What do you think?
Rate this book
Coaching the Mental Game: Leadership Philosophies and Strategies for Peak Performance in Sports―and Everyday Life
Whoever claims winning isn't everything obviously has not spoken with an athletic coach.Coaching the Mental Game offers coaches of all sports a definitive volume for effectively understanding an athlete's mental awareness, which in turn will help drive success. Author H.A. Dorfman details appropriate coaching strategies aimed at perfecting the player's mental approach to performance.
Coaching the Mental Game will become the Bible for coaches who strive to make their athletes the most complete performers possible. Not only a wonderful asset to athletic coaches, this book will also prove to be a motivational resource for workers in all industries as well as in the game of life.
Coaching the Mental Game will become the Bible for coaches who strive to make their athletes the most complete performers possible. Not only a wonderful asset to athletic coaches, this book will also prove to be a motivational resource for workers in all industries as well as in the game of life.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
29 people are currently reading
401 people want to read
About the author
H.A. Dorfman
22 books9 followersHarvey A. Dorfman (May 21, 1935 – February 28, 2011) was best known as an mental skills/sports psychology coach who worked in education and psychology as a teacher, counselor, coach, and consultant. Prior to starting a business as a mental skills coach, he lived in Manchester, Vermont. He also wrote for a local paper, taught English, and coached basketball at Burr and Burton Seminary (now Academy). He earned World Series Championship rings by serving as a mental skills coach for the 1989 Oakland A's and the 1997 Florida Marlins. In 1999, Dorfman became a full-time consultant teaching the skills of sport psychology and staff development for the Scott Boras Corporation, an agency that represents professional baseball players. He also worked as a freelance journalist and lectured at major universities and corporations on psychlogy, self-enhancement, management strategies, and leadership training. Through his books and his teaching experience, he helped thousands of people get more of what they wanted from life through his tough love and clear insight. Some baseball greats give him credit for their success in life as well as in baseball. He died on February 28, 2011
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 22, 2011
I wish this book was published 20 years ago when I first started coaching. Dorfman talks about how coaching has changed from an authoritative approach to more of a relational approach. It is about the relationships you build with the athletes..having a genuine care and concern of who there are as an athlete and a human being.
I like how he takes terms suchs as: attitude, quitting, mental discipline, confidence, courage, fear of failure and many others and explains the pscyhology of what a coach or athlete is thinking and how to help them mentally play the game. I have implemented a few of his techniques with my athletes and try to motivate them with what I have learned from his book. When I face a problem with my athletes or try to understand their thinking I go straight to this book for the answer. He worked with 100's of professional athletes and shares there struggles competing at the pro level and how he helped them overcome the obstacles they faced as a competitor.
I highly recommend it for any athlete of coach who is determined to improve and better themselves.
I like how he takes terms suchs as: attitude, quitting, mental discipline, confidence, courage, fear of failure and many others and explains the pscyhology of what a coach or athlete is thinking and how to help them mentally play the game. I have implemented a few of his techniques with my athletes and try to motivate them with what I have learned from his book. When I face a problem with my athletes or try to understand their thinking I go straight to this book for the answer. He worked with 100's of professional athletes and shares there struggles competing at the pro level and how he helped them overcome the obstacles they faced as a competitor.
I highly recommend it for any athlete of coach who is determined to improve and better themselves.
August 22, 2022
This was the first book I ever read about leadership, mental health, and peak performance. I read it first when I was 12 and it was immediately impactful. I read it again as a 30-something-year-old adult and I ended up with five pages of notes. Dorfman was a visionary and he does a terrific job teaching through stories in this book. That is what I like most about it. It's not just theories. It's theory that's supported by real-life examples that have outcomes, good or bad. I was he was alive to see how his work inspired so many in baseball, sports, and life!
January 11, 2023
It does get really repetitive and as I read the third section, I was tempted to set it aside but the information and examples presented really are phenomenal. I've already used many ideas from this book, and will likely return to it (as a reference book) in the future.
October 27, 2023
An A to Z list on all things mental toughness for both the coach *and* the athlete.
“It’s agreed upon ‘within the ranks’: coaches do influence players’ performance, for better or for worse. The nature of the influence is determined by the substance and style of the coach’s delivery: what a coach says; how and when he or she says it. Who he or she is—as a coach and as a person.
Having acknowledged this, effective coaches strive to understand how best to know themselves and their athletes. How to communicate with their players. How to instruct, direct, and lead. How to ‘connect’ in ways that will enhance the athlete and his or her performance. This connection implies a focus that goes well beyond Xs and Os. Beyond the physical tactics and fundamental mechanics of the sport.
The coach should therefore have an understanding of the athlete’s mental makeup and develop appropriate coaching strategies aimed at helping a player’s mental approach to performance. Every coach I’ve ever spoken to recognizes the relationship between the athlete’s mental approach and performance. Yet few coaches devote specific time to that aspect of the game. I have asked many of them to tell me why.
The reason/excuse I’ve heard is a universal one: ‘I don’t have the time.’ The truth I hear less frequently: ‘I don’t know where to start.’ Perhaps this book will give impetus and direction for that start.”
~ H. A. Dorfman from Coaching the Mental Game
Harvey Dorfman was one of the world’s leading mental training experts.
Major League Baseball described him as a “pioneering sports psychologist.” He earned World Series rings as the mental skills coach for both the Oakland A’s and Florida Marlins.
I got this book because I love all things mental toughness and I’m having fun seeing if I can get through *all* the best books on how to train our minds.
Elite athletes and coaches agree that, once we’ve attained a baseline of physical mastery, peak performance is mostly mental. Yet, very few coaches focus on the mental side of the game in their training. I love Dorfman’s point that most simply don’t know where to start.
Dorfman is a classic, old-school coach—a blend of the two coaches he references the most in his book: John Wooden and Vince Lombardi.
The book features an A to Z list on all things mental toughness for both the coach *and* the athlete—providing a ton of wisdom to Optimize. (Get a copy here.)
Some of my favorite big ideas from this book include:
1. Carpe Momentum - Execute the task at hand.
2. The Cycle - Approach —> Result —> Response.
3. The Blind Men - And the elephant.
4. You and Your Donkey - Quit trying to make everyone happy.
5. Percussus Resurgo - “Struck down. I rise again.”
6. Z is for Zeal - Put a saddle on and ride it.
I’ve summarized those Big Ideas in a video review that you can watch here.
And I’ve added Coaching the Mental Game by H.A. Dorfman to my collection of Philosopher’s Notes--distilling the Big Ideas into 6-page PDF and 20-minute MP3s on 600+ of the BEST self-development books ever. You can get access to all of those plus a TON more over at heroic.us.
“It’s agreed upon ‘within the ranks’: coaches do influence players’ performance, for better or for worse. The nature of the influence is determined by the substance and style of the coach’s delivery: what a coach says; how and when he or she says it. Who he or she is—as a coach and as a person.
Having acknowledged this, effective coaches strive to understand how best to know themselves and their athletes. How to communicate with their players. How to instruct, direct, and lead. How to ‘connect’ in ways that will enhance the athlete and his or her performance. This connection implies a focus that goes well beyond Xs and Os. Beyond the physical tactics and fundamental mechanics of the sport.
The coach should therefore have an understanding of the athlete’s mental makeup and develop appropriate coaching strategies aimed at helping a player’s mental approach to performance. Every coach I’ve ever spoken to recognizes the relationship between the athlete’s mental approach and performance. Yet few coaches devote specific time to that aspect of the game. I have asked many of them to tell me why.
The reason/excuse I’ve heard is a universal one: ‘I don’t have the time.’ The truth I hear less frequently: ‘I don’t know where to start.’ Perhaps this book will give impetus and direction for that start.”
~ H. A. Dorfman from Coaching the Mental Game
Harvey Dorfman was one of the world’s leading mental training experts.
Major League Baseball described him as a “pioneering sports psychologist.” He earned World Series rings as the mental skills coach for both the Oakland A’s and Florida Marlins.
I got this book because I love all things mental toughness and I’m having fun seeing if I can get through *all* the best books on how to train our minds.
Elite athletes and coaches agree that, once we’ve attained a baseline of physical mastery, peak performance is mostly mental. Yet, very few coaches focus on the mental side of the game in their training. I love Dorfman’s point that most simply don’t know where to start.
Dorfman is a classic, old-school coach—a blend of the two coaches he references the most in his book: John Wooden and Vince Lombardi.
The book features an A to Z list on all things mental toughness for both the coach *and* the athlete—providing a ton of wisdom to Optimize. (Get a copy here.)
Some of my favorite big ideas from this book include:
1. Carpe Momentum - Execute the task at hand.
2. The Cycle - Approach —> Result —> Response.
3. The Blind Men - And the elephant.
4. You and Your Donkey - Quit trying to make everyone happy.
5. Percussus Resurgo - “Struck down. I rise again.”
6. Z is for Zeal - Put a saddle on and ride it.
I’ve summarized those Big Ideas in a video review that you can watch here.
And I’ve added Coaching the Mental Game by H.A. Dorfman to my collection of Philosopher’s Notes--distilling the Big Ideas into 6-page PDF and 20-minute MP3s on 600+ of the BEST self-development books ever. You can get access to all of those plus a TON more over at heroic.us.
February 13, 2018
4.5 Stars
Want to Read
February 2, 2016Introduction
An important initial step is to recognize that athletes perceive their coaches as a leaders/teachers/mentors. Players respond to the way coaches use the power enacted in these roles.
Position power--the position of authority--helps a coach get an athlete to do what the coach wants done. Personal power helps get the athlete beyond just DOING what the coach wants--to WANTING to do it. That requires a coach to have a personal 'touch,' a skill beyond his (her) authoritarian mantle. (xiii)
...common sense is not common PRACTICE [in terms of how we coach]. (xiv)
John Wooden, at an interview, at 90 years-old, spoke of a coach's major responsibility: 'He should remember he's there to teach. He should remember he's there to get a player to learn...If he's recruiting just to have great players, he shouldn't be there. He should be a teacher.' (xiv)
Don't ever be afraid to lose your job, kid. Because you won't be very good at it if you are. (xiv)
The precocious young athletes whom coaches love to have on their teams are very often one-dimensional. They are brilliant performers at an early age. But they also tend to be confused and conflicted in their later lives, when they are called upon as human beings to have an emotional, social, family, and economic dimensions. Sports has retarded their full personal development instead of enhancing it. [They are 'neglected selves.']
[How can we encourage players to develop into mature and whole persons?] (xv)
Ara Parsegian, former head football coach at Notre Dame, expressed the view that good coaches are very special people. That they exert a great influence on young athletes, 'more so than teachers, more so than Dad, more so than anybody.' It is a sweeping statement, but if it's anywhere close to being accurate the implications are obvious for all who are called 'Coach.' (xvi)
SECTION 1: The Coach as Leader, Communicator, Teacher
Ch 1: Leadership and Power(s)
This passion is best stated as a matter of caring and valuing. It is further characterized by its consistency; it does not erratically come and go...It is also shaped by tender-as well as tough-mindedness.
--David Loye (The Leadership Passion ) (3)
Young people want consistent parameters, direction, order, structure, organization and discipline. (3)
The ability to handle his authority well implies that the authority figure knows how to manage people.
The leader who knows how to manage people must first know how to manage his power (and himself, of course). (4)
'What we stand for... [is a great ongoing statement to the team].' Also, 'We are a controlled democracy here. You have the freedom to do whatever you want--as long as I approve.'
'Uni-form. One form. You sacrifice your individuality for the benefit of the whole--the team. To the goal of all the guys wearing the same uniform.'
CREDIBILITY
Recognize your fallibility: [use the syllogism]
...let the players know you recognize the difference from being g-o-o-d and being G-o-d.
Major premise: All humans are capable of making mistakes.
Minor premise: I'm a human.
Conclusion: Therefore, I'm capable of making a mistake.
[Emphasize:] 'This is what I TRUST is right.'
Think before you speak.
Prepare. It's often said that 'power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'
Speak out of intelligence.
Followers want their leader to know what he's talking about; know what he's doing. That's what will enhance their mental state--intellectually and psychologically.
Effective leaders validate their authority every time they open their mouths.
Make it clear how authority will be used.
...he must communicate the fact that there will be consequences when a player does not meet these expectations... [he] must be firm, sensible, and consistent.
John Wooden [would say] 'I admire and respect your position. We'll miss you here at UCLA. We've enjoyed your time. Thanks for coming.'
Rather than constructing a complex system of rules and consequences, keep things simple and positive. (5)
CONSISTENCY
An important initial step is to recognize that athletes perceive their coaches as a leaders/teachers/mentors. Players respond to the way coaches use the power enacted in these roles.
Position power--the position of authority--helps a coach get an athlete to do what the coach wants done. Personal power helps get the athlete beyond just DOING what the coach wants--to WANTING to do it. That requires a coach to have a personal 'touch,' a skill beyond his (her) authoritarian mantle. (xiii)
...common sense is not common PRACTICE [in terms of how we coach]. (xiv)
John Wooden, at an interview, at 90 years-old, spoke of a coach's major responsibility: 'He should remember he's there to teach. He should remember he's there to get a player to learn...If he's recruiting just to have great players, he shouldn't be there. He should be a teacher.' (xiv)
Don't ever be afraid to lose your job, kid. Because you won't be very good at it if you are. (xiv)
The precocious young athletes whom coaches love to have on their teams are very often one-dimensional. They are brilliant performers at an early age. But they also tend to be confused and conflicted in their later lives, when they are called upon as human beings to have an emotional, social, family, and economic dimensions. Sports has retarded their full personal development instead of enhancing it. [They are 'neglected selves.']
[How can we encourage players to develop into mature and whole persons?] (xv)
Ara Parsegian, former head football coach at Notre Dame, expressed the view that good coaches are very special people. That they exert a great influence on young athletes, 'more so than teachers, more so than Dad, more so than anybody.' It is a sweeping statement, but if it's anywhere close to being accurate the implications are obvious for all who are called 'Coach.' (xvi)
SECTION 1: The Coach as Leader, Communicator, Teacher
Ch 1: Leadership and Power(s)
This passion is best stated as a matter of caring and valuing. It is further characterized by its consistency; it does not erratically come and go...It is also shaped by tender-as well as tough-mindedness.
--David Loye (The Leadership Passion ) (3)
Young people want consistent parameters, direction, order, structure, organization and discipline. (3)
The ability to handle his authority well implies that the authority figure knows how to manage people.
The leader who knows how to manage people must first know how to manage his power (and himself, of course). (4)
'What we stand for... [is a great ongoing statement to the team].' Also, 'We are a controlled democracy here. You have the freedom to do whatever you want--as long as I approve.'
'Uni-form. One form. You sacrifice your individuality for the benefit of the whole--the team. To the goal of all the guys wearing the same uniform.'
CREDIBILITY
Recognize your fallibility: [use the syllogism]
...let the players know you recognize the difference from being g-o-o-d and being G-o-d.
Major premise: All humans are capable of making mistakes.
Minor premise: I'm a human.
Conclusion: Therefore, I'm capable of making a mistake.
[Emphasize:] 'This is what I TRUST is right.'
Think before you speak.
Prepare. It's often said that 'power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'
Speak out of intelligence.
Followers want their leader to know what he's talking about; know what he's doing. That's what will enhance their mental state--intellectually and psychologically.
Effective leaders validate their authority every time they open their mouths.
Make it clear how authority will be used.
...he must communicate the fact that there will be consequences when a player does not meet these expectations... [he] must be firm, sensible, and consistent.
John Wooden [would say] 'I admire and respect your position. We'll miss you here at UCLA. We've enjoyed your time. Thanks for coming.'
Rather than constructing a complex system of rules and consequences, keep things simple and positive. (5)
CONSISTENCY
January 19, 2021
Great read! Love the A-Z format, it makes it easy to go back and find what I'm looking for later when I want to review something. My only critique: it was a bit repetitive, he repeats himself a lot, which I'm sure is to emphasize his points, but at times I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again. However, overall a lot of useful information and great anecdotes. It made me reflect on my coaching and see things that I could change, so it was well worth the read for me.
June 25, 2008
This is my favorite book. I learn something evertime I refer back to it. Excellent book for teachers and coaches, or anyone in position of leadership. Dorfman really goes in depth on the psyche of an athlete or student. A must read for any coach.
April 26, 2009
A fantastic book about the mental aspects of coaching any sport at just about any level. It has and continues to help shape how I approach coaching. Has lots of good stuff that could translate to teaching in any field or discipline, also.
March 30, 2013
An optional-read book on leadership for knowledge workers, managers, directors, C-levels, and entrepreneurs.
October 31, 2013
If you coach, you should read it....
February 9, 2015
A load of information in this book and a great resource - would be a great textbook for any coaching classes!
May 9, 2015
Really great insight to the coach and athlete dynamic.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews