Top Sport Psychology Books For Athletes

by Dr. Bob Rotella

Acclaimed sports psychologist Bob Rotella has advised everyone from professional golfers to NBA superstars to business executives on how to flourish under pressure and overcome challenges. Now, for the first time, he’s distilled his decades of in-depth research and practical experience into a potential-unlocking guide for everyone.

This exciting book is not a collection of Rotella’s theories; it consists of performance principles that have proven themselves in countless competitive situations, in arenas from which only the strongest minds emerge triumphant. It’s a book full of insights that you can learn and use the next morning—in the office, the classroom, or wherever your quest takes you—told not in abstractions, but through case studies and stories drawn from Rotella’s years teaching sports psychology, counseling athletes, and consulting for Fortune 500 companies. It explores how to keep the mind from holding you back, whatever your physical gifts or other talents. It’s about how to make a commitment, how to persevere, how to deal with failure—and how to train your mind to create a self-image that promotes confidence and accomplishment.

Any successful life starts with how you see yourself. And with these pearls of wisdom from the nation’s preeminent sports psychologist, you can learn to achieve the success of your dreams.

by Jim Afremow, PhD

Even among the most elite performers, certain athletes stand out as a cut above the rest, able to outperform in clutch, game-deciding moments. These athletes prove that raw athletic ability doesn’t necessarily translate to a superior on-field experience—its the mental game that matters most.

Sports participation—from the recreational to the collegiate Division I level—is at an all-time high. While the caliber of their games may differ, athletes at every level have one thing in common: the desire to excel. In The Champion’s Mind, sports psychologist Jim Afremow, PhD, offers the same advice he uses with Olympians, Heisman Trophy winners, and professional athletes, including:

• How to get in a "zone", thrive on a team, and stay humble

• How to progress within a sport and sustain long-term excellence

• Customizable pre-performance routines to hit full power when the gun goes off or the puck is dropped

With hundreds of useful tips, breakthrough science, and cutting-edge workouts from the world’s top trainers,The Champion’s Mind will help you shape your body to ensure a longer, healthier, happier lifetime.

by Gary Mack & David Casstevens

In Mind Gym, noted sports psychology consultant Gary Mack explains how your mind influences your performance on the field or on the court as much as your physical skill does, if not more so. Through forty accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes from prominent athletes — many of whom he has worked with — you will learn the same techniques and exercises Mack uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle". Mind Gym will give you the "head edge" over the competition.

by Troy Horne

Hey Everyone,

Moses and Troy Horne here. Your mental toughness guides! We know exactly how you feel. If you are reading this you probably have a young athlete who struggles with in-game stress and maybe even sports performance anxiety. That is why this version was mostly written by Moses. As of the time of the writing of this book Moses Horne is a 15 year old elite athlete who can talk directly about the triumphs ans struggles of working towards being mentally tough. This is the only book that I know of with input from an actual young athlete.

In this book we are going to share with you what we learned from talking to NBA Athletes, NFL Athletes, EuroLeague Athletes, College Coaches, and College Athletes as well.

This stuff is a game-changer and it’s made specifically for young athletes!

by Brad Stulberg

A few common principles drive performance, regardless of the field or the task at hand. Whether someone is trying to qualify for the Olympics, break ground in mathematical theory or craft an artistic masterpiece, many of the practices that lead to great success are the same. In Peak Performance, Brad Stulberg, a former McKinsey and Company consultant and writer who covers health and the science of human performance, and Steve Magness, a performance scientist and coach of Olympic athletes, team up to demystify these practices and demonstrate how everyone can achieve their best. The first book of its kind, Peak Performance combines the inspiring stories of top performers across a range of capabilities - from athletic, to intellectual, to artistic - with the latest scientific insights into the cognitive and neurochemical factors that drive performance in all domains. In doing so, Peak Performance uncovers new linkages that hold promise as performance enhancers but have been overlooked in our traditionally-siloed ways of thinking. The result is a life-changing book in which readers learn how to enhance their performance via myriad ways including: optimally alternating between periods of intense work and rest; priming the body and mind for enhanced productivity; and developing and harnessing the power of a self-transcending purpose. In revealing the science of great performance and the stories of great performers across a wide range of capabilities, Peak Performance uncovers the secrets of success, and coaches readers on how to use them. If you want to take your game to the next level, whatever "your game" may be, Peak Performance will teach you how.

by Michael Sheard

Mental toughness is one of the most common terms used in sport – by athletes, coaches, spectators and the media. However, it is also one of the least understood terms. This book examines the characteristics and development of mentally tough sport performers, and presents the cutting-edge research in this area. Within these chapters, the author proposes that mental toughness is a personality style and mindset, and presents a compelling case for its inclusion within the positive psychological paradigm.

This second edition has been updated to include new material on the characterisation, conceptualisation, measurement, and development of mental toughness. As in the first edition the book includes a historical overview of empirical research, and also describes the conceptual arguments behind this research.

Now packed with even more rigorous scientific evidence and bang up-to-date anecdotes from the world of sport, the book presents a fascinating explanation of why some athletes are successful, and how and why they stay on top. Mental Toughness: The Mindset Behind Sporting Achievement will be essential reading for all sport psychology, sport science, sport studies, and coaching students.

by John Kremer & Aidan P. Moran

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.

by Alex Hutchinson

The capacity to endure is the key trait that underlies great performance in virtually every field. But what if we all can go farther, push harder, and achieve more than we think we’re capable of?

Blending cutting-edge science and gripping storytelling in the spirit of Malcolm Gladwell — who contributes the book’s foreword — award-winning journalist Alex Hutchinson reveals that a wave of paradigm-altering research over the past decade suggests the seemingly physical barriers you encounter as set as much by your brain as by your body. This means the mind is the new frontier of endurance—and that the horizons of performance are much more elastic than we once thought.

But, of course, it’s not “all in your head.” For each of the physical limits that Hutchinson explores—pain, muscle, oxygen, heat, thirst, fuel—he carefully disentangles the delicate interplay of mind and body by telling the riveting stories of men and women who’ve pushed their own limits in extraordinary ways.

The longtime “Sweat Science” columnist for Outside and Runner’s World, Hutchinson, a former national-team long-distance runner and Cambridge-trained physicist, was one of only two reporters granted access to Nike’s top-secret training project to break the two-hour marathon barrier, an extreme quest he traces throughout the book. But the lessons he draws from shadowing elite athletes and from traveling to high-tech labs around the world are surprisingly universal. Endurance, Hutchinson writes, is “the struggle to continue against a mounting desire to stop”—and we’re always capable of pushing a little farther.

by Annie Vernon

Mind Games discusses concepts used in sports psychology in a way that is understandable to the watching public, sports fans and sports-haters alike. Annie Vernon draws on her own experiences as an Olympic medalist, interviews with a wide range of people from other sports, and input from experts to answer the question: What is it about our psyche that makes pushing the mind and body to their limits such a basic human desire?

Annie speaks to athletes from a broad spectrum of sports around the globe, including basketball’s Shane Battier and John Starks, NFL star Ryan Fitzpatrick, fencer Tim Morehouse, and baseball’s Craig Breslow and Tino Martinez, tennis’s Judy Murray, polar explorer Ben Saunders, triathlete Chrissie Wellington, skeleton-bob star Lizzy Yarnold, runner Jo Pavey and sailor Ben Ainslie, along with coaches and sports psychologists from both Olympic sports and their professional equivalents.

Whether it be performing under pressure, coping with nerves, teamwork, or building self-belief in the face of adversity, the methods that elite sports-people use are also relevant to everyday life. But sports psychology is still regarded as something of a mystery. How exactly do elite sports performers harness the power of their mind in pursuit of physical perfection?

After looking closely at areas such as motivation, competitiveness, gender, and teamwork, Annie Vernon uncovers the underlying psychological principles behind the sports that everyone enjoys.

by Kobe Bryant

In the wake of his retirement from professional basketball, Kobe “The Black Mamba” Bryant decided to share his vast knowledge and understanding of the game to take readers on an unprecedented journey to the core of the legendary “Mamba mentality.” Citing an obligation and an opportunity to teach young players, hardcore fans, and devoted students of the game how to play it “the right way,” The Mamba Mentality takes us inside the mind of one of the most intelligent, analytical, and creative basketball players ever.

In his own words, Bryant reveals his famously detailed approach and the steps he took to prepare mentally and physically to not just succeed at the game, but to excel. Readers will learn how Bryant studied an opponent, how he channeled his passion for the game, how he played through injuries. They’ll also get fascinating granular detail as he breaks down specific plays and match-ups from throughout his career.

Bryant’s detailed accounts are paired with stunning photographs by the Hall of Fame photographer Andrew D. Bernstein. Bernstein, long the Lakers and NBA official photographer, captured Bryant’s very first NBA photo in 1996 and his last in 2016 ― and hundreds of thousands in between, the record of a unique, twenty-year relationship between one athlete and one photographer.

The combination of Bryant’s narrative and Bernstein’s photos make The Mamba Mentality an unprecedented look behind the curtain at the career of one of the world’s most celebrated and fascinating athletes.