GET INSIDE THE MINDS OF ELITE SPORTSMEN AND WOMEN AND DISCOVER WHAT IT TAKES TO BE THE BEST. THIS IS THE STORY OF SUPERHUMAN PERFORMANCE AND THE PLAYBOOK FOR THE SUPERSTARS OF TOMORROW.
Never have the best sportspeople seemed so far removed from the rest of us. So how are these extraordinary athletes made and what do their achievements tell us about success? The Best reveals how the most incredible sportspeople in the world got that way. It is a unique look at the path to sporting greatness. This is a story of origins, training, luck and serendipity, as well as of sports science and cutting-edge technology. Packed with gripping personal stories and interviews, you will discover how the best athletes develop the extraordinary skills and muscle memory that allow them to perform remarkable acts without consciously thinking about them.
The Best deconstructs the myths, like the notion that 10,000 hours of practice are needed to make it to the top, and explores the hidden power of the mind to reveal how athletes really think and process information during high octane competition. it gets inside the minds of champions, deconstructing what athletes see during matches and explaining how they do what they do.
Drawing on examples and lessons from throughout the sporting world, this is for anyone who wants to know what it takes to be the best.
About the Authors
Professor Mark Williams (Uni of Utah) is a world-renowned expert on skill acquisition and talent development in sport. He has consulted with several Olympics sports including swimming, skiing, hockey and cycling, advised many national and international governing bodies such as UEFA, FIFA, AIS, USOC, and UK Sport. He has worked with the best professional sports teams across from the world - from Everton FC, Barcelona, and Real Madrid to the Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs, the Chicago Bears, the New York Yankees, Saracens and the Brisbane Broncos.
Tim Wigmore is an award-winning journalist, who covers a broad range of sports, both on and off the field. He writes regularly for The Economist, The New York Times and ESPNCricinfo. He is a cricket writer forThe Daily Telegraph, has a weekly sports column for The i paper, and regularly discusses sport on the BBC and TalkSport.
Industry Reviews
Insightful, thoughtful, and altogether wonderful: The authors have given us a guided tour of athletic greatness, brimming with revelatory science and deep understanding. -- Daniel Coyle, New York Times bestselling author of The Talent Code
For any coach that wants to learn and then coach better, this book is a must read. Developing elite athletes is an intricate process and this book will help you achieve the right balance of coaching. -- Eddie Jones, Head Coach, England Rugby
The Best takes a classic question posed by sport - what made them so good? - and interrogates it with genuine intellectual sparkle. -- Ed Smith, England cricket selector, author of What Sport Tells Us About Life
Answers the big questions about how stars are made, in lucid, jargon-free prose. Takes our understanding of elite sport to a new level and deepens the enjoyment of watching. A major addition to sporting literature. -- Paul Hayward, Chief Sports Writer, Daily Telegraph
The Best takes you on an epic journey of discovery and learning while also highlighting some of the nuances and pitfalls around developing elite athletes. -- James Bunce, High Performance Director, US Soccer Federation
A great read for anyone interested in excellence using a compelling mix of narrative interviews with the best athletes interwoven with cutting edge science. -- Sian Beilock, author of Choke
This crisply written and enthralling book is a study of high achievement in sports. But it is much more than that because of the richness of the human interest stories it tells and of how it uses data to explain its conclusions. It achieves that rare feat: making you look at the world in a new way. -- Jason Cowley, editor, New Statesman
The Best is an enthralling read that combines the latest research along with interesting anecdotes that bring to life how the world's best athletes are made. Whether a casual reader or professional working in athlete development The Best is a great read. -- Troy Taylor, High Performance Director, US Ski and Snowboard
The authors delve deep into the minds of great athletes, making tangible the intangible, bringing reason to the unexplained, and order to the chaos surrounding the creation of elite sportsmen and women. -- Stuart Miller, Senior Executive Director, International Tennis Federation
Taking the complexity of cutting edge research and mixing it with the insights from expert performers in elite sport, The Best stands out in offering a glimpse of the characteristics of greatness and highlighting the many factors that lead individuals to sporting triumph. -- David Colclough, Head of Coaching/Sports Science at The Professional Golfers' Association (The PGA)
A comprehensive book, which thoroughly covers, using science and interviews with successful athletes, the key factors that impact on a prosperous career in sport. For those involved in this domain, this is a very important read that helps improve understanding of the nuances that exist along the pathway to sporting excellence. -- Juninho Paulista, Brazilian National Football Team
The authors have created a piece of work that encapsulates everything we should know about identifying and developing champions. This book is a must for any coach, Sporting Director, teacher or mentor; in fact, anyone involved in finding talent and creating opportunity for potential to become reality. In this one book, the authors cover the full spectrum of requirements for elite athletes to become the best they can be and provide the tools for others to help them. -- Les Reed, Technical Director, The Football Association
The Best provides a perfect balance between evidence-based and anecdotal writing. It is easy to read, yet insightful and thought-provoking. It provides a good framework to understand the multifactorial and random aspects involved in human talent. The Best is a great resource for anyone interested in skill learning, talent identification and expert performance in sport. -- Xavi Schelling, Director of Sports Science and Performance, San Antonio Spurs
The Best is simply an essential read. It takes us on a rollercoaster tour of the journeys of some of the world's most celebrated athletes and explains how they achieved sporting greatness. -- Christopher Carling, Head of Performance, French Football Federation
A must read for any coach who wants to optimize and facilitate athlete development. The book highlights how talent develops by creating realistic practice situations and empowering athletes. The book, amongst other things, has the athlete and sport at its core, while bestowing on the coach a crucial role as the facilitator of sporting greatness. -- Isaac Guerrero, Head of Coaching at FC Barcelona
In The Best, the authors' vast scientific expertise and real-world experience from the trenches of elite sport results in a fascinating, informative, and immediately relevant read. I devoured it in a weekend and immediately shared it with my National Team coaches and performance staff. -- Peter Vint, Chief of Sport, USA Volleyball
