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The Playmaker's Advantage: How to Raise Your Mental Game to the Next Level
Discover how to improve your mental game—the next frontier in sports training—no matter your age or experience and become the Playmaker or the decisive general on the court or field.
Coaches search for it. Parents dream of it. Fans love it. Athletes want it.
The Playmaker on any sports team possesses it: an elusive, intangible quality combining anticipation, perception, and decision-making skills. This quality raises their game above the competition and allows them to pass when no one else can, anticipate the movement of opponents, and avoid costly mental mistakes, thus holding the team together.
Using today’s technology and tools, it is now possible to understand, assess, and train this sixth sense rather than just hope it magically appears. Now, for the first time, cognitive science research is revealing the secrets of the Playmaker’s keen sense of awareness. Just as tests of speed, strength, and agility have provided a baseline of physiological biomarkers, coaches can now capture cognitive metrics including attention, pattern recognition, anticipation, and the ability to take quick, decisive action during the chaos of competition.
The Playmaker’s Advantage is a groundbreaking book that will educate athletes of all ages about this essential creative capability in an accessible, easy to understand method.
Coaches search for it. Parents dream of it. Fans love it. Athletes want it.
The Playmaker on any sports team possesses it: an elusive, intangible quality combining anticipation, perception, and decision-making skills. This quality raises their game above the competition and allows them to pass when no one else can, anticipate the movement of opponents, and avoid costly mental mistakes, thus holding the team together.
Using today’s technology and tools, it is now possible to understand, assess, and train this sixth sense rather than just hope it magically appears. Now, for the first time, cognitive science research is revealing the secrets of the Playmaker’s keen sense of awareness. Just as tests of speed, strength, and agility have provided a baseline of physiological biomarkers, coaches can now capture cognitive metrics including attention, pattern recognition, anticipation, and the ability to take quick, decisive action during the chaos of competition.
The Playmaker’s Advantage is a groundbreaking book that will educate athletes of all ages about this essential creative capability in an accessible, easy to understand method.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published June 12, 2018
50 people are currently reading
289 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 9, 2018
I was made aware of this book from a mention on one of Vern Gambetta’s Facebook postings. It piqued my interest as I am a coach for a youth sports team and I had been thinking about how to use the neuro scientific results that has been seemingly flying out academia. I bought the book at the beginning of August and decided to give it a crack, an unusual thing for me as I usually have a tall To Be Read stack balancing precariously on my end table. I had just finished reading Grit, the book by Angela Duckworth and I was excited but also puzzled by the unfulfilled promise of that book. I was disturbed by the lack of any discussion as to How to train Grit. I was definitely looking for something more all-encompassing of the neuropsychology area. As it turned out, this book explained many of my puzzles.
The book is split into three clear sections; the reason for the split is well explained in the introduction. The three sections are: Playmaker’s Foundation, Playmaker’s Cognition, and finally Playmaker’s Commitment. The first section describes the research that has been done on defining what the authors mean by the Playmaker’s qualities and how they researched the playmaker qualities. Unlike most of the summaries of the literature on the subjects, the account of the research is fascinating and the synopsis of the results and conclusions were concise and explicit without shortchanging the nuances of this research.
Playmaker’s Cognition is the revelatory section of the book, in my opinion, as this is where the authors deconstructs the mythology around the decision making process that Playmakers go through as well as the cognitive processes that explains some of the why’s and how’s. This was particularly interesting because the authors were able to delineate the specific steps for decision making and the motivation for the steps, which implicitly gives us an idea as to how to train the athlete to work towards attaining the state of being of a playmaker. There are three chapters in this section: Search, Decide, and Execute, each chapter addressing the progressive steps of good decision making. This was a revelation to me, even though in hindsight the steps and sequence made perfect sense. It was one of those: why didn’t I think of that moment.
Finally, the last section on Playmaker Commitment section is the section where the authors address a number of topics appearing in the popular press that seemed dodgy. Topics like Grit, Growth Mindset, and the ten thousand hour rule; topics that had captured the imagination of many who are seeking a formula or a recipe for success in whatever endeavor they have an interest in. Since this book follows the others by a few years, the authors were able to address the ambiguities inadvertently left exposed in the other books, ambiguities that pulled the mass audience zealously into popular, yet misguided and false conclusions. I had read the tomes regarding all of these ideas, and they left me puzzled since the books did not address how to attain these qualities, but this book boldly states that no one really knows how to train grit, or inculcate a growth mindset, or truly believe that ten thousand hours is sufficient for mastery. In fact, ten thousand hours idea is not even applicable to the sporting world that this book is addressing. The authors did a real service for the other authors and debunked the populist myth that had taken over the popular press.
In fact, there will be many who will find dissatisfaction with the lack of a formula with this book, because in the end the authors are scientists and careful practitioners, it is their professional responsibility to be accurate and precise, even if doing so means not giving sound bitesques conclusions. They do however give us enough information for us to experiment ourselves and try to apply the concepts that they were able to uncover and summarize.
I am planning the season for a youth team that I coach, and I am now rethinking my usual coaching plans and integrating the ideas from this book as a part of the major revamp of my philosophy and the way the various parts of my coaching fit together. This will be an adventure of a grand scale. I am happy to have this guide which does not give me a recipe but will guide me through my thinking and philosophizing.
The book is split into three clear sections; the reason for the split is well explained in the introduction. The three sections are: Playmaker’s Foundation, Playmaker’s Cognition, and finally Playmaker’s Commitment. The first section describes the research that has been done on defining what the authors mean by the Playmaker’s qualities and how they researched the playmaker qualities. Unlike most of the summaries of the literature on the subjects, the account of the research is fascinating and the synopsis of the results and conclusions were concise and explicit without shortchanging the nuances of this research.
Playmaker’s Cognition is the revelatory section of the book, in my opinion, as this is where the authors deconstructs the mythology around the decision making process that Playmakers go through as well as the cognitive processes that explains some of the why’s and how’s. This was particularly interesting because the authors were able to delineate the specific steps for decision making and the motivation for the steps, which implicitly gives us an idea as to how to train the athlete to work towards attaining the state of being of a playmaker. There are three chapters in this section: Search, Decide, and Execute, each chapter addressing the progressive steps of good decision making. This was a revelation to me, even though in hindsight the steps and sequence made perfect sense. It was one of those: why didn’t I think of that moment.
Finally, the last section on Playmaker Commitment section is the section where the authors address a number of topics appearing in the popular press that seemed dodgy. Topics like Grit, Growth Mindset, and the ten thousand hour rule; topics that had captured the imagination of many who are seeking a formula or a recipe for success in whatever endeavor they have an interest in. Since this book follows the others by a few years, the authors were able to address the ambiguities inadvertently left exposed in the other books, ambiguities that pulled the mass audience zealously into popular, yet misguided and false conclusions. I had read the tomes regarding all of these ideas, and they left me puzzled since the books did not address how to attain these qualities, but this book boldly states that no one really knows how to train grit, or inculcate a growth mindset, or truly believe that ten thousand hours is sufficient for mastery. In fact, ten thousand hours idea is not even applicable to the sporting world that this book is addressing. The authors did a real service for the other authors and debunked the populist myth that had taken over the popular press.
In fact, there will be many who will find dissatisfaction with the lack of a formula with this book, because in the end the authors are scientists and careful practitioners, it is their professional responsibility to be accurate and precise, even if doing so means not giving sound bitesques conclusions. They do however give us enough information for us to experiment ourselves and try to apply the concepts that they were able to uncover and summarize.
I am planning the season for a youth team that I coach, and I am now rethinking my usual coaching plans and integrating the ideas from this book as a part of the major revamp of my philosophy and the way the various parts of my coaching fit together. This will be an adventure of a grand scale. I am happy to have this guide which does not give me a recipe but will guide me through my thinking and philosophizing.
September 13, 2018
Lots of research, little practical application.
June 28, 2018
Excellent read for any parent of an athlete!
December 17, 2018
I’m not an athlete, so much of this book was a bit beyond me. The authors looked at elite athletes as “playmakers.” One of the things that playmakers do is to recognize patterns on the field. They also assist others with a selflessness. Something that I found interesting is that coaches often train players for physical fitness. However, there is a perceptual cognitive advantages that makes athletes perform better. Dr. Arthur Kramer conducted studies and found that physical training builds cognitive abilities from the body’s molecular level to its systems level. The conclusion of the experiment was that “expert” athletes have greater brain processing speed.
July 1, 2019
This was a very interesting book! I encourage anyone interested in sports, especially high school and college athletes and coaches, to read this book. The premise of the book is that athletics is as much about the physicality as it is about cognition and mental awareness. I truly enjoyed the chapter about mindset, grit and greatness, as that is a concept I can bring back to my classroom. The author took a lot of time to research; there are 20 pages of annotations where you can find more information. Well worth the read!
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
August 26, 2023
It wasn't particularly a bad book, it's just another case of a book that is twice as long as it needs to be. Part 3 was just repeating parts one and two, and yes, although combining the points is important, it doesn't need to be a third of your book.
The 3 takeaways are:
Don't pigeon hole yourself, but diversify what you learn from.
2. Practice situations, not techniques. It helps you mentally prepare for game situations while building technical prowess.
3. Mental fatigue is just as (if not more) important than physical fatigue.
The rest of the book is justifying those. It could've been an article, or a fascinating short 120-140 pages. Not a 270 page book.
The 3 takeaways are:
Don't pigeon hole yourself, but diversify what you learn from.
2. Practice situations, not techniques. It helps you mentally prepare for game situations while building technical prowess.
3. Mental fatigue is just as (if not more) important than physical fatigue.
The rest of the book is justifying those. It could've been an article, or a fascinating short 120-140 pages. Not a 270 page book.
May 2, 2019
An excellent read for coaches, parents, and athletes. Book emphasis on the importance of brain power and cognitive analysis, that helps athletes make intuitive decisions at the fraction of second. Well researched book on building mental strength along with physical strength and skills.
December 27, 2018
Share example from sports how certain people have ability to see the spaces (opportunities) quickly and take advantage of them. Can apply this to management and leadership.
July 9, 2019
You’ll learn something new about sports science.
September 30, 2019
Lot of references to other materials - absolute zero of conclusions or practical application. I also found it pretty hard to read as author keep wondering topic to topic without much structure
October 5, 2020
Easy to read for a non expert, but still great, in depth dive into the current research on mental performance. Not just applicable to sport, lots of stuff in here can be translated into other fields
December 21, 2020
Really a nice read... was able to relate to how MS Dhoni (India's batsman) is a perfect example of a playmaker! Worth my every minute of reading time
December 3, 2021
3.5/5.0
September 6, 2022
Great sports psychology read. I enjoyed the neuro science portion alongside the psychology.
April 30, 2019
This is a wonderful book.. Well written with enough detail for coaches, users, parents, anyone. A must read for everyone with an iota of intellectual curiosity, need to improve, a desire to coach at any level and know the difference in age level needs
A well thought out presentation that engages the reader while educating and enlightening.
This book has been needed for years.
Thanks
I requested and received an e-arc copy of the book for review purposes. I will be buying hard copies for myself and others..
A well thought out presentation that engages the reader while educating and enlightening.
This book has been needed for years.
Thanks
I requested and received an e-arc copy of the book for review purposes. I will be buying hard copies for myself and others..
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews