Sports Development

Award-winning author and celebrated neurosurgeon Allan J. Hamilton, MD, combines his understanding of the human brain with nearly 30 years' experience training horses to offer wisdom on such universal themes as leadership, motivation, ambition, and humility. The results are showcased in more than 100 thoughtful essays that treat working with horses as a metaphor for personal, professional, and spiritual growth.

Mental training is a must for high performance both on the field and off. But simply hoping for mental toughness isn't going to build any mind muscles. You need a proven routine of daily exercises to get you where you want to go. 10-Minute Toughness is your personal coach for boosting brainpower and achieving a competitive edge in whatever game you play. With quickness and ease, you'll learn how to master your own mind and psych out your opponents using personalized techniques from one of America's most successful sport psychology consultants.

It’s true that strength declines with age, and your abilities are changing with each passing year. That doesn’t have to mean you give up and let your body rot away. Your muscles can still be exercised and strengthened, and your balance and coordination can improve greatly. You just need to find different exercises that work for you -ones designed specifically for people your age.

Hail Mary, Sports Widows! Get off the bench and into the game with a relationship kick off that will lead you straight into the end zone. In less than an hour, you can learn all the football basics you need to help you connect with your favorite guy.

Some 75% of American families want their kids to play sports. Athletics are training grounds for character, friendship, and connection; at their best, sports insulate kids from hardship and prepare them for adult life. But youth sports have changed so dramatically over the last 25 years that they no longer deliver the healthy outcomes everyone wants. Instead, unbeknownst to most parents, kids who play competitive organized sports are more likely to burn out or suffer from overuse injuries than to develop their characters or build healthy habits.

When we first meet the young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story, he is one of 13 children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school. And he has no serious experience playing organized football.

Decades before Perdita Felicien became a World Champion hurdler running the biggest race of her life at the 2004 Olympics, she carried more than a nation's hopes - she carried her mother Catherine's dreams. In 1974, Catherine is determined and tenacious, but she's also pregnant with her second child and just scraping by in St. Lucia. When she meets a wealthy white Canadian family vacationing on the island, she knows it's her chance.

Mike Matheny was just 41, without professional managerial experience and looking for a next step after a successful career as a Major League catcher, when he succeeded the legendary Tony La Russa as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012. While Matheny has enjoyed immediate success, leading the Cards to the postseason three times in his first three years, people have noticed something else about his life, something not measured in day-to-day results.

Soccer star and Olympic gold medalist Christie Pearce Rampone and sports neuropsychologist Dr. Kristine Keane share the best practices that athletes, parents, and coaches can use to turn the lessons learned through sports into lifelong skills.

Fishing was Mark Hume’s passion since he was a young boy, a lifeline through a childhood marked by his family’s frequent moves. When he became a father, he knew he wanted to pass on his love of water, fishing, and the natural world to his daughters. Most of all, he wanted to give them hope for their future. As soon as they were old enough, Mark taught his girls how to read the water and see the patterns in nature. He discovered that fly fishing and fatherhood require many of the same skills: patience, flexibility, and the knowledge of when to reel in and when to let go.

We strive for success, but we are rarely happy. The more we try to win - putting on a brave face for work or family - the more we risk losing ourselves. And even reaching our goals can feel strangely hollow. The culprit? Fear. It makes us anxious, or shameful, or turns us into perfectionists. We pretend to be someone else while aiming for a status that’s never truly satisfying. There is another way. A way to find our true voice, to win on our own terms.

The Sports Parents Solution gives you the strategies and methods you need to transform the parent culture in your team, allowing you to better support each athlete’s growth, improve your team’s performance, create an extraordinary experience for all involved—and take your program to a whole new level.

Disillusioned with overly competitive organized sports and concerned about her lively daughter’s growing shyness, author Angie Abdou sets herself a challenge: to hike a peak a week over the summer holidays with Katie. They will bond in nature and discover the glories of outdoor activity. What could go wrong? Well, among other things, it turns out that Angie loves hiking but Katie doesn’t. Hilarious, poignant, and deeply felt, This One Wild Life explores parenting and marriage in a summer of unexpected outcomes and growth for both mother and daughter.

Champions, as the familiar adage preaches, are not born—they're made. Reaching the top of any sport, or any aspect of life, takes years upon years of dedication and proper preparation. But if there's a huge pool of individuals who have undertaken the same commitment and steps towards becoming the best, what truly separates the winners from everyone else? Joanna Zeiger believes proper mental preparation is the answer. The Champion Mindset is a much-needed and long overdue look into how to program a competitor's mind to achieve optimal success.

Afternoon kindergarten is having a field day, and Junie B. Jones is team captain! Only, here's the problem: Room Eight keeps on winning too many events. And so how will Room Nine ever become the kindergarten champions? As Captain Field Day, will Junie B. find a way to lead her team to victory? Or will it be up to someone else to save the day?

Travis Macy has summited glacial peaks in the French Alps, rappelled into limestone caves in China, and raced through parched deserts in Utah. In 2013 he famously won the Leadman Series, a combination of nearly 300 miles of high-altitude trail running and mountain biking over the course of five epic endurance races. Macy achieved all of these victories without elite professional training or even exceptional strength, speed, or flexibility.

In September 2015, Shane Watson, one of cricket's greatest allrounders, was contemplating retirement. At 34, he was still in great physical shape, but his form had deteriorated following a tragedy the year before. Mentally, he was in the darkest hole of his life. A chance meeting with IndyCar champion Will Power changed everything, prompting Shane to work with world-renowned mental performance coach Dr Jacques Dallaire. It was a decision that would reshape his life. Watson discovered the keys to a consistent mental process that gave him access to his skillset once more.

Does the thought of your child shooting clay targets perplex you? Are you wondering what is required for your child to take up clay target sports such as trap or skeet? Do you wish you were where to get advice on supporting your child in a sport they enjoy? If you answered yes to any of these questions then this book is for you... 50 Things to Know about Being a Clay Target Shooting Parent by Rachel Horon offers an approach to finding answers and support that is practical and helpful in many different ways.

Sportswriter Sally Jenkins has spent her entire adult life observing and writing about great coaches and athletes. With her engaging and expert prose, she has helped shape the way we view these talented sports icons. But somewhere along the line, she realized, they had begun to shape her. Now, she presents the astonishing inner qualities in these same people that pushed them to overcome pressure, elevate their performances, and discover champion identities.

If anyone knows tough, it’s Jay Bilas. A four-year starter at Duke, he learned an incomparable work ethic under coach Mike Krzyzewski, battling against the greatest college players in the game. After playing professionally overseas for several years, he returned to Duke, where he served as Krzyzewski’s assistant coach for three seasons, during which the Blue Devils won back-to-back titles. Featuring never-before-heard stories and personal philosophies on toughness from top players and coaches, Bilas redefines what it takes to succeed.