Podium: What Shapes a Sporting Champion?: Ben Oakley: Bloomsbury Sport

Podium

What Shapes a Sporting Champion?

Podium

What Shapes a Sporting Champion?

Description

Podium sheds new light on the biological, environmental and psychological influences that can shape a champion's rocky path to the top. From Ian Thorpe, Mo Farah and Usain Bolt to Jessica Ennis, Michael Johnson and Michael Phelps, all we see is smooth progression to gold, but in fact their paths are actually punctuated by critical episodes, and it is largely how athletes respond to these events that shape their progression to the top. By scratching under the surface of the life stories of serial champions, common training, environmental influences and, above all, mental characteristics from their formative years and beyond are revealed-tales of individual brilliance are given a fresh twist.

Find out how sports science, along with parents, siblings, coaches, sports organisations and the athlete's own mindset when facing adversity contribute to their likelihood of success and transform ordinary people into extraordinary athletes.

Written for anyone interested in sport or the variables contributing to sporting success, this enthralling read will enrich your interpretation of champions' lives and provide a map of the complex paths through sport to the podium.

Part I Explaining the path to the top

1 Behind the lines
2 How could I have got it so wrong?
3 Champion DNA?

Part II From child to elite athlete

4 How do champions' paths differ?
5 From playground to podium: Playing then specialising
6 Winning parents: Getting the balance right
7 Are younger siblings more likely to become champions?
8 Selection myths and compromises revealed
9 Location, location, location: Revealing the geography of success
10 Fitness and recovery epiphanies
11 From passion to persistence, perfection and obsession: How does personality shape champions' paths?

Part III Turning points and mental tools

12 How do critical episodes shape champions?
13 Broken bodies, broken minds?
14 What is in a champion's mental toolbox?
15 Learning from defeat: Rhetoric or reality?
16 Confidence
17 Keeping it all together: Nerves
18 Under pressure: New approaches

Part IV The Coach

19 What I wish I'd known about Olympic coaching when I started
20 Learning from behind the lines: Coaching stories

Part V Specialist characteristics

21 Do champions think differently about pain?
22 A pothole, or worse, on the path: Depression
23 Looking back and redirecting the rocket: Retirement

Product details

Published	Dec 16 2014
Format	Paperback
Edition	1st
Extent	272
ISBN	9781472902160
Imprint	Bloomsbury Sport
Dimensions	9 x 6 inches
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

With painstaking research and forensic examination of backgrounds and influences, former Olympic coach Ben Oakley has delved well below the superficial and analysed a gamut of sporting giants to provide an illuminating insight into how they ascended to the pinnacle of their sport.

Nick Townsend, sports journalist and co-author of Steve Redgrave's and Ben Ainslie's autobiographies
Ben Oakley takes the lid off the mental toolbox, decants the adrenaline and puts the passion under the microscope. For anyone who wants to know more about our sports stars than just “how do you feel?” this is an essential read.

Kevin Bishop, senior producer, BBC World News
An interesting read

Rugby World
innovative...makes engaging reading for any coach working with talented athletes.

Coaching Edge
... a thorough and rigorous examination into what makes a champion. This is a must read for all coaches, especially those who coach young athletes who could potentially go on to be future champions.

Association of British Cycling Coaches journal
A fantastic book that once I started I couldn't put down. It goes through what it takes to reach the top in sport and challenges perceived thoughts on this ... A highly recommended book and one I have already suggested to the athletes I coach to read an d be inspired by.

Gordon Robertson, University of Stirling, BASES journal