11 on pressure, when the authors remind us to channel our 1-year-old self when feeling pressure: "Babies and children don't feel pressure." Great, useable pieces of advice to carry with us every day.

Sport psychology can have the false perception that its inaccessible to the everyday athlete & parent of an athlete. What's great about this book is that it's so accessible to everyone - very far reaching to so many different audiences. I found the content to be very fitting to many aspects of performance, & like a few others who voiced their reviews, am using many of the chapters in my own personal journey to improvement. This book is a must have resource for any athlete at any level, for any parent raising an athlete, for any adult coaching an athlete. I highly recommend this book & will be putting it on my holiday gift giving list for my friends & family who parent young athletes in today's world. I know so many parents that struggle with the pressure & competitiveness of their children's sports involvement, & think this is such a valuable resource for any of them.

I would like to say something about the comments in a few of the reviews regarding the title, i.e. "sport" vs. "sports". I'll make the assumption that, when in the presence of APA Sport Psychology professionals and in any scholarly writing they may have contributed to the field, the authors respectfully refer to their discipline as "sport" psychology. My guess is they used the title "sports" psychology because that is how the masses refer to it. Just look at the authors' bios - very impressive backgrounds in this discipline, so I'll trust they absolutely know what they're doing/what they're talking about. So silly to be concerned with the title. That kind of criticism only fuels the idea that this branch of psychology is unreachable for the everyday person. By offering this book, the two authors become fantastic ambassadors to their profession.