Train Your Mind Like a Commando

The game is decided in the body. The big moments are decided in the mind.

You have done the training. You know the skills. Then the pressure arrives: the penalty kick, the free throw, the final lap, the serve at match point. Your heart races, your hands go cold, and the athlete you are in practice disappears.

That gap is not a weakness. It is a skill nobody taught you. And it can be trained, just like speed or strength.

Written by a man who learned pressure on the track and in the Special Forces. Before he entered military school, Nikolaos Giannopoulos was a youth champion in the 3,000 meters. He went on to serve 36 years in the Greek Special Forces, commanded the Greek Special Forces and the V Airborne Brigade, and served on missions in Iraq, Bosnia and Libya.

In Train Your Mind Like a Commando, the retired Lieutenant General gives teen athletes one simple method for every competition: Prepare, Perform, Reset. What you do before the game, what you do during it, and what you do after a mistake or a loss.

Inside you will find:

• 12 practical tools for before, during and after the game
• How to build confidence from evidence instead of waiting to feel ready
• A breathing pattern and a one-word cue for the loudest moments
• How to bounce back from a mistake in seconds, not innings or quarters
• A two-minute debrief and what a loss can really teach you
• How to be the teammate who lifts everyone else
• Real stories from the author's training and service
• A worked example in a different sport for every tool: soccer, basketball, swimming, track, tennis, volleyball, baseball, softball, gymnastics, wrestling, hockey and lacrosse
• A 21-day training plan with pages to track your progress
• A chapter for parents and coaches

This book is for athletes ages 13 to 18 in any sport, boys and girls, and for the parents and coaches who want to help them compete with a steadier head. It also makes a meaningful gift for any young athlete.

The author is not a psychologist or a coach, and this book is not medical advice. It is a practical mental training method, plainly written, for young people who already work hard and want their minds to keep up with their bodies.

Scroll up, and start training the part of your game nobody sees.