Looking to get better over the summer?

Some teams organize a Book Club where they pick a specific book to read as a team. Then you can get together and discuss how the book relates to your team and how you can incorporate the ideas to get better.

Here are a list of 8 great books you might consider using with your team this summer:

1. MIND GYM by Gary Mack

Mind Gym offers a lot of great peak performance wisdom in a short and highly manageable format. It includes several stories of professional athletes that players of all ages can relate to. It is a great resource to read as a team and the one I recommend most often when you are looking to help your teammates gain the mental edge.

2. IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE by Terry Orlick

If you are looking for excellence from your teammates, Canadian mental training consultant Terry Orlick's book will show you how to achieve it. The book provides a very practical plan for developing areas like mental toughness, controlling distractions, and developing consistency through pre-performance routines.

3. THE SUCCESS PRINCIPLES by Jack Canfield

Chicken Soup for the Soul author Jack Canfield provides a comprehensive view of a variety of success principles that are sure to impact athletics and life. While significantly thicker than most of the other recommended books, the book is broken into numerous short chapters that you could assign specific ones to your teammates to read.

4. MASTERY by George Leonard

Have some teammates who are struggling with a performance plateau? Leonard provides a great resource that helps athletes and coaches understand that plateaus are a natural part of the whole process of mastering any kind of performance. It provides a great and much-needed perspective that success in athletics takes time and is not always linear.

5. SUCCESS IS A CHOICE by Rick Pitino

Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino says that people must deserve to be successful by making the choice to be on a daily basis. Pitino reminds athletes that indeed success must be earned. Alabama softball coach Pat Murphy has used this with his program.

6. TALENT IS NEVER ENOUGH by John Maxwell

John Maxwell expands on a philosophy that he got from Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel that having talent is simply not enough to be successful. The book stresses that the intangible factors in life like attitude, commitment, work ethic, determination and others are the key to achieving and sometimes transcending one's talent level.

BOOKS FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

These two books focus more specifically on the current and emerging leaders on your team.

7. THE LEADERSHIP MOMENT by Michael Useem

Carolina women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance uses this book with his team leaders. The book includes several historical events (pivotal battle at Gettysburg, Merck deciding to provide a highly discounted drug to help cure river blindness) that the author looks at from a leadership standpoint. Dorrance assigns various chapters and discusses them with his core leaders.

8. THE TEAM CAPTAIN'S LEADERSHIP MANUAL by Jeff Janssen

Last but not least, I encourage you to have your fellow leaders read a copy of my Captain's Manual. Rather than me trying to toot my own horn about the book, here's what one college student-athlete recently wrote:

My sophomore year is now done and I just finished the Captain's Manual (and most of the activities in it) and I am absolutely amazed. It turned out to be easily the best book of its type I've ever read.

My relationship with my coaches has never been better, and I have never been more passionate or dedicated to something (leadership) in my life. I am truly inspired to first change my team, and then later in life, change the world. I respect immensely that you are doing just that; changing the world and helping out so many people by sharing your brilliant insight.

I also joined the Team Captain's Network you have online and the resources on there seem to be ENDLESS. I keep calling my coach thrilled at all these things I am finding and dying to try out on our team.

I had to jump at the opportunity to let you know how much you have made a difference in me. I now have all the tools I need to be the best captain I can be for my team next fall and I'm hoping that my team will be a better program thanks to you. I will take these lessons with me beyond the soccer field and will probably always communicate better with people in general having read your book.

I had a 3.4 G.P.A. in the fall semester (one of the lowest on my team) but during the spring, as I was reading your book and meeting with my coaches and just striving to BE BETTER in my second semester, I'm proud to let you know that I ended up with a 4.0 after that semester. I was working harder in all areas of my life while reading your book, and will now continue to do so having read it.

I loved the teammate mental game assessment. It took me nearly 4 hours to complete but it made me feel like I understood each of my teammates so much better and know how to get through to them effectively now.

Next fall will be very difficult for me as leadership is going to be CRUCIAL: we have TWELVE freshman coming in (they will make up almost 50% of our team)! It will take a lot of great leadership to make sure they go through the transition smoothly, and that our team chemistry stays strong. I am SOOO glad that I read your book beforehand so that I am better prepared to lead all these newcomers.

I also really liked the Commitment Contract and am going to do that with my team in our preseason this August. In the past, we have established rules and goals but it is difficult to ensure EVERYONE is committed to them and I think by doing this it will make sure we are all on the same page. Plus, I also agree that it will then make it SO much easier to confront people who stray from it (because I HATE doing that!) I am COMPLETELY an encourager and need to work on my enforcing. I also tend to be a "Teddy Bear". I'm going to aim to care less about popularity and more about respect.

Know that I am grateful for you and think your book and all your online resources are absolutely unbelievable. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Sincerely, A Changed Captain

College Women's Soccer Student-Athlete (her identity and school are intentionally not listed per NCAA Rules to preserve her eligibility)

WHAT BOOKS WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?

If you have any books that you have found helpful for you and/or your team, please share the authors and titles on our Discussion Forum at:

http://www.teamcaptainsnetwork.com/members/forum/openforum.cfm?forum=1