The Elite Young Athlete


Book Description

A key resource for coaches, scientists and clinicians Sport is by its nature competitive and even during youth it is performed at different levels with elite young athletes at the top of the performance pyramid. A coordinated series of comprehensive, research-based reviews on factors underlying the performance of children and adolescents involved in competitive sport is presented in this volume. Leading exercise and sport scientists provide the latest information on the physiology of young elite athletes, the essential role of nutrition, and the effects of endurance, high-intensity and high-resistance training and overtraining as well as on the importance of laboratory and field-based monitoring of young athletes' performances. Further, thermoregulation and environmental factors that might affect performance are re-viewed. Finally, strategies for preventing sudden cardiac death and the diagnosis and management of common sport injuries in young athletes are discussed. The book provides up-to-date, evidence-based information for sports scientists, coaches, physiotherapists, pediatric sports medicine specialists, and other professionals involved in supporting elite young athletes.




The Best


Book Description

THE SECRETS OF SUPERHUMAN PERFORMANCE Never have the best sportspeople seemed so far removed from the rest of us, their prowess so unfathomable. So how are these extraordinary athletes made? THE BEST reveals how the most incredible sportspeople in the world get to the top and stay there. It is a unique look at the path to sporting greatness; a story of origins, practice, genetics and psychology. Packed with gripping personal stories and interviews with top athletes including Elena Delle Donne, Pete Sampras, Joey Votto, Steph Curry, Kurt Warner and Premier League superstars Marcus Rashford and Jamie Carragher, it explains how the best athletes develop the extraordinary skills that allow them to perform remarkable feats under extreme pressure. THE BEST uncovers startling truths of athletic greatness-including why younger siblings have more chance of becoming elite, which towns produce the most superstars, the role of informal play and the best time to be born in the school year. It goes inside the minds of champions to understand what makes them perform during high-octane competition, how to hit a baseball or tennis ball in under 0.5 seconds, the secrets of how the best train and what makes a great leader. The book appeals to all lovers of sport, anyone with an interest in psychology and excellence, the parents of budding athletes, and fans of books like Freakonomics, Outliers and Range. It is a deconstruction of what it takes to be the best-and how we can all improve in sport and beyond.




Nutrition for Elite Athletes


Book Description

In order to achieve and maintain peak performance, high-level athletes require the right nutrition at the right time. Nutrition for Elite Athletes provides a comprehensive overview of the latest research on the nutritional requirements of athletes at the top of their game.Since researchers, clinicians, and graduate students work with certain popula




Play On


Book Description

A lively, deeply reported tour of the science and strategies helping athletes like Tom Brady, Serena Williams, Carli Lloyd, and LeBron James redefine the notion of “peak age.” Season after season, today’s sports superstars seem to defy the limits of physical aging that inevitably sideline their competitors. How much of the difference is genetic destiny and how much can be attributed to better training, medicine, and technology? Is athletic longevity a skill that can be taught or a mental discipline that can be mastered? Can career-ending injuries be predicted and avoided? Journalist Jeff Bercovici spent extensive time with professional and Olympic athletes, coaches, and doctors to find the answers to these questions. His quest led him to training camps, tournaments, hospitals, antiaging clinics, and Silicon Valley startups, where he tried cutting-edge treatments and technologies firsthand and investigated the realities behind health fads like alkaline diets, high-intensity interval training, and cryotherapy. Through fascinating profiles and first-person anecdotes, Bercovici illuminates the science and strategies extending the careers of elite older athletes, uncovers the latest advances in fields from nutrition to brain science to virtual reality, and offers empowering insights about how the rest of us can find peak performance at any age.




Developing and Supporting Athlete Wellbeing


Book Description

This pioneering book in elite athlete wellbeing brings together the narratives of athletes and wellbeing practitioners in high-performance sport with cutting-edge theorizing from world-leading academics to explore pertinent mental wellbeing matters that present for elite athletes both during and after their careers. The journey of the elite athlete is considered from entering the high-performance system as a youth performer through to retirement, with contributions illuminating the ways in which mental wellbeing can be impacted – both negatively and positively – through common place experiences. Methods of creating holistic high-performance sports cultures along with common mental wellbeing influencers, such as parents, education, faith, injury and (de)selection are explored, as well as the ramifications of uncommon events on mental wellbeing, such as whistleblowing, legal disputes, psychological disorders and COVID-19. Drawing on this analysis, the book then proffers thought-provoking strategies for how the mental wellbeing of both athletes and staff can be understood, developed and supported, ultimately driving elite sport cultural transformation to put the person first and the athlete second. Each chapter presents the wellbeing experience from the vantage of the athlete or the wellbeing practitioner, followed by an academic unpacking of the situation. This makes the book a must read for students and researchers working in sport coaching, sport psychology, applied sport science or sport management, as well as practitioners interested in facilitating a duty of care for high performing athletes, and working in coaching, sport science support, athlete development programs, NGB policy and administration or welfare services.




Athlete Learning in Elite Sport


Book Description

Elite athletes lead a particular way of life, which creates significant learning and shapes their selves. This is the first sociological-pedagogical text to conceptualise athlete learning in elite sport and across athletic careers. It outlines theories of learning and argues for a cultural perspective capturing contextual influence, temporal changes, individual dispositions, and subjectivity. Presented in three parts—landscaping elite sport and theorising athlete learning; showcasing athletes’ learning in elite sport; and informing research and practice—the book features nine international, multi-contextual, and multi-experience case studies of athlete careers, experiences, and learning across individual and team sports such as boxing, rugby, basketball, hockey, and gymnastics. This is fascinating reading for students, researchers, and practitioners in sport organisations, sports coaching, coach education, and sport sociology and pedagogy.




Life Story Research in Sport


Book Description

What is life really like for the elite athlete? How does the experience of being a professional sports person differ from the popular perceptions of fans, journalists or academics? Why might elite sports people experience mental health difficulties away from the public gaze? In the first book-length study of its kind, Kitrina Douglas and David Carless present the life stories of real elite athletes alongside careful analysis and interpretation of those stories in order to better understand the experience of living in sport. Drawing on psychology, sociology, counselling, psychotherapy and narrative theory, and on narrative research in sports as diverse as golf, track and field athletics, judo and hockey, they explore the ways in which the culture of sport interacts with the mental health, development, identity and life trajectories of elite and professional sports people in highly pressurised and sometimes unhealthy environments. By casting light on a previously under-researched aspect of sport, the book makes a call for strategies to be put in place to minimise difficulties or distress for athletes, for support to be tailored across the different life phases, and highlights the potential benefits in terms of athlete well-being and improved performance. The book also considers how these important issues relate to broader cultural and social factors, and therefore represents important reading for any student or professional with an interest in sport psychology, coaching, sport sociology, youth sport, counselling, or exercise and mental health.




See to Play


Book Description

Only the best eyes make it -- Superhuman acuity -- See wide for champion side vision -- Move your eyes! -- Fast focus finishes first -- Eye-hand-body coordination -- Visual noise -- Using and expanding your mind's eye -- Lifestyle choices for athletic eyes -- Eye injuries -- Early career exercises -- See to play vision exercises -- See to play ranking method.




Sport Visualization for the Elite Athlete


Book Description

Sport visualization skills, the ability to create mental images of a perfect athletic performance in your mind, are extremely powerful tools for helping individuals achieve their athletic best. Legendary sports figures use it because it helps them win, and these are their proven techniques for personal training.




The Healthy Former Athlete


Book Description

They say athletes suffer two deaths—the one at the end of their lives, and the one at the end of their collegiate or professional sports lives. For an athlete to go from an athletic career to retirement can be a difficult transition. Luckily, Lauren Link, RD, CSSD, has already dealt with this life change and with The Healthy Post-College Athlete, any former athlete can learn how to go from the discipline of weightlifting sessions and conditioning for a game or race, to maintaining a healthy lifestyle without those familiar goals. The book is targeted at those who are juggling a switch away from the intense, competitive, and routine-oriented life of an athlete, and shows how to apply the lessons learned from that time to life as a normal human. Also included in the book are excerpts from Link’s own blog that she started to document her transition from her collegiate athletic lifestyle, along with lists and case studies to help contextualize the challenge in leaving the focus and discipline of an athletic life. Link covers such ground as: • Modifying your diet based on “normal human” calorie expenditure, with meal planning and grocery shopping • Designing a routine and workout to stay fit and healthy • Easy-to-prepare recipes that will help facilitate a healthy lifestyle • Forming an identity outside of your sport Whether you’re a professional athlete or just a person trying to be healthier, this book will show you a path to living a better and healthier life. With a humorous and self-effacing tone, Link will show you how to transition in The Healthy Post-College Athlete. “My experience working with Skyhorse is always a positive collaboration. The editors are first-rate professionals, and my books receive top-shelf treatment. I truly appreciate our working relationship and hope it continues for years to come.” –David Fischer, author