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Bring Your "A" Game: A Young Athlete's Guide to Mental Toughness
Mental training is just as important as physical training when it comes to success in sport. And like physical fitness, mental toughness is something that can be taught and learned. Yet many young athletes have not learned the psychological skills needed to develop their best game. This book was written specifically for young athletes interested in improving their performance and reaching their potential in sport.
Bring Your "A" Game introduces key strategies for mental training, such as goal setting, pre-performance routines, confidence building, and imagery. Each of the seventeen chapters focuses on a single mental skill and offers key points and exercises designed to reinforce the concepts. The book encourages athletes to incorporate these mental skills into their daily lives and practice sessions so that they become second nature during competition.
Whether used at home by student athletes or assigned by coaches as part of team development, Bring Your "A" Game will help young performers develop a plan for success and learn to deal with the challenges of pursuing excellence in sport.
Bring Your "A" Game introduces key strategies for mental training, such as goal setting, pre-performance routines, confidence building, and imagery. Each of the seventeen chapters focuses on a single mental skill and offers key points and exercises designed to reinforce the concepts. The book encourages athletes to incorporate these mental skills into their daily lives and practice sessions so that they become second nature during competition.
Whether used at home by student athletes or assigned by coaches as part of team development, Bring Your "A" Game will help young performers develop a plan for success and learn to deal with the challenges of pursuing excellence in sport.
216 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2009
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119 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 20, 2016
Bring Your A Game Book Review
By: Genevieve Robinson; p.1
Do you play a sport? Do you ever think about mental toughness? Well, Bring Your A Game by Jennifer Etnier, Ph.D. will make you question, consider, and improve how you are as an athlete and help you be more mentally tough. Bring Your A Game is a sports psychology book for young athletes like me and many of my peers.
The book brings up many interesting and important ideas that relate to sports, mental toughness, perseverance, and more. But the most important ones are the chapters about technical skills and tactical abilities, goal setting, energy level, burnout, and confidence. The chapter about technical skills and tactical abilities mainly focuses on mistakes and when you are a beginner. One important thing the author wrote is that when a person is just beginning their sport, it’s better to encourage mistakes and give frequent rewards to keep them motivated in learning the sport.
I remember when I started playing volleyball at age 9, I wasn’t very motivated to be good, I just wanted to have fun. My coaches would give every player candy at the end of each practice, which were once a week and only 1 hour long. We also didn’t do any drills, and instead focused on fun games and learning. Now, when I practice volleyball, we solely focus on practicing drills, game-like situations to prepare us for tournaments, and strength and conditioning. Our practices are also at least 2 hours, now, instead of 1 hour. I am also a lot more motivated now to play volleyball and be good then just to have fun and play.
The chapter also mentions that tactical abilities should always come second in the learning process because you have to have some basic level of understanding the sport to develop your tactical abilities.
The chapters on goal setting and energy level are probably the two most important because they apply to every athlete at every level - from beginner to professional. The goal setting chapter states that every athlete should make a list of goals that they want to accomplish while playing their sport. These examples include being mentally tough, mastering technical skills, making a select club team, being a professional, and more. I think that the author is correct in saying that you should always have your goals in mind so you know how much work to put in and how close you are to achieving your goal.
In addition, the chapters on energy level and confidence are also very important. The one about energy mainly focuses on cues and how your energy can affect how in the game you are and how well you’re playing and what you notice and don’t notice. Because of your energy level, your level of play sometimes will be great and other times, you’ll suck and miss opportunity after opportunity.
The chapter about being confidence is mainly about how confidence helps you reach your full potential in a sport and how it fuels the fire of your desire to play. My coach would tell me that I needed to be more confident and everything I did had to be “on pointe” as she put it. The fact that she believed that I could have a game with no mistakes at all proves that she thinks that I’m a contributor and she trusts me. After she put this pressure on me, it gave more confidence and my game was nearly “on pointe”. So, confidence improves your game.
Overall, this book was definitely beneficial to me and any other young athlete trying to improve their abilities. The author did a good job directling it towards any player playing any sport at any level, so it was very general. I also like that the book was only 189 pages, so it’s a quick and informational read. I also like the examples and quotes in the book to add the element of real life. The quotes were from Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, and other amazing pro athletes.
Another thing I liked about this book is the fact that it’s relatable to every sport, and even some other activities like chess. I found a way to apply everything the author wrote in the book to volleyball which is the sport I play. I can also tell that the author is very well educated and clearly knows what she’s talking about and how to make what she’s saying relatable, engaging, and understandable to young readers.
One thing I wish the author would’ve included is a chapter about being humble. I know a few people in particular that play a sport that could benefit from being humbled because they’re arrogant and think that they’re too good for everyone else there. Humbleness definitely affects your confidence level, energy level, and your attitude towards coaches, teammates, opposing team players, etc…, so therefore, it’s important thing to learn as an athlete.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. I will definitely take these lessons and ideas with me when I try out for the Fairview Freshman Team, a club team, and maybe even a college or pro team, if I want to. I would encourage any other young athlete like me to read this book, because it will help many attributes of your skills and prepare you for what’s next in your sport.
By: Genevieve Robinson; p.1
Do you play a sport? Do you ever think about mental toughness? Well, Bring Your A Game by Jennifer Etnier, Ph.D. will make you question, consider, and improve how you are as an athlete and help you be more mentally tough. Bring Your A Game is a sports psychology book for young athletes like me and many of my peers.
The book brings up many interesting and important ideas that relate to sports, mental toughness, perseverance, and more. But the most important ones are the chapters about technical skills and tactical abilities, goal setting, energy level, burnout, and confidence. The chapter about technical skills and tactical abilities mainly focuses on mistakes and when you are a beginner. One important thing the author wrote is that when a person is just beginning their sport, it’s better to encourage mistakes and give frequent rewards to keep them motivated in learning the sport.
I remember when I started playing volleyball at age 9, I wasn’t very motivated to be good, I just wanted to have fun. My coaches would give every player candy at the end of each practice, which were once a week and only 1 hour long. We also didn’t do any drills, and instead focused on fun games and learning. Now, when I practice volleyball, we solely focus on practicing drills, game-like situations to prepare us for tournaments, and strength and conditioning. Our practices are also at least 2 hours, now, instead of 1 hour. I am also a lot more motivated now to play volleyball and be good then just to have fun and play.
The chapter also mentions that tactical abilities should always come second in the learning process because you have to have some basic level of understanding the sport to develop your tactical abilities.
The chapters on goal setting and energy level are probably the two most important because they apply to every athlete at every level - from beginner to professional. The goal setting chapter states that every athlete should make a list of goals that they want to accomplish while playing their sport. These examples include being mentally tough, mastering technical skills, making a select club team, being a professional, and more. I think that the author is correct in saying that you should always have your goals in mind so you know how much work to put in and how close you are to achieving your goal.
In addition, the chapters on energy level and confidence are also very important. The one about energy mainly focuses on cues and how your energy can affect how in the game you are and how well you’re playing and what you notice and don’t notice. Because of your energy level, your level of play sometimes will be great and other times, you’ll suck and miss opportunity after opportunity.
The chapter about being confidence is mainly about how confidence helps you reach your full potential in a sport and how it fuels the fire of your desire to play. My coach would tell me that I needed to be more confident and everything I did had to be “on pointe” as she put it. The fact that she believed that I could have a game with no mistakes at all proves that she thinks that I’m a contributor and she trusts me. After she put this pressure on me, it gave more confidence and my game was nearly “on pointe”. So, confidence improves your game.
Overall, this book was definitely beneficial to me and any other young athlete trying to improve their abilities. The author did a good job directling it towards any player playing any sport at any level, so it was very general. I also like that the book was only 189 pages, so it’s a quick and informational read. I also like the examples and quotes in the book to add the element of real life. The quotes were from Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, and other amazing pro athletes.
Another thing I liked about this book is the fact that it’s relatable to every sport, and even some other activities like chess. I found a way to apply everything the author wrote in the book to volleyball which is the sport I play. I can also tell that the author is very well educated and clearly knows what she’s talking about and how to make what she’s saying relatable, engaging, and understandable to young readers.
One thing I wish the author would’ve included is a chapter about being humble. I know a few people in particular that play a sport that could benefit from being humbled because they’re arrogant and think that they’re too good for everyone else there. Humbleness definitely affects your confidence level, energy level, and your attitude towards coaches, teammates, opposing team players, etc…, so therefore, it’s important thing to learn as an athlete.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. I will definitely take these lessons and ideas with me when I try out for the Fairview Freshman Team, a club team, and maybe even a college or pro team, if I want to. I would encourage any other young athlete like me to read this book, because it will help many attributes of your skills and prepare you for what’s next in your sport.
July 1, 2020
Harder read than for the youngster than other books on this topic.
December 6, 2022
I dont HavE good Memori because the book is old for me but i think the book says something abojt mental tuffness and brinkng your a game sorry im not good at english😂
January 23, 2014
Who wants the sport - parent or child. How to develop the mindset to play not just the physical skills. A parent must read.
March 16, 2014
Anyone raising a young athlete should keep this one handy. Very practical exercises. It's easy for kids to read or suggest reading with your child and then discussing.
October 5, 2016
It was good to know the kids point-of-view.
January 24, 2017
A great resource for kids who want to succeed in their sport, academically or in any interest. Hopefully my daughters can use the tips from this book to help them reach their goals.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews