sports psychology books

[hellosunshine]

any recommendations?apart from hitting myself over the head with a hammer before a race uttering the words "you are awesome"????

[velogirl]

The USOC publishes a great sports psychology manual that I use with many of my athletes. It's a workbook format so folks can work on exercises on their own as well as working on exercises with me.

[han-grrl]

pursuit of excellence by Terry Orlick is very good. this is general sport pych but has really good ideas in it.


Sport Psychology for Cyclists by Saul Miller is also good.

Anxiety before a race has a lot to do with expectations. You set high standards for your self, and the though of RACE can make someone feel they must WIN. but you have to separate racing to COMPLETE vs racing to COMPETE. I have just graduated from completing to competing.

When racing to COMPLETE. you are focused on tuning your performance and learning.

When racing to compete, you are focused a bit more on HOW you finish compared with other people. that being said, you still must focus on your performance because you have no control over who else joins you in your category.

Both require you to set performance GOALS. By setting goals, you have control over what's going on. Rather than setting one that says "i will finish top 5" think of what you need to do to be in the top 5, race a given speed? or in mtb it might mean the difference between clearing a certain obstacle or descent that gives most people trouble. this is about how to use your body to finish the race (without injuring yourself).

my coach once asked me, if you are that stressed before a race, WHY ARE YOU RACING? it was a good question. it allowed me to think about it, and it really took the edge off. Another way to think about it what does racing allow for in your life? For me, i have a need to be competitive, to push myself and to sweat. i dont' really care about anyone else around me. I focus on the clock and riding clean.

Some tips i have learned from my own racing.

[hellosunshine]

The USOC publishes a great sports psychology manual that I use with many of my athletes. It's a workbook format so folks can work on exercises on their own as well as working on exercises with me.

smashing,any more details of it so i can look it up?

[crazycanuck]

I played around on google & found the following info:

http://www.usoc.org/teamusanet/TeamUSAnet_46377.cfm

http://coaching.usolympicteam.com/coaching/kpub.nsf/v/82hotp1206

No clue if this is any help or if it's even what you're after but if you visit the sites who knows what you might find.

c

[hellosunshine]

ive listened to some tapes today by ,gosh i aint sure,a canadian man called THE SCIENCE OF SELF CONFIDENCE.and THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ACHIEVEMENT.


they are quite old and...................



BRILLIANT!!!!!!!:D