The Competitive Edge by Dr. Jeffrey Brown
Harvard clinical and sport psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Brown understands the obsession to beat the competition. Learning firsthand in his private practice from patients struggling with power and position in the workplace to runners he works with on the Boston Marathon route, Dr. Brown recognizes that the need to win out over others and the temptation to compromise values is a reality. In The Competitive Edge, Dr. Brown helps the reader learn how to be a winner without compromising character. Seven principles for success and a chapter on performance-enhancing strategies make The Competitive Edge a practical choice for those wanting to be their best on or off the court. The Competitive Edge offers a timely, effective message and should be in the library of every dedicated competitor, parent, or coach. Listen to Dr. Brown and read the first chapter at www.drjeffbrown.com.
Becoming a True Champion: Achieving Athletic Excellence
Written by Kirk Mango for aspiring athletes. Whether you play team sports like basketball, baseball, volleyball, football, softball, or soccer, compete in individual sports like tennis, wrestling, gymnastics, track, or swimming; whether you are looking to reach certain athletic goals, be inspired, compete at higher levels, become the best you can be, or just improve in your sport, Becoming a True Champion: Achieving Athletic Excellence From the Inside Out addresses sports training in all of these and more. Check out Kirk’s blog at becomingatruechampion.blogspot.com
Buy Becoming a True Champion: Achieving Athletic Excellence From the Inside Out Here
How to Win at Sports Parenting: Maximizing the Sports Experience for You and Your Child
by Jim Sundberg and Janet Sundberg
It Can Be More Than Just a Game.
With the stresses our culture is experiencing today, it’s more important than ever to find ways for families to come together as a strong unit. Competitive youth sports offer families ideal opportunities to support our kids, instill character, and teach lessons that will serve our children both now and in the future-all in a fun and natural setting. Unfortunately, many of us don’t take full advantage of these sports experiences, of because we don’t know how to begin.
Buy How to Win at Sports Parenting: Maximizing the Sports Experience for You and Your Child here
Just Let the Kids Play: How to Stop Other Adults from Ruining Your Child’s Fun and Success in Youth Sports
by Bob Bigelow, Tom Moroney, Linda Hall
This is not just another book touting improved sportsmanship and better coaching to remedy the violence in youth sports today. Just Let the Kids Play is the first book to identify the youth sports systems as the cause of the problem, and offers practical ways to rebuild them so they better serve the physical and emotional needs of children. First-round Nba draft pick, part-time Nba scout and youth coach Bob Bigelow joins journalists Tom Moroney and Linda Hall to put youth sports under harsh review. They explain the controversial belief that elite traveling teams at young ages should be abolished and replaced with equal playing time, team parity and shortened seasons, among others.
The Cheers and the Tears: A Healthy Alternative to the Dark Side of Youth Sports Today by Shane Murphy, Ph. D.
Put Fun and Development into Your Child’s Youth Sports Experience? My son came home in tears and says he wants to quit the team-why?? The team I coach doesn’t seem to enjoy the game. How can I make practices and games fun?? When my daughter gets injured, is she playing too hard or getting pushed too hard?? I suspect my son may be taking steroids-what should I do?? Are competitive sports bad for my child? Is being the parent of a competitive youth sport participant bad for me? The Cheers and the Tears offers parents and coaches sensible advice and healthy alternative approaches to the competitive and stressful world of youth sports.
Buy The Cheers and the Tears here
The Sports Parenting Edge by Rick Wolff
A practical, provocative, and comprehensive guide for parents who want to ensure that their children get the most out of all their sports experiences, The Sports Parenting Edge takes a fresh, resolutely positive approach to a popular subject. Parents and coaches today, according to author Rick Wolff, do not want to be lectured anymore about the problems inherent in youth sports. Rather, they want to learn how to work around the pitfalls of out-of-control parents, how to deal with win-at-all-costs coaches, and in short, how to make certain that their children enjoy sports and have the opportunity to develop their full athletic potential. A must for parents of children from kindergarten age through high school, this book also includes a frank discussion of college recruitment issues.
Beyond the Bleachers: The Art of Parenting Today’s Athletes
by George A. Selleck and David C. Epperson
In today’s world, parents must look long and hard to find positive influences for their children. Sports provide parents with the ideal laboratory for teaching life’s lessons and making a real difference in their children’s lives. Beyond the Bleachers tackles 52 hard-hitting issues, including how to
- Use sports to reinforce family values
- Teach children to cope with frustration
- Teach children to make good choices about tobacco, drugs, and alcohol
- Build character
- Teach children to respect themselves and others
- Communicate effectively with the coach
Buy Beyond the Bleachers: The Art of Parenting Today’s Athletes here
The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager’s Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life
by Mike Matheny and Jerry B. Jenkins
Mike Matheny was just forty-one, without professional managerial experience and looking for a next step after a successful career as a Major League catcher, when he succeeded the legendary Tony La Russa as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012. While Matheny has enjoyed immediate success, leading the Cards to the postseason three times in his first three years, people have noticed something else about his life, something not measured in day-to-day results. Instead, it’s based on a frankly worded letter he wrote to the parents of a Little League team he coached, a cry for change that became an Internet sensation and eventually a “manifesto.”
The tough-love philosophy Matheny expressed in the letter contained his throwback beliefs that authority should be respected, discipline and hard work rewarded, spiritual faith cultivated, family made a priority, and humility considered a virtue. In The Matheny Manifesto, he builds on his original letter by first diagnosing the problem at the heart of youth sports−hint: it starts with parents and coaches−and then by offering a hopeful path forward. Along the way, he uses stories from his small-town childhood as well as his career as a player, coach, and manager to explore eight keys to success: leadership, confidence, teamwork, faith, class, character, toughness, and humility.
