Mark H. Anshel, PhD, is professor emeritus at Middle Tennessee State University. He has consulted with youth and professional sports teams, and has applied performance psychology concepts in medical, law enforcement, and corporate settings. Dr. Anshel is the author of numerous books, including Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice (Fifth Edition), Aerobics for Fitness (Fifth Edition), and Applied Health Fitness Psychology, as well as the editor of the Dictionary of Sport and Exercise Sciences. Dr. Anshel has written and published over 140 articles in scientific journals and 22 book chapters in areas of sport and exercise psychology. He is a former college baseball athlete.

Anshel examines the occurrence of failure, providing both theoretical and real-life perspectives. His description of failure parallels Carol Dweck’s growth-mindset philosophy—as presented in Mindset: The New Psychology, which this book complements: i.e., he explains that failure is an essential part of the learning process and a necessity for future success. As Anshel points out, society considers failure taboo—a mark of disappointment, missed opportunities, frustration, and dissatisfaction with performance both on and off the field. Anshel encourages readers to redefine and embrace failure, to see it not as a blemish in one's life but instead as a tool for harnessing success and striving toward improvement. The author provides readers with a series of tips for coping with and overcoming failure—many will be useful far beyond the boundaries of sport—and he discusses complex issues in language that is easy to understand. Offering an interesting mix of academic terminology, reality, and evidence-based research, this book will be accessible to a broad audience.Summing Up:Recommended. All readers.

• PrefaceIntroduction: Defining Failure and Success in SportChapter 1: How We Promote Sport Performance FailureChapter 2: Dimensions of Failure: Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Values-BasedChapter 3: Explaining the Causes of FailureChapter 4: Failure Improves Intrinsic MotivationChapter 5: Errors Lead to Optimal PerformanceChapter 6: Proper Coping with FailureChapter 7: Linking Effective Sports Leadership to FailureChapter 8: Effective Communication Skills for Performance Feedback and InstructionChapter 9: Failure and Children: Helping Kids Fail SafelyChapter 10: Handling Failure in Sport SettingsChapter 11: Handling Failure in Exercise SettingsConclusionEpilogueReferencesIndexAbout the Author

Mark H. Anshel, PhD, is professor emeritus at Middle Tennessee State University. He has consulted with youth and professional sports teams, and has applied performance psychology concepts in medical, law enforcement, and corporate settings. Dr. Anshel is the author of numerous books, including Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice (Fifth Edition), Aerobics for Fitness (Fifth Edition), and Applied Health Fitness Psychology, as well as the editor of the Dictionary of Sport and Exercise Sciences. Dr. Anshel has written and published over 140 articles in scientific journals and 22 book chapters in areas of sport and exercise psychology. He is a former college baseball athlete.

Anshel examines the occurrence of failure, providing both theoretical and real-life perspectives. His description of failure parallels Carol Dweck’s growth-mindset philosophy—as presented in Mindset: The New Psychology, which this book complements: i.e., he explains that failure is an essential part of the learning process and a necessity for future success. As Anshel points out, society considers failure taboo—a mark of disappointment, missed opportunities, frustration, and dissatisfaction with performance both on and off the field. Anshel encourages readers to redefine and embrace failure, to see it not as a blemish in one's life but instead as a tool for harnessing success and striving toward improvement. The author provides readers with a series of tips for coping with and overcoming failure—many will be useful far beyond the boundaries of sport—and he discusses complex issues in language that is easy to understand. Offering an interesting mix of academic terminology, reality, and evidence-based research, this book will be accessible to a broad audience.Summing Up:Recommended. All readers.

• PrefaceIntroduction: Defining Failure and Success in SportChapter 1: How We Promote Sport Performance FailureChapter 2: Dimensions of Failure: Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Values-BasedChapter 3: Explaining the Causes of FailureChapter 4: Failure Improves Intrinsic MotivationChapter 5: Errors Lead to Optimal PerformanceChapter 6: Proper Coping with FailureChapter 7: Linking Effective Sports Leadership to FailureChapter 8: Effective Communication Skills for Performance Feedback and InstructionChapter 9: Failure and Children: Helping Kids Fail SafelyChapter 10: Handling Failure in Sport SettingsChapter 11: Handling Failure in Exercise SettingsConclusionEpilogueReferencesIndexAbout the Author