Mindset: A Mental Guide for Sport - Second Revised Edition

Conquer your nerves and enjoy the challenge.
Learn how to focus like a world-class athlete by using the same awareness techniques Olympians use to achieve great results. Mindset explores how elite athletes keep calm under pressure by allowing the mind and body to work in harmony. Systematically train the mental side of your physical discipline by changing the way you think about, compete in and play sport. You will be able to convert anger, impatience, tension and frustration into self-confidence and pleasure, transforming your perception of sport forever. The book is ideal for parents, coaches and athletes of all levels. You are guaranteed to see results if you are prepared to practice.

'Mindset is inspiring and practical. It helped me and the team to focus under pressure.' Kim Lammers - Olympic Gold & World Champion hockey

'At the beginning I was skeptical about the Mindset method. Now after practicing and feeling the inner peace whilst shooting, I am not skeptical at all. It works.' Sjef van den Berg - World Champion, Olympic archer

'I've found this book's methods immediately helpful in both my rehearsals and performance, helping me to improve in focus, deal more effectively with performance nerves, and generally raise my enjoyment of singing.' Barbara Hannigan - World renowned opera singer & conductor

'I agree with the Mindset vision and clear method. I'm convinced that players will gain insight into how they can improve the mental side of their game by reading this book.' Leander Paes - tennis player former world nr. 1 doubles, multiple Grand Slam winner

'Looking at the mental side of the game is key to gaining an advantage on and off the court. Striving to enhance performance, confidence and ability is a dynamic balance of motivation, challenge and self reflection. Mindset lays out a path for anyone seeking a new level of clarity and self-realization.' Rohan Goetzke - Director IMG Tennis Academy in Florida, USA

'A clearly presented way of gaining self-knowledge and self-control which can be applied on all levels of sport and other challenges of life' Jacco Verhaeren - Legendary swimming coach, with Olympic gold swimmers in 2000, ‘04, ’08, ’12 and ‘16. Currently National swimming coach Australia

'Mindset teaches you how to control your own mind and to determine how you react and function. This book's clear translation of theory into practice has helped me to achieve a great sense of inner calm.' Esther Vergeer - wheelchair tennis world champion, 2x winner Laureus Award, Paralympic gold 2000, 2004, 2008 & 2012

'There is more to tennis than hitting the ball. Mindset shows you how to get yourself and your tennis in balance.' Richard Krajicek - Wimbledon Tennis Champion 1996 - Dutch

'A recent discovery in psychology is that the brain is extremely plastic; it can be moulded by experience and mental training. Mindset translates that knowledge into the practicalities of sport.' Jaap Murre - Professor of theoretical neuropsychology, University of Amsterdam, Holland

FROM THE LONDON TIMES July 7, 2015 by Emma Pomfret Staying in the "now" is a holy grail for athletes and there is little difference between choking in a big game and stage fright. So no wonder musicians are learning lessons from sport psychology. Soprano Barbara Hannigan, widely praised for her performances of testing contemporary music and her recent conducting, says she turned to sport psychology to control her nerves. "I found they were interfering with my ability to perform how I knew I could perform . . . with my potential under pressure. It wasn't to do with my voice or my musicality. It had to do with my mental game." Fortuitously, Hannigan's neighbour in Amsterdam is Jackie Reardon, who has coached the Dutch tennis, hockey and archery teams in psychology. With Reardon's help, Hannigan has learned various techniques "to stay super, super-focused". She uses breathing, muscle tension, "friendly eyes" - never judging herself during a performance, which would mean coming out of the moment - and eye control. "Sometimes before I go on stage I will put one thumbnail on top of the other and focus on the edge of the nail to bring the focus very, very small, for 15 seconds," she says. "It's like when tennis players look at the racket and put their fingers on the strings; they're not adjusting the strings of their racket, they're bringing their focus in." Reardon also shows her athletes videos of Hannigan performing Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macabre and Berg's Lulu to illustrate taking risks under pressure. "The idea is that we can never repeat the good thing - that amazing shot, that amazing high C," Hannigan says. "We can only create the parameters for a peak or optimal performance."