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Top 16 Best Sports Psychology Books Updated 03 /2024

Dennis Lehane
  Mar 28, 2024 10:55 AM

Here we ranked and reviewed the top 16 Best Sports Psychology Books that are highly rated by 11,126 customers.

 


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    9.6
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    Lioncrest Publishing
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    The Guilford Press
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    Changing the Game Project
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    Shamrock New Media, Inc.
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    Shamrock New Media, Inc.
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    9.4
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9
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    Teach Yourself
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    Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
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12
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    9.2
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    Rodale Books
13
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    9.2
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14
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    9.0
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    Wiley
15
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16
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    8.8
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    Human Kinetics, Inc.

Last update on 2024-03-28 / Affiliate links / Images, Product Titles, and Product Highlights from Amazon Product Advertising API


Best Sports Psychology Books

While some athletes perform at their best when they are under a lot of pressure, others fail and never reach their full potential (Mack & Casstevens, 2001).

Sportspeople who are mentally strong, resilient, confident, and have the right mindset can lessen the effects of stress while still being able to perform at their best (Sheard, 2013).

Sports psychology can help you get into the zone. This well-researched field of study teaches and gives athletes the tools they need to know themselves better and learn the mental skills they need to perform consistently.

This article recommends some of the best books to help you learn more about sports psychology and how it can help you and your team do better in sports.

Then, before we go on, we thought you might like to download our three Goal Achievement Worksheets for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients set specific goals and learn how to change your behavior for the long term.

Best Books for Motivating Athletes

There are a lot of books on sports psychology that can inspire and give you new ideas no matter what kind of person they were written for.

Furthermore, the research and findings from sports psychology are very useful in other areas of life, including business, education, and any field of work that requires a lot of focus and discipline.

The following books look at sports psychology from many different perspectives. Also, they help people understand what it takes to be at their best mentally.

Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success – Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness

This book was written by Brad Stulberg, a former business consultant, and Steve Magness, a performance scientist and coach of world-class athletes. It's fast-paced, focusing on what it takes to be an athlete, intellectual, or artist and how to do it well.

The narrative is filled with inspirational stories and psychological and scientific insights that make it interesting and help you understand how to be at your best.

Endurance Performance in Sport: Psychological Theory and Interventions – Carla Meijen

This book is a great companion text for athletes, coaches, and academics who need to learn more about the psychology of endurance performance.

Carla Meijen's book is a deep dive into the theories and concepts behind emotions, attentional focus, self-efficacy, and more, and how they apply to endurance athletes and how they can help them.

Each chapter gives you tools and techniques to help you deal with the mental and physical challenges that come with endurance sports.

Mental Toughness: The Mindset Behind Sporting Achievement – Michael Sheard

Academics and athletes use the term "mental toughness" all the time, but many people don't know what it means.

Michael Sheard's book is very important because it talks about what it means to be mentally tough and how it can be developed through psychological skill training.

People say that sports events are often won or lost "between the ears," says Sheard (2013). A disciplined mindset can make the difference between being good and great at something, with the mentally strong winning in the end.

Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence – Gary Mack and David Casstevens

Consultant: Gary Mack talks about the impact of the mind on athletic performance, as well as how to build "mental muscle."

He says that pressure can make you do better or worse, and only if you have the right mindset can you do better than before.

Many inspirational quotes are in the book, as well as 40 easy-to-follow lessons that can help sportspeople of all levels improve their skills.

The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive – Jim Afremow

He wants to help you improve your game with his book. While acknowledging that raw talent isn't always enough to be the best, he gives practical and powerful ways to get the most out of your abilities.

How to get and stay in the zone, work as part of a team, and be good at sports and other things are some of the things you'll learn.

A strong desire for success is important, but Afremow also understands how important it is to be mentally fit all the time.

Pure Sport: Practical Sport Psychology – John Kremer and Aidan P. Moran

Everyone should be able to understand the sports psychology book written by applied psychologist John Kremer and cognitive psychologist Aidan Moran. It's written in simple language that should be easy to understand.

The book is for people who want to learn how to be successful in sports, as well as for people who want to learn how to be an academic.

Each chapter talks about the most important things that happen on the field, like mental toughness, motivation, goal setting, reflection, and focusing.

HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Mental Toughness – Harvard Business Review

This book has a lot of great articles on mental toughness from a lot of different experts.

While the book is aimed at businesspeople who want to become better or more effective leaders, many of its lessons come from the world of elite sports.

This is both a theoretical and a practical book for anyone who wants to learn more about mental toughness and how it can help them improve their skills.

Sport and Exercise Psychology: A Critical Introduction – Aidan Moran

This is a great book that shows you how to think about sports psychology in a very detailed way. Aidan Moran is able to connect theory and practice to look at how sports are played with the body and won with the mind.

Moran gives a comprehensive overview of sports psychology's current state. He shows how visualization, goal setting, expertise, mental imagery, and other techniques can help an individual or a team be more successful at their job or school.

A good book for people who study sports psychology or sports science, but it's not for everyone.

Achieve the Impossible – Greg Whyte

Professor Greg Whyte has helped top-level athletes and celebrities who are taking part in sporting challenges for charity to do their best work.

Whyte's book makes it clear that only through hard work can we get over the obstacles we face in sports and in life. It also gives us techniques and a level of understanding that will help us through the hard times that lie ahead.

In the book, it says that we sometimes have to deal with limitations, but it also says that we can get over them by figuring them out and improving our body and mind, technology, and environment.

Mind Games – Annie Vernon

This book is both beautiful and insightful. It helps the reader understand how to be a good sportsman or woman.

Annie Vernon, who is a former Olympic athlete, is a good person to ask about why and how to compete at that high level.

To be a good player in a certain sport, you need motivation, drive, and confidence. Chapters talk about how to get these things.


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