Mastering Your Inner Game

Even the most physically gifted athletes struggles in competition when they lose control over their thoughts and emotions. This book arms athletes with the tools they need to understand, manage, and maximise their mental and emotional forces - factors that often determine who's an all-star and who's an "also-ran". Kauss looks at how athletic performance fits into each client-athlete's lie experience. His "total athlete" system takes into account each athlete's internal strengths and weaknesses instead of applying a predefined set of mental training exercises. The author presents five case studies illustrating real challenges faced by real athletes. He helps readers identify the people and events in their lives that have either contributed to their success or in some way undermined their sport performance. Once they have pin-pointed these underlying factor, he teaches the athletes how to develop individualised mental training packages that will help them perform their best no matter how difficult the challenge. By analyzing and then rechanneling these forces in positive ways, athletes are better able to reach their potential.

About the Author :
David R. Kauss, PhD, has been practicing psychology since 1978, but he began his psychological consulting work with athletes and coaches--including the UCLA football and baseball teams--four years earlier. In his role as a consultant, Kauss has provided performance-enhancement training to athletes and coaches at the elite and professional levels. He wrote about his early work with athletes in his first book, Peak Performance. In 1984 he became a registered sport psychological consultant for the U.S. Olympic Committee, working with athletes before and during their Olympic competition. His work with athletes also involves coaching: Kauss coached senior-league baseball for seven years and assorted youth sports for many years. A member of the American Psychological Association, Kauss is also an associate professor of psychology at UCLA. He received his BA from Harvard University and his doctorate in clinical psychology from UCLA. When he's not helping athletes improve their performance, Kauss enjoys tennis, travel, and spectator sports. He and his wife, Laurel, live in Pacific Palisades, California, with their two children.

Review :
"I was 35, the mother of two small boys, and trying to prepare for the most important competition of my life, the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Dave Kauss enabled me to reach my goals. He gave me the tools I needed to acknowledge my fears, capitalize on my strengths, and balance my home life with my competitive life. I couldn't have done it without him. Thanks, Dave." Linda Hanley 1996 U.S. Olympic volleyball team "As a professional motocross rider, I know that mental preparation is just as important as physical training in my sport. Dave Kauss showed me how to mentally prepare for a race, ride relaxed, and work on my weak points to make them as strong as my strongest points. I believe the results of his program speak for themselves." Mike Kiedrowski Four-time U.S. national outdoor motocross champion "The program Dr. Kauss has developed provides a functional mental preparation program that I use daily for training and competition. It naturally encompasses cognitive components in preparation for the mental and physical demands of competition. The program also incorporates important values and beliefs that carry over to my life and goals beyond athletics. It is a functional and focused mental preparation program that effectively equips athletes with the necessary tools to meet the mental demands of competition." Leslie Noll World-class middle distance runner