The Playmaker's Decisions: The Science of Clutch Plays, Mental Mistakes and Athlete Cognition
About this ebook
As a follow-up to "The Playmaker’s Advantage", their bestselling guide for athletes, coaches, and parents, Daniel Peterson and Dr. Leonard Zaichkowsky now focus on the split-second decision-making process that produces both clutch plays and mental mistakes.
Whether you are a coach who needs to sharpen your team's decisions under pressure or a parent who is trying to understand your young superstar's mental game or even a fan who has yelled at the TV wondering why your team breaks your heart, "The Playmaker’s Decisions" combines science and stories to shed light on the black box of athlete cognition.
The Playmaker on any team makes the right decision at the right time, almost every time. Despite the constraints of time, tactics, and rules, the best players combine their vision and skills with razor-sharp decision accuracy for an unstoppable competitive advantage.
As a follow-up to "The Playmaker’s Advantage", their bestselling guide for athletes, coaches, and parents, Daniel Peterson and Dr. Leonard Zaichkowsky now focus on the split-second decision-making process that produces both clutch plays and mental mistakes.
Whether you are a coach who needs to sharpen your team's decisions under pressure or a parent who is trying to understand your young superstar's mental game or even a fan who has yelled at the TV wondering why your team breaks your heart, "The Playmaker’s Decisions" combines science and stories to shed light on the black box of athlete cognition.
Praise for The Playmaker’s Advantage:
“Any coach who isn’t tuned in to this stuff, in my opinion, is going to fall behind.”
-Mike Sullivan, Head Coach, Pittsburgh Penguins
“An easy to read book that blends science and coaching practice in a manner in which many books are unable to achieve. I would recommend this to any coach or scientist interested in improving their team’s performance.”
-Damian Farrow, PhD, Professor of Skill Acquisition, Victoria University
"One of the most valuable books I have read in a long time. How often as coaches have we said it is all in your head. The Playmaker's Advantage shows how to use what’s in our head to our competitive advantage."
-Vern Gambetta, Director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems
About the author
DANIEL PETERSON is a writer and speaker specializing at the intersection of neuroscience and sports performance. He combined twenty-five years of technology management experience with his second life as a sports dad and coach to explore how athletes make decisions.
He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BBA in Finance and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with an MS in Management Information Systems.
Dan and his wife live in the suburbs of Milwaukee with their two dogs.
LEONARD ZAICHKOWSKY, PH.D. is a researcher, speaker and consultant advising coaches, teams, and sports organizations on developing athlete cognition. For almost four decades, he was a professor at Boston University, pioneering sports psychology by bringing cognitive neuroscience and sports performance together as an interdisciplinary science.
His academic textbooks and research publications demonstrated the importance of an athlete’s remarkable brain in anticipating and acting on opportunities during competition. He has consulted with teams in the NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, Australian Rules Football, the Spanish men’s national soccer team, and Olympic sports organizations around the world.
Len is a former president and a fellow of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Recently, the American Psychological Association honored Len with the “Distinguished Service to the Profession” award.
After too many Boston winters, he and his wife now live in Fort Myers, Florida.
