***WINNER OF THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2020 – GENERAL OUTSTANDING SPORTS WRITING***
It's well known that to reach the top in elite sport, you need to have spent years honing and perfecting your physical ability. However this is only part of the template required to win – the other half is about mind games.
Throughout her career as one of the world's top athletes, Annie Vernon struggled with existential questions about the purpose of sport in our comfortable, first-world society: Why do we do it? What is it in our psyche that makes us push ourselves to the limit? What allows us to mentally overcome the physical pain?
Now retired from competition, Olympic silver medallist and world champion rower Annie Vernon has decided to look for answers to these questions. Drawing on her personal experiences and interviews with some of the best coaches, athletes and psychologists from across the world of sport – including Lucy Gossage, Dave Scott, Katherine Grainger, Matthew Pinsent, Brian Moore, Brian Ching and Dr Steve Peters – Annie discovers the secrets of how athletes train their brains in order to become world beaters.
Annie debunks the myth that elite performers are universally cool, calm and brimming with self-assurance. Through exploring the bits on the inside that nobody can see, Annie instead creates a new understanding of what it takes to be successful in sport and uncovers that, in fact, an elite athlete is not that different from you and me. It's simply a question of mind games.
About the Author
Annie Vernon is a former Olympic rower. She was a full-time athlete for eight years, winning gold at the 2007 and 2010 World Championships and silver at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Annie is now a sports journalist, regularly contributing to BBC Sport, The Times, Guardian, Sunday Times and Rowing & Regatta. She lives in Cornwall.
Industry Reviews
'Loved it… I would recommend it to all of you.'
BBC 5 Live, Jazmin Sawyers
'Mind Games is accessible to anyone who wants to delve into the mind of some of the world's sporting greats, and gain an insight into how they have dealt with issues such as pressure, success, failure and injury ...'
Chrissie Wellington OBE
“A tour de force of elite sport, nerves, expectation and pressure from all perspectives.”
Matthew Pinsent
“There is no better person to shed light on the fascinating subject of sports psychology than two-timed World Champion, Olympian and talented sports journalist, Annie Vernon”
Chrissie Wellington OBE
“A fascinating book about the psychology of elite sport… Mind Games explores compelling territory. It asks searching questions about the mentality required to succeed at sport's highest level while mining themes of self-doubt, determination, competitiveness and why “talent needs trauma” to blossom.”
Don McRae the Guardian
“I played professional rugby for 13 years and it was amazing to read in Mind Games that the doubts and challenges I felt during that time weren't mine alone – they were shared by my peers across different disciplines. I wish I'd had Mind Games as a reference book during my career as I'm sure it would have made me much stronger to know I wasn't alone in my thinking.”
Chris Bentley former professional rugby player
