Improved mental ability means improved sports performance. Athletes who excel do so not just because of their physical abilities but because of their mental awareness, preparation, and skills as well. The Mental Athlete will help improve your overall performance by providing the tools, guidance, and practical insight you need to sharpen your mental skills. This conditioning manual for the mind will help you •further enhance mental strengths and address weaknesses through effective self-assessments, •increase confidence in personal abilities and avoid the fear of failure, •heighten awareness of inner-thought processes and learn ways to improve them, and •be free of inhibitions to initiate action and to respond intuitively and positively to challenges. No matter what sport you play and at what level you play, you will find this practical, reader-friendly book useful because it not only lets you know what you need to do to improve your mental abilities, but it also shows you how to improve them. It contains exercises, tests, and worksheets that help you move through the steps of mental achievement. In addition, The Mental Athlete contains the following features: •Sections that cover specific sports and issues •Sport-specific visualizations for football, soccer, volleyball, and many other sports •Information on issues such as team building; recovering from injuries; and letting go of mistakes, losses, anger, and fear Take full advantage of your physical skills by fully developing your mental skills—the aim of The Mental Athlete! Contents Chapter 1 Essentials for Effective Mental Training Chapter 2 Developing Mental Training Skills Chapter 3 Gauging Your Mental Aptitude Chapter 4 Taking Steps Toward Positive Thinking Chapter 5 Preparing Your Mind and Body for Mental Training Chapter 6 Unleashing the Power of the Mind Chapter 7 Optimizing Your Performance Chapter 8 Troubleshooting Performance Blocks Chapter 9 Mental Training for Specific Needs Chapter 10 Mental Training for Life
Part ITeaching and Evaluating
Chapter 1Teaching Sport Skills
Chapter 2Evaluating Technical and Tactical Skills
Part IITeaching Technical Skills
Chapter 3Offensive Technical Skills
Chapter 4Defensive Technical Skills
Part IIITeaching Tactical Skills
Chapter 5Offensive Tactical Skills
Chapter 6Defensive Tactical Skills
Part IVPlanning for Teaching
Chapter 7Season Plans
Chapter 8Practice Plans
Part VGame Coaching
Chapter 9Preparing for Games
Chapter 10During and After the Game
Index
About ASEP
Coaching Football Technical and Tactical Skills was written by the American Sport Education Program (ASEP) with the assistance of Rob Ash, head football coach at Drake University.
ASEP has been developing and delivering coaching education courses since 1981. As the nation's leading coaching education program, ASEP works with national, state, and local youth sport organizations to develop educational programs for coaches, officials, administrators, and parents. These programs incorporate ASEP's philosophy of “athletes first, winning second.”