Pure Sport


Book Description

Should you always "think about it"? Are you "only as good as your last game"? Is it just a matter of "keeping your eye on the ball"? The answer to these questions is no, and to help you steer a course through the many challenges of a sporting career this second edition of Pure Sport sets out, in everyday language, the lessons you can take from contemporary sport psychology – helping you recognise what works and what doesn’t when it comes to improving performance. As the title suggests, Pure Sport goes back to basics by highlighting practical concerns for those involved with competitive sport at every age and level – from junior club members to Olympic athletes. Drawing on their considerable experience as both applied sport psychologists and academics, the authors present practical advice and a powerful array of techniques for channelling and harnessing mental skills with the goal of improving sporting performance. Drawing on the international popularity of the first edition, in this fully updated second edition the authors have taken the opportunity to revamp chapters with colour photographs, contemporary examples, and sporting anecdotes, and the book is now even more accessible for those without a formal background in psychology. Pure Sport, Second Edition is essential reading for anyone with an active involvement or interest in sport, it will help students, coaches, teams, and sportsmen and women to sharpen their mental edge and so realise their true potential in sport and through sport.




Pure Sport


Book Description

Pure Sport is a practical guide that provides insights on asserting positive mindsets, realising potential, remaining resilient against setbacks and using these experiences to move on to greater success. The book follows the journey of the athlete through six clear steps, creating a logical framework for applied sport psychology or a path you can follow in your own practice. The third edition is fully updated and now more accessible than ever, including new advice on maintaining a resilient attitude and taking care of athletes’ mental well-being. Drawing on decades of both practical and theoretical knowledge, the authors deliver practical advice with a thorough grounding in sport psychology, supplemented by case studies, reflection questions, common problems and effective solutions, and useful summaries of key points. Pure Sport is essential reading for all those actively involved and interested in sport, from sports psychologists and academics, to athletes and coaches.




Pure Grit


Book Description

"A must-read" --Julie Dussliere, Chief of Paralympic Sport, U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Nineteen people from across the globe, ranging in age from twenty to seventy-plus, tell their stories of living and thriving in diverse fields -- in sport, the arts, medicine, business and more. With refreshing frankness, they share their successes along with their struggles -- grit is the one characteristic they all have in common. These are not stories of people overcoming disability -- they're stories of people accommodating disability while pursuing their dreams. Pure Grit shines a light on boundless possibility whatever the individual challenge. "Pure Grit highlights the lived experience of remarkable individuals, who collectively demonstrate that growing up with a disability brings strength, perspective, and resilience." --Dr. Cheri Blauwet, Assistant Professor of PM&R, Harvard Medical School "An insightful collection of stories." --Dr. Christine Imms, Apex Australia Chair of Neurodevelopment and Disability, University of Melbourne "The stories in Pure Grit are a testament to human achievement no matter your ability. An extraordinary read." --Casey Wasserman, Chairperson, Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games




Antioxidants in Sport Nutrition


Book Description

The use of antioxidants in sports is controversial due to existing evidence that they both support and hinder athletic performance. Antioxidants in Sport Nutrition covers antioxidant use in the athlete ́s basic nutrition and discusses the controversies surrounding the usefulness of antioxidant supplementation. The book also stresses how antioxidants may affect immunity, health, and exercise performance. The book contains scientifically based chapters explaining the basic mechanisms of exercise-induced oxidative damage. Also covered are methodological approaches to assess the effectiveness of antioxidant treatment. Biomarkers are discussed as a method to estimate the bioefficacy of dietary/supplemental antioxidants in sports. This book is useful for sport nutrition scientists, physicians, exercise physiologists, product developers, sport practitioners, coaches, top athletes, and recreational athletes. In it, they will find objective information and practical guidance.




Physical Activity and Sport During the First Ten Years of Life


Book Description

Evidence suggests that the first 10 or so years of life create the foundation for subsequent participation in recreational and health-related physical activity. This book brings together researchers and practitioners with expertise in issues related to physical activity, physical education, and sport during the primary/elementary phase of schooling, to explore these important issues. Combining inter-disciplinary perspectives, the book addresses the inherent complexity of researching with young children. It looks at the evidence on development during the first 10 years and how that evidence relates to physical activity and to sport, in pre-school, school and out of school. Finally, the book offers a series of national case studies, from Asia, Europe and Africa, demonstrating the importance of age-appropriate sport and physical activity. This is important reading for any student, researcher, educator or policy maker with an interest in physical activity and health, education in the early years or at primary/elementary level, paediatric exercise science, or youth sport.




This Book Has Balls


Book Description

The sports world according to Michael Rapaport—actor, Top 50 podcaster, award-winning film maker, and sports fanatic—from the greatest and downright worst athletes, players, teams, and jerseys, but minus statistics, analytics, or anything else that isn’t pure hustle in this “hell of a book” (Shaquille O'Neal). In 1979, nine-year-old Michael Rapaport decided he was going to do whatever it took to be a pro baller. He practiced and practiced, but by the time he was fifteen, he realized there was no place for a slow, white Jewish kid in the NBA. So, he found another way to channel his obsession with sports: talking trash. In the “crazy, passionate, funny and intense” (Colin Cowherd) This Book Has Balls, Rapaport uses his signature smack-talk style and in-your-face humor to discuss everything from why LeBron will never be like Mike, that Tiger needs the ladies to get his golf game back, and how he once thought Mary Lou Retton was his true love. And, of course, why next year will be the year the New York Knicks win the championship. This book is a series of rants—some controversial, some affectionate, but all incredibly hilarious. “Something is wrong with Michael Rapaport but that’s what makes him right,” (Charlamagne tha God).




Pure


Book Description

Julianna Baggott presents her beautifully written, riveting, breakout novel, PURE, the first volume in her new post-apocalypse thriller trilogy. We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . . Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run. Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . . There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her. When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.




Key Concepts in Sport Psychology


Book Description

"An excellent text to offer more depth on theories and concepts within Sports Psychology and provide learners with a greater understanding of current psychological theories. The text helps in enforcing knowledge gained and also provides a plethora of references for further reading around any of the chapters covered within the text." - John Harrison, Tyne Metropolitan College "This book provides a good introduction to sports psychology, and enables students to obtain a basic understanding of the key concepts. I will recommend this book to my level 4 students." - Marie Robbins, Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education "Provided an excellent synthesis of key topics in sport psychology. The content draws upon leaders in the field both from a research and applied sport psychology perspective." - Andrew Balsdon, Canterbury Christ Church University This book provides a focused, accurate guide for students working within the dynamic field of sport psychology. The concise and authoritative entries have been selected by experienced teachers and researchers; each one defines, explains and develops a key topic in sport psychology acting as a springboard for further reading and debate. This is a stimulating and practical resource for students defined by the clarity of writing and relevant examples. Each concept gives the student: clear definitions up-to-date suggestions for further reading careful cross-referencing. Easy to use and intelligently judged this book offers the modern student the basic materials, tools and guidance for planning essays and passing exams.




Reading Sport


Book Description

A look at power relations in sports along the axes of gender, race, class, and sexuality.




The Mindful Athlete


Book Description

The all-star advisor to athletes like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan shares his revolutionary mindfulness-based program for elevating athletic performance—featuring a foreword by legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson. “George helped me understand the art of mindfulness. To be neither distracted or focused, rigid or flexible, passive or aggressive. I learned just to be.” —Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan credits George Mumford with transforming his on-court leadership of the Bulls, helping Jordan lead the team to six NBA championships. Mumford also helped Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom and countless other NBA players turn around their games. A widely respected public speaker and coach, Mumford is sharing his own story and the strategies that have made these athletes into stars in The Mindful Athlete: The Secret to Pure Performance. His proven, gentle but groundbreaking mindfulness techniques can transform the performance of anyone with a goal, be they an Olympian, weekend warrior, executive, hacker, or artist. When Michael Jordan left the Chicago Bulls to play baseball in 1993, the team was in crisis. Coach Phil Jackson, a long-time mindfulness practitioner, contacted Dr. Kabat-Zinn to find someone who could teach mindfulness techniques to the struggling team—someone who would have credibility and could speak the language of his players. Kabat-Zinn led Jackson to Mumford and their partnership began. Mumford has worked with Jackson and each of the eleven teams he coached to become NBA champions. His roster of champion clients has since blossomed way beyond basketball to include corporate executives, Olympians, and athletes in many different sports. With a charismatic teaching style that combines techniques of engaged mindfulness with lessons from popular culture icons such as Yoda, Indiana Jones, and Bruce Lee, Mumford tells illuminating stories about his larger-than-life clients. His writing is down-to-earth and easy to understand and apply. The Mindful Athlete is an engrossing story and an invaluable resource for anyone looking to elevate their game, no matter what the pursuit, and includes a foreword by Phil Jackson.