Stephen Rollnick

Jonathan Fader

Jeff Breckon

Theresa B. Moyers

The measure of a great coach is bringing the best out of athletes. This is the first guide to motivational interviewing (MI)--the proven approach to harnessing the power of conversations to build relationships and trust--for coaches, sport psychologists, training and rehabilitation specialists, and other affiliated staff. Revealing why conventional ways of giving feedback and addressing conflict are often counterproductive, the book presents tried-and-tested methods for getting through to athletes and helping them to thrive. Leading sport psychologists and MI experts--including MI cofounder Stephen Rollnick--provide effective strategies to fire up motivation, promote ownership of personal goals, address problem behavior on and off the field, enhance performance, and improve teamwork. Included are step-by-step examples and inspiring stories from coaches at all levels. Purchasers get access to a Web page where they can download and print the book's reproducible quick-reference sheets on key MI skills. This book is in the Applications of Motivational Interviewing series, edited by Stephen Rollnick, William R. Miller, and Theresa B. Moyers.

Motivational Interviewing in Sports

Coaching Athletes to Be Their Best

Why do sports captivate people? They allow us to watch human beings achieve peak performance, but, beyond physical strength and skill, what's really impressive is an athlete's mental prowess -- their will to succeed, engagement with their environment, and self-confidence. In Life as Sport, sport psychologist Dr. Jonathan Fader shares the skills that he teaches professional athletes--to enhance motivation, set productive goals, sharpen routines, manage stress, and clarify thought processes--and applies them to real-world situations. Dr. Fader's book is the product of thousands of hours of conversations with athletes from various teams and sports: power forwards, tennis phenoms, power-hitting outfielders, and battle-scarred linebackers, as well as hedge-fund managers, entrepreneurs, A-list actors, and dozens of other elite achievers in sports, business, and performing arts. It offers a compendium of stories, theories, and techniques that have been helpful to players, coaches, and executives in professional sports. What emerges is more than just a set of techniques, but a life philosophy that anyone can live by: an internal code to help translate our talent and drive toward the highest plateaus of performance. Dr. Fader designs his strategies to be studied, learned, practiced, and improved. He offers his readers the same exercises that he uses in every session with a professional athlete. These exercises help you to get truly engaged, whether you are designing a new business plan, working to inspire a team or individual, or even falling in love. This is what it means to truly live life as sport--to approach it with the same immediacy, wonder, and engagement that athletes feel at their peak during a game. Life as Sport helps you to pursue your own goals with an enriched intensity -- not only because it creates new potential, but also because it helps you unlock what was always there to begin with.

Jonathan Fader

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