// Sport Psychology: A Practical Guide To//

Just done reading this book, written by Dr Arnold LeUnes. It’s pretty interesting, and a good basic introduction to the field. 

It can be a tad bit technical, especially the earlier chapters, but it’s worth the read. Some of the areas are covered in the ACE PT certification course, so it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar reading.

My favourite chapters:

• Chapter 10: Aggression and violence in sports
• Chapter 12: Risk-sport athletes, injured athletes (very applicable to me!), black athletes
• Chapter 13: Youth sport
• Chapter 14: Women in sport
• Chapter 15: Exercise and fitness

Few bits of trivia I learnt:

• Why is there so much research on black genetics in sports, but none in Japanese genetics in judo, or Swiss or Scandinavian gene research in skiing, Bulgarian weightlifting genetics research or Sri Lankan cricket gene research? (p. 143)
• Youth like to participate in sports primarily for fun, not to win
• Youth don’t like to participate in sports because of pushy adults (coaches and parents)
• The whole chapter on women was very good, especially the part on women athletes and the media

Worth a read if you’re unfamiliar!