Basketball is as much a mental game as it is a physical one. And learning how to harness your own mental toughness in the sport will not only help you be a better player but will also help you to win more games. And while mental toughness can include the fortitude to persevere in the face of competition, it can also help you to avoid mental fatigue and defeat.
Basketball players old and young quickly learn how important mental toughness is in the sport. Basketball is an in your face, physical, tough, trash talking acceptable game. And if you don’t have the mental toughness needed, you may find yourself falling for an opponent’s mental tricks.
Below, we’re going to review the best basketball books on mental toughness. These books will help you to overcome an opponent’s mental challenges and help you to find the focus and inner fortitude needed to overcome challenges both internal and external.
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Below, we’re going to provide you with our recommendations for the best basketball books on mental toughness. These recommendations are provided in no particular order but are simply a collection of books surrounding mental toughness in basketball that we’ve enjoyed.
Mental Toughness Training for Basketball
Where to Buy: Paperback or Kindle
Mental Toughness Training for Basketball addresses an often-ignored area not addressed in coaching books, videos, and seminars—the mental part of a player’s game. The thoughts, ideas, and strategies on mental toughness presented in this book are things that up-and-coming players, as well as experienced players need to know to raise their games to the highest of levels.
Mental Toughness for Young Athletes
Where to Buy: Paperback orHardcover
Mental toughness in basketball must start in an athletes younger years. Not only will they need to know how to handle the more difficult aspects of the game, but they will also need to know how to harness those feelings. In Mental Toughness for Young Athletes, Moses and Troy Horne discuss how to help your young athlete play better and be better mental players both on and off the court.
Advanced Mental Toughness Training for Basketball
Where to Buy: Paperback or Kindle
Advanced Mental Toughness Training for Basketball will significantly change how hard you can push yourself mentally and emotionally through visualization techniques taught in this book. Want to be the best? To be the best you have to train physically and mentally to your maximum capacity.
Visualizing is commonly thought of as an activity that cannot be quantified which makes it harder to see if you are improving or making a difference, but in reality, visualizing will increase your chances of success much more than any other activity.
You will learn three visualization techniques that are proven to improve your performance under any situation. These are:
1. Motivational Visualization Techniques.
2. Problem Solving Visualization Techniques
3. Goal Oriented Visualization Techniques. These basketball visualization techniques will help you: – Win more often. – Become mentally tougher. – Outlast the competition. – Get to the next level. – Recover faster and train longer.
How is this possible? Visualizing will help you to better control your emotions, stress, anxiety, and performance under pressure situations that are often the difference between success and failure. Bringing out the best in yourself in any sport and reaching your true potential can only happen through a balanced training regimen which should include mental training, physical training, and proper nutrition.
Why aren’t more people using visualizations to enhance their performance in basketball? There are a number of reasons, but the truth is most people have never tried it before and are afraid to try something new. Others don’t think that improving their mental capacity will make a difference, but they are wrong.
Practicing visualization techniques for basketball on a regular basis will allow you to: – Increase your lung capacity by helping you relax muscle tension and decrease workload. – Recover faster after training or competing through breathing techniques that will reduce muscle stress. – Overcome pressure situations. – Train harder and longer without getting as tired. – Reduce your chances of getting cramps and muscle tears. – Improve control over your emotions under stressful conditions. – See results you never thought possible. Visualizing is hard work and requires constant practice which is why only the best do it and take all the glory. Be the best you can be by pushing yourself to your mental limit using visualizations.
Creating the Ultimate Basketball Player
Where to Buy: Paperback
To reach your true potential you need to be at your optimal physical and mental condition and in order to do this you need to start an organized plan that will help you develop your strength, mobility, nutrition, and mental toughness. This book will do that. Eating right and training hard are two of the pieces of the puzzle, but you need the third piece to make it all happen. The third piece is mental toughness and that can be obtained through meditation and visualization techniques taught in this book.
Think Like a Warrior
Where to Buy: Paperback
While not exclusively discussing basketball, Think Like a Warrior is a great resource for all athletes looking to develop mental toughness.
In this inspirational fable, Chris McNeely is a college football coach who is at the end of his rope after a hard-and-fast fall from the top of his profession. Now bankrupt and on the verge of losing his job, he has no idea what he’s doing wrong or how to get back on track.
Angry, worried, and desperate for help, Chris receives mysterious visits from five of history’s greatest coaches: John Wooden, Buck O’Neil, Herb Brooks, Paul “Bear” Bryant, and Vince Lombardi.
Together, these five legendary leaders teach Chris how to “think like a warrior” and take control of his life. The “warrior mindset” he develops changes his life forever—and it will change yours as well.
Discover the life-changing lessons of John Wooden, Buck O’Neil, Herb Brooks, Bear Bryant, and Vince Lombardi in this inspirational tale of what it takes to achieve your dreams—whatever those dreams may be.
This book will show you how to:
– Build your self-confidence
– Develop mental toughness
– Attack every day with joy and enthusiasm
– Use a positive mental attitude to achieve more
– Harness the power of positive self-talk
– Be a positive leader for your family and your team
– Become the person you were born to be