3rd Edition
Pure Sport Sport Psychology in Action
Pure Sport is a practical guide that provides insights on asserting positive mindsets, realising potential, remaining resilient against setbacks and using these experiences to move on to greater success. The book follows the journey of the athlete through six clear steps, creating a logical framework for applied sport psychology or a path you can follow in your own practice.
The third edition is fully updated and now more accessible than ever, including new advice on maintaining a resilient attitude and taking care of athletes’ mental well-being. Drawing on decades of both practical and theoretical knowledge, the authors deliver practical advice with a thorough grounding in sport psychology, supplemented by case studies, reflection questions, common problems and effective solutions, and useful summaries of key points.
Pure Sport is essential reading for all those actively involved and interested in sport, from sports psychologists and academics, to athletes and coaches.
Step 1: Planning Ahead
Step 2: Your Mental Kitbag
Step 3 Travelling Light
Step 4: Looking Back
Step 5: Your Teams
Step 6: Your Guides
Index
Biography
John Kremer runs his own successful consultancy business, having been a Reader in Psychology at Queen's University Belfast for 31 years. Along with his academic interest in sport and exercise psychology he has worked directly with a wide range of national and international athletes and teams in over 50 sports.
Aidan Moran is a Professor of Cognitive Psychology at University College Dublin. A Fulbright Scholar, he has written many scientific papers on mental imagery and attention in athletes. He has advised many of Ireland’s leading professional athletes and teams, including golfer Pádraig Harrington and the Irish rugby team.
Ciarán J. Kearney is an independent applied psychologist specialising in performance improvement, accountability, team culture and mental health. He has consulted widely as a performance manager in a range of sports including Gaelic games where he has worked with All-Ireland winning teams and All-Star players.
Praise for the second edition:
"This is a wonderful book for those ready to move beyond the theroretical connections between psychology and sport and forward into application… The authors clearly set out to create a text that was a 'ready to use' manual for working with sport psychology issues. They have succeeded in that effort. Readers with a foundation in sport psychology will find this an excellent next stop to move beyond research and theory and into application and assessment. Summing Up: Recommended." - R.E. Osborne, Texas State University- San Marcos, in CHOICE, January 2014
Pure Sport "provides clear and understandable guidelines for athletes who wish to apply these techniques in their everyday routine." - Andreas Stenling, Idrottsforum
Praise for the first edition:"A welcome and important guide to any athlete, coach or spectator at any level in sport interested in improving their game or knowledge of their sport. … What's so commendable about Kremer and Moran's work is the way it blends the theoretical with the practical. Too often books of this nature can be too intimidating for the general reader and end up just preaching to the converted in the academic community, or else they're overly-simplistic, without mention of any studies or research to support their suggestions. Moran and Kremer offer serious academic cred, with recommendations and techniques that are grounded in scientific, proven methods and principles, yet are forever conscious that for this project, their audience is the general, if discerning, sportsperson, not the budding or established sports psychologist. They abide by the principle of all good teaching and writing - "don't just tell me, show me". Instead of telling us visualisation is a good thing to do, they show us, by outlining how it works for Ronan O'Gara. Instead of citing academics, they cite winners, from Tiger Woods to Keith Wood." - Kieran Shannon, The Sunday Tribune
"This book is a pure gem! Solidly based in the latest research and presented in a conversational and engaging style, it presents the theory of sports psychology in a very accessible way. Perhaps, more importantly, it explains the vital practical steps one can take to apply this theory to enhance performance. And here's the brilliant bit… the WAY in which the material is presented (especially the sections on Imagining, Improving and Mistake Management) have such wide applicability. They allow the reader to apply this knowledge and these techniques to enhance whatever their 'game' is." - amazon.co.uk reviewer
"Readers experience this text as if the authors talk to them, reassure them, guide them, and advise them. In this fluently written book, Kremer and Moran offer many possible theories and interventions, and above all the freedom to choose from them." - Caroline Jannes, European Network of Young Specialists in Sport Psychology (ENYSSP) Newsletter
"As an introduction to basic sport psychology, this book serves as essential reading for researchers, psychologists, athletes, coaches, or just the interested reader." - Andrew J. Wawrzyniak, The Psychologist
"Pure Sport is a practical guide to sport psychology with a difference. Written in a lively, accessible and entertaining style, the book is essential reading for anyone involved in sport. It offers numerous practical suggestions and techniques that are based on sound theory and research, and present these in a manner that are non threatening for the casual reader." - Mary-Margaret Meade MSc, PsychWorks, University of Ulster
"Entertaining and informative, with interesting quotes from famous sports personalities and anecdotes throughout. The examples cover a wide range of situations and sports, and the book goes into detail on practical suggestions for changing one's behaviour without being bogged down in psycho-jargon." - Dave Shaw, Sport & Exercise Psychology, University of Central Lancashire
"This is a very well-written book that will be of interest to athletes and coaches interested in improving their understanding of sport psychology and their own psychological approach to sport. Current theory and research underpin the psychological factors discussed, and these are explained in a very readable manner." - Marc Jones, Faculty of Health, Staffordshire University
"The book is conversationally written to engage the casual reader, while being well-informed and grounded in scientific research. Real-life examples are employed to good effect and suitable exercises are provided to ensure that the information is brought into the 'real world'." - Robert C. Eklund, Sport and Exercise Psychology, Florida State University
