Mind games book sport

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. Get A Copy. Kindle Edition , pages. More Details Other Editions 2. Friend Reviews.

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Mind Games , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list ». Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. May 25, Olivia Law added it. This was a fun, chill read. I LOVE all things elite sport and most things psychology.

It was super interesting how Vernon managed to incorporate so many different backgrounds and interviews in this short book. Would definitely recommend if you have a background in high-level performance.

Jul 20, Gill rated it liked it Shelves: , library , non-fiction , month I was excited to read this but while it's an interesting read it just didn't engage me fully. It felt more like a lightweight collection of essays than a rounded whole. Psychology is naturally a very individual matter, so what does that mean for team sports? With TeamGB's success in recent years, this could have been absolutely fascinating.

Contains a lot of rowing-related anecdotes - perhaps inevitable given Vernon's background - but not enough meat. Too much insider, too little investigation. See details for additional description. Skip to main content. About this product. Stock photo. Brand new: Lowest price The lowest-priced brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging where packaging is applicable. Catalogue Number: Format: Paperback. Missing Information?. See all 6 brand new listings. Buy It Now. Add to cart.

Sold by rarewaves-usa About this product Product Information A fascinating insight into the psychology behind elite-level sports. Mind Games discusses concepts used in sports psychology in a way that is understandable to the watching public, sports fans, and sports-haters alike. Annie Vernon draws on her own experiences as an Olympic medalist, interviews with a wide range of people from other sports, and input from experts to answer the question: What is it about our psyche that makes pushing the mind and body to their limits such a basic human desire?

Annie speaks to athletes from a broad spectrum of sports around the globe, including basketball's Shane Battier and John Starks, NFL star Ryan Fitzpatrick, fencer Tim Morehouse, and baseball's Craig Breslow and Tino Martinez, tennis's Judy Murray, polar explorer Ben Saunders, triathlete Chrissie Wellington, skeleton-bob star Lizzy Yarnold, runner Jo Pavey and sailor Ben Ainslie, along with coaches and sports psychologists from both Olympic sports and their professional equivalents.

Whether it be performing under pressure, coping with nerves, teamwork, or building self-belief in the face of adversity, the methods that elite sports-people use are also relevant to everyday life. He smiles. His gray eyes, they will haunt me forever with what I would have done-what I still could do-what I still should do-oh, Annie, have you already seen this?

Did you know when I left that I'd kill us both? Page 6 Your poor little head. It must hurt to be you. Because I'm going against Keane oh no, oh no, they will kill us both and I need to know as much as I can to try and fix it. Page 7 Getting the idea? Well, I don't think you've seen enough. I look over my shoulder to see the men, three tap tap tap-I hate the number three , thick shoulders, one gun between them based on the way the guy in the middle is walking that was a mistake, they should all have guns-guess they'll find out , matching ouur pace and getting closer.

Page 10 For hating the number three, she sure repeats a word three times a lot a lot a lot a lot. You'll see see see. Tap tap tap I need to tap tap tap I need to get out of this car. Page 88 There are no boys here.

Not teenagers, anyways. Only men. With weapons. It hurts, it hurts, my body hurts. Page 89 Good Lord! We know! And what does that have to do with anything anyways?

I simultaneously want to kiss him and to get as far away from him as possible. He feels wrong, he feels dangerous; my heart speeds up the same way for him that it did for the stun guns. Page 89 You feel attracted to stun guns? Because I'm too young for you? Because you're an evil manipulative monster and I know it? Page We're touching, touching everywhere and it's wrong it's wrong it's wrong but right right now and I close my eyes and his lips are even better at dulling than the drinks or the music.

Page I'd like to put the entire freaking chapter from , but I really don't feel like it. Though it is a prime example of how Fia is TSTL and how James is, and I don't say this lightly, a man-whore and how she doesn't use commas and sentences never end and she repeats things over and over and over, which is rather rather rather annoying to read.

Page What are you doing?! Page You want to know what's wrong? If Clarice is dead, she can't be there when Annie gets shot. That can't happen now. It won't happen now. Page Are you sure? He flirts shamelessly with everyone. The Readers whisper that he think constantly about sex. Eden says he reeks of lust. I don't want him in the room. I don't want him around my baby sister. Kill them kill them-wait. If I'm gone, Annie's not safe. What if James is with me? What if he can't tell them that I was taken, that I didn't run?

Oh, no, Annie. Page While the sentiment here is probably the best one Fia expresses the entire book, the writing is so bad. Cole has a slight limp I wonder where my knife went; I liked that knife. Page What the hell is up with the tapping? Control didn't get Clarice killed. Page First off, what is the purpose of all the parenthesis? It's not like we can't read Fia's thoughts without them.

Secondly, finally remember you bludgeoning her to death, do ya, Fia? Good to know you're not a heartless witch. I steal a phone out of someone's pocket I feel like I should have a phone. Page Classic Fia. She's not in danger.

No life threatening situation. She's walking in the park. Just taking a walk and decides to steal a random person's phone. I can see the person he thinks I am when he looks at me-this wonder, this strong and brave and strange girl.

He is half in love with the idea of me, and if I stayed Page Here's the rub: Fia can't read minds. She can't feel other people's emotions. So, Fia, stop being a self-centered arrogant prissy little you-know-what and get past yourself. Fia: "You use me. I use you. I need to use you. Page I'm sorry, what was that, James? You use her? Can you repeat that in front of Annie so she can, I don't know, kill you? That'd be great.

Page "Emilia,"I say, and he takes my hand he shouldn't touch my hand and brings it to his lips. Page I do not move, will not move, not ever.

Right, right, right. I will make this feel right. Page Because God forbid Fia do something actually right. That would be absurd. I'm his. It's such a relief to be someone's, to not have to be my own to not have to be Annie's-don't think about Annie, not tonight, especially not tonight.

Page Yeah, wouldn't want to think about your blind sister that you left all alone. And she is wrapped around-wrapped around-wrapped around James, my James, and she is laughing and her hands not my hands, not my horrible hands are in his hair and she is whispering in his ear. Page What, I ask you, would possess someone to write a sentence like that? Oh, maybe if you were writing the POV of an insane person. Love, love, love. Page Okay. Page Why are you so homicidal?

Oh, and maybe you should have considered the fact that James runs around with every girl he can get his hands on. He's not gonna change for you, no matter how much you repeat things in your head. He is smiling and driving, and I wish I were driving. I would drive us off a cliff. No I wouldn't. Maybe I would. I am so stupid, I am sick with the stupidness of me. Page Smartest thing you've ever thought. I'm so frelling proud of you. He is beautiful and he thinks I am beautiful and everything about him is slick and predatory-and he wants me.

He is wrong and I should not encourage him, I should leave right now and find James. This is not safe. There are too many bodies, several of the tall, broad guys around us are obviously with him. I am outnumbered; it is dark; he thinks I am very young and very helpless and only one of those is true. He does not like James.

He hates him. I noticed on the beach, but I was distracted by James claiming me. Not claiming me. Using me. Keeping me away from Rafael. I smile and raise my arms over my head, dance closer to Rafael. He hates James. He is dangerous. I let him put his hands on hips and twist my body against his. Because he is not James. Page Are you for real? How much of an idiotic child can you be? So because you are angry at James for something if you had a brain you knew he'd do and because he isn't worshiping at your feet, you're gonna get yourself into a situation where you almost get raped?

All because you don't know how not to be the center of attention. You want to "get back" at James. And you want to feel wanted. May I suggest listening to Hunter Hayes? So you get drunk. You encourage him, you don't walk away. Heck, you let him kiss and manhandle you. I'm in no way condoning what he does, but I'm just saying you might want to think every once in a while.

Page What does that have to do with anything? Moving on Wasn't that the epitome of literary genius? I sure thought so. I can honestly say I cannot remember the last time I read a book with as horrid writing as this. How does something like this even get published? Oh, and I also found out that this was written in 9 days. It varies between actually whole book written in 9 days and first draft written in 9 days.

I'm kinda guessing they're sorta the same thing for this one. But, in any case, it shows. And it explains, in part, why this is so crappy. POV was confusing. It switched back and forth between Fia and Annie but their individual voices weren't very unique.

It was hard to keep track of who was talking, except that you could almost always guess if it was Fia, cause she is whiny as hell. And there were flashbacks, many of which which I found to be worthless to the story. Just know also that Annie, while not as stupid or annoying as Fia, was boring. Her scenes were mostly in flashbacks and, as I already told you, those were worthless. Also, there's a love triangle.

Could I muster up the energy to care less? Probably not. Oh, the potential!! It sounded like it was going to be fantastic. I was hankering for a sibling story and sisters would have worked beautifully.

Except it sucked. But I digress. You say this section is for plot? I say, "What plot? Truly authors delight in torturing their readers. So there's this institution that finds young woman with these abilities and uses them to run hits on people. That is it. You're told that, you put up with Fia and flashbacks for pages, get your twist plot for the next book thrown in and voila!

A book! Oh, and absolutely not a thing is explained. So you see, I would love view spoiler [ I couldn't care less. View all 22 comments. Ferguson, my Kindle, was temporarily unavailable so I was forced to read it on my iPhone and my eyes nearly fell out, but I couldn't stop.

Not for a second. I wouldn't have stopped to save my life. Sister Assassin is a story about two sisters, Fia and Annie, and the narrative is divided between their two points of view. The sisters live in a boarding school for talented girls. Annie is blind, but she is also a Seer, able to predict the future to a certain extent.

Her instinct, the tiny voice that tells right from wrong, never fails her. Keane, when he starts holding Annie hostage in order to force Fia to do his bidding. She always knows which road to take if she needs to get away. In the process of training her, they completely broke her. It reminded me just a bit of Tahereh Mafi, and you all know how I feel about her.

In this room I have picked which gun was unloaded out of ten options. And then they pulled the trigger on me. I have picked stocks that went on to skyrocket. I have picked which pencil I would shove into Ms.

Robertson, you see, is Mr. The school also has Seers, and Feelers empaths. The romance was completely unconventional, and all the more exciting because of it. Sofia had no idea whom she could trust, and neither did I.

I liked James a lot, but his every action was morally dubious, and it was precisely that that made him perfect for Fia in a sad, twisted way. Theirs is a romance I resisted for as long as I could because I felt that a part of it is rotten at its core, but in the end I had no choice but to accept it and want it for both of them. Make sure to have a free afternoon when you decide to read this book. You will not be able to put it down, that much I can promise you, it will consume your every thought.

The ending IS an ending, but it is also a promise of a great second installment. How about you? View all 6 comments. Dec 04, Zoe rated it did not like it Shelves: dystopia , to-review.

I mean really… why go through all the work when there are thousands of other books you can just steal borrow ideas from? Our protagonist, Fia has perfect instincts — her gut feeling is always right. Over and over again, Fia and Annie are asked to use their abilities for bad purposes, or to have each other killed.

All I have to say is… really Kiersten White? No really… I heard somewhere that the first draft of this book was written in nine days!

I know how to twist it just so to pop-pop-pop it right out of the socket. Honestly, do I really need to explain what I think is wrong with the paragraphs above? I think my main problem with the writing was just simply the style in which it was written in. The book is written in 1st person present tense, which was a little hard to get into from the get-go. Here comes the bus! But it seemed so rushed and so juvenile that it came to the point where I could care less. Under normal circumstances, I would have really appreciated this; but Mrs.

Fia and Annie are practically the same person. Not only do they sound alike, but they act alike as well. The side characters are completely undeveloped.

All the side characters had so little depth and so much stereotyping that to me it seemed they were nothing more than cardboard cutouts. Jan 23, Ceilidh rated it did not like it.

The ratings system is inherently flawed in relation to book reviews. I tend to use the 1 star review solely for books that offended me, particularly in their romanticised depiction of rape culture, abusive relationships, women shaming, etc. I seldom, if ever, give a book 1 star because it was just awful as a piece of literature. I read somewhere that the author Kiersten White finished the first draft of this book in nine days.

Nine days is far longer than my original predic The ratings system is inherently flawed in relation to book reviews. Nine days is far longer than my original prediction of a weekend. This book read like a NaNoWriMo novel written in the final two days because the author forgot about it. The biggest failure of this book is the narration. Switching between the two sisters who are entirely matching in almost every way, White has chosen a stream-of-consciousness first person style to tell this story.

The non-linear narrative feels like such a slog, and does nothing but make the story entirely incoherent. Any possibility of the book livening up with some action is quickly ruined by this unreadable style. Scooby Doo offered up stronger motivation and characterisation than this book does. Of course, James is the dark, sexy and dangerous one who we are supposed to root for the woman he plies with alcohol to get together with. Not that the alcohol plied sister Fia really cares about the well-being of this young woman.

They serve bare plot purposes in the most serviceable manner possible and are barely explained or expanded upon.

The style of the book and the childish approach to storytelling and prose just dragged me out of the experience. I can live with an unoriginal plot structure, which this book has in spades, if the execution is interesting, or interesting questions are asked, or if the characters and dialogue bring it to life. This book has none of that. I spent much more time thinking about why White was in such a hurry to push this book out than I did thinking about the book itself.

I cannot understand how a relatively well acclaimed New York Times best-selling author can fail so badly with this book, although some blame must also go to the editor and agent for rushing this out so quickly as if publishing it was a race against time.

I see that this book is the first in a duology, which makes me shudder, in all honesty. View 1 comment.

Oct 15, Sabrina rated it did not like it. The writing was weird - it kept repeating things three time, like when you add unnecessary words in a work so it has the sufficient word count - and extremely simple.

This was the major problem for me. It was just NO. The characters were boring and stupid. One of the main characters is just so bloody freaking stupid. She pissed me off so much i 1. She pissed me off so much in just a couple of chapters. Because I could only find one! View 2 comments. Synopsis: Fia can't make a wrong decision, because she's got perfect instincts.

Her older sister, Annie, is blind, but has the ability to see into the future, and she's one of the only people who can "see" Fia. At the beginning of the novel, Fia is tasked with killing a guy named Adam. As someone with perfect instincts, she can easily fight off any guy, and has the ability to manipulate anyone around her to twist them around her little finger.

She's clearly the perfect assassin. The problem is, sh Synopsis: Fia can't make a wrong decision, because she's got perfect instincts. The problem is, she can't do it - the guy looks nice, and like a good person, and she makes a split-second decision to try and save him. Of course, people come after her, but she manages to escape with Adam, and we learn a little more about what led us to this point.

The story alternates between the voices of Annie and Fia, and flashbacks to the sisters' lives before and during this event. We find out that the girls ended up a school for "special girls" like them that is mostly run by males and is tapping their talents for it's own secret purposes.

In this world, only girls have special powers, and those powers are grouped into Seer, Feeler, and Reader. Fia is none of those things, and because of that, she's extra special. Review: I loved Fia's strength and her desperate need to protect her sister at all costs. That's pretty much her "tell" in any situation, and it's one that's completely understandable and made me want to hug my besties.

She's strong, sassy, and understands sacrifice better than any YA character I've ever seen. Her character was incredibly complex, and I pretty much wanted to stay in her fragile mind the entire time. Read the rest of this review at Mostly YA Lit View all 5 comments. Jan 18, Crystal rated it it was amazing Shelves: , favorites. This book is absolutely amazing. Mind Games is simply that a perfect mind game that will leave you begging for more. I honestly have no clue how I am going to write this review but I am going to try.

The time setting also changes from present time to the past making things even more complicated, but still in my opinion unique and amazing. The overall storyline is not simple either. It involves lot This book is absolutely amazing.

It involves lots of espionage, murder, calculating, and deception. Annie and Fia are both being used for their abilities but Fia is the one that everyone wants. It isn't really clear what her ability actually is until later in the story but believe me it is one of the best creations I have ever read.

When Fia can't take things anymore she starts to take things into her own hands, but with all eyes on her and her sister to protect she doesn't have many options. This story is really just the beginning, we get to see the background and the why of everything but I think the true story will start in the next one since Fia made a HUGE decision at the end of Mind Games and it is really a game changer for everybody.

The writing style I will admit may turn some people off. I personally loved it but I can see where it could be a little bit much at times. Fia has a habit of repeating certain things three times and tapping her leg three times, this is proven and shown throughout the book and to me it just showed me how broken she really was.

I felt her being broken down and with the writing the way it is it just fit her mind perfectly. I honestly just want to squee from the roof tops about this book. I know my review is all over the place but I just can't seem to find the words to do this book justice. Mind games is unique, amazing, interesting, and so so much more. I was so shocked at so many things that happened throughout, that by the end of the story I was exhausted emotionally and in shock over what is to come.

I don't know how I am going to wait for the next book! Apr 26, Kimberly Sabatini rated it it was amazing Shelves: mg-ya. I've erased this review like ten times because I'm having trouble. It is evident by this unique, exciting and riveting book that Whi I've erased this review like ten times because I'm having trouble.

It is evident by this unique, exciting and riveting book that White has just proven she's not a one trick pony. She's tiny like a pony--but she has lots of tricks and I love them. I love them so much, I want the sequel to this book NOW!

Make a list. Check it twice. I'd better be on it. I know you hate me because it isn't February yet, and you're justified, but guess what--I'm not even a little bit sorry, because yeah, it was that good. View all 7 comments. Oct 24, Cynthia Hand rated it it was amazing Shelves: recent-loves , ya-fiction.

This book rocked. It was short and sweet and tense and crazy. Kudos to Ms. Apr 09, Anne rated it really liked it Shelves: read-in , young-adult , nook , paranormal.

I've read her Paranormalcy trilogy, and for the most part enjoyed its fluffy heroine, Evie. I assumed Mind Games would be similar, and prepared myself for a book filled with silly humor and sparkly characters. Yeah, not so much. I'm also bad about ordering a book, forgetting why I ordered it and then diving in without bothering to read what the blurb on the cover says. Lazy, I know. So I downloaded it thinking something along the lines of, "Two sisters Then settled in for a bit of a light read while the kids were on the playground.

Except it wasn't a light read, and instead of something to kill the time while the kids were playing, I ended up not being able to put it down. I'm pretty sure I fed and bathed them that night, but I wouldn't swear to it in a court of law.

It probably sounded like this, "Hey! It's corn dog and french fry night, guys! So am I a slack parent, or was the book just that good? Obviously, both, but today I'm blaming my smelly malnourished children on the book. Fia was what I would consider the main character, though. Annie's voice seemed to be there more to fill in the gaps of Fia's story. Warning: There are a lot of flashback sequences, and frequent time jumps between the past and present. If this is a pet peeve, you may not enjoy this as much as I did.

Orphaned at a young age by a car wreck, the girls are taken in by an aunt who would rather not deal with Annie's blindness and psychic nightmares. When an exclusive boarding school offers to give Annie a home, she jumps at the chance. Fia immediately feels something is very wrong with the school, but when she voices her opinion, it only serves to intrigue the interviewer and ensures that both girls are given a new home.

However, this is not where the story opens remember the above mentioned time jumps? When we first meet Fia she is seventeen, lurking in the shadows, and trying to figure out a way to save the boy she was sent to kill. At this point, I'm totally sucked in. And how did a teenager end up working as an assassin, you ask? See, Annie may be psychic, but Fia has what they call perfect instincts. Big deal, right? Well, the more I read, the more intrigued I became.

Not only can she tell when people are lying, or which stock is going to skyrocket, she also knows instinctively when to duck so that she can avoid a punch, which way to turn on a street to avoid capture, and what person in a crowd will help her.

There's more to it than that, but those are some of the highlights. As the story progresses, you learn that Fia is working for a shadowy organization that runs the boarding school she and Annie were accepted into. While Annie was the original prize they wanted, it quickly became evident that Fia was far more important. Annie has now become a prisoner in what once was her home, and her life is the insurance policy that guarantees Fia's continued cooperation.

Which makes Fia's choice to save the life of her target, Adam, that much more dangerous. After all, Annie and Fia aren't the only special girls that the school has recruited. With psychics, mind readers, and empaths all around her, how can she possibly hide her plans to save both Adam and Annie? As if all of this wasn't enough, Fia has to contend with her handler, James. She's drawn to him in spite of every instinct screaming that she needs to stay away.

He says he cares about what happens to her, but it could easily just be a lie. After all, he's the son of the very man responsible for what Fia has become.

Could the heir to such an evil empire really love her? Well, you'll just have to find out for yourself, because I'm certainly not telling you the answer.

I'd recommend this one for readers who like their heroines smart, snarky, and slightly unhinged. Jun 04, Neil or bleed rated it liked it. Mind Games is surely a dark novel which will eventually force your mind to think about it especially if you are in the head of two sisters who the one has a nearly insane and impulsive attitude and the other is calm and serene. The book was direct to the point so there are small amounts of detailing about the environment and the people and I'm used to that writing detailed so this was really a shocker and the reason why it has only pages.

The main point of the book is quite simple but the Mind Games is surely a dark novel which will eventually force your mind to think about it especially if you are in the head of two sisters who the one has a nearly insane and impulsive attitude and the other is calm and serene.