You are interested to buy some books online? I have teamed up with Amazon Canada to make this easier for you! Have a look at the books I have bought in the past and go to the Amazon website by clicking on the book cover.

You can also go to my Amazon US or Amazon UK sections for cheaper shipping rates.

There never seems enough time to read but I always enjoy it. It helps to get me inspiration and sort of go through my memories and reflect on what I did in the past. Do you have some books you can recommend? Let me know!

Winning the Mental Way
By Karlene Sugarman

Winning the Mental Way will help arm you and your team so you can reach an optimal level of play and be successful in the competitive world of rugby and other sports.. It provides the tools necessary to help you achieve peak performance on a more consistent basis. No matter what your endeavors are, the goal is the same - peak performance. The mind plays such an important role in whether you will be successful or not. This practical guide will help you first develop a sound working team; and second, give you the skills to keep your team on its road to success. It addresses topics such as team cohesion, motivation, relaxation, imagery, focusing, confidence, and dealing with adversity.

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
By Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

An important part of our presentations about our talent development program: flow!

The model describes how to challenge players in such a way that they can meet it. Is the challenge too high then fear of failure will appear. Under challenge and the player will become distracted. Once you hit the right balance than the motivation will flow - you will enter The Zone!

With the small amount of young players, clubs combine to make teams, some clubs have just enough players to make a club team. This is an impossible situation for the trainers: how to make the training interesting enough? This is one of the reasons the talent program is such a success: suddenly the talented players are challenged again!

Rugby Tough
By Bruce Hale and David Collins

You can only win at top level if you are mentally prepared. I do not complete agree with this priority but the book has its points. A good starting point in the mental preparation for your team. In this respect it complements the "Winning the Mental Way" book discussed above.

I recognized lots of things from the book in the approach I take towards coaching a team. After seeing Tiny, 53 old mother of my Motherruckers team and vet, "sort" a problem out in a way that any 40+ year old prop would be proud of I realized that Rugby Toughness can be trained!

How to organize the mental readiness of your team is discussed in a very clear way, lots of examples. And a photo of the man himself on the cover ......

Plyometrics for Athletes at All Levels
By Neal Pire and Andy Mogg

15 years ago us rugby coaches first heard of plyometrics, but with it came stories of injured players. When I delved into the plyometrics thing I found that it was already used by the former Easter Germany athletes in the late sixties. I have bought some books on the topics and learnt more! This book explains how to train plyometric exercises and learnt me how to integrate exercises in my regular program. The risks involved in training plyometrics is also discussed.

I found the book extensive in both the theories and examples. After reading it I felt more confident about including plyometrics in my training sessions. Includes fitness tests and "do's and don'ts".
I often use the tackle bags and contact pads to jump over. You can easily see how the players have progressed when adding more pads without the team knocking them over!

The Wingate Anaerobic Test
By Omri Inbar, James Skinner, Oded Bar-Or

Sorry, never did the test myself but if you have access to the equipment it is probably the best test. This is a state-of-the-art test designed to measure the anaerobic capacity by using a bicycle ergo meter. The Wingate Anaerobic Test explains the methodological considerations, typical findings, and various applications of the test. Plus, it eliminates the confusion over how to apply the test accurately and consistently. The book is written by the test's developers.

More on the Wingate test in my Fitness Tests folders.

Group Dynamics in Sport
By Albert Carron, Heather Hausenblas

Through the Mental Game Plan book I got into contact with the views of Albert Carron. When I found he had his own book out I bought it immediately. If you want to have a better understanding of teambuilding, this is your book. Perhaps a bit technical but very interesting learning material. Albert Carron discusses the different processes that influence the development of a team and external factors influencing the development of the team.

(More on teambuilding and more on Carron his ideas on my website).

Core Performance
by Mark Verstegen, Pete Williams, Nomar Garciaparra

This book is a good source of information. First, it gives some background information on the "why", next it describes how to set up a good program and then it gives lots of detailed examples for you to adapt for your players.
Using the programs for my players I have found the exercises very useful for rugby.

I easily have mixed it in with the SAQ and plyo stuff.

Blink! The Power of Thinking without Thinking.
By Malcolm Gladwell

Sometimes we see things and immediately we know what to do or have formed an opinion. Or as a rugby player we make "instinctive decisions". This book gives us more background on how this process works and how we can develop this skill.

• Thin slicing: rapid cognition of certain patterns
• Snap judgments
• Priming: how this unconscious behavior can be influenced (scary!)
• and more...

Interesting read, perhaps a little too much examples. A more detailed review here. And, never judge a book by its cover.....

Speed, Agility and Quickness
Based on his experience and knowledge, Alan Pearson, founder of SAQ, built an cohesive program targeted for rugby players. I think the program is very good, dynamic warming-up, interesting coordination drills and easily integrated into the rest of the rugby training. You can follow a 1-day course to learn all the ins & outs of the program. Also there is lots of equipment to help you develop SAQ for your team.

Best is to start out with the book and or DVD.

Rugby Skills, Tactics & Rules
By Tony Williams and Gordon Hunter

If you are new to the game, as a player or a parent, than this is the book for you. It helps you understand and appreciate all the differences in positions and explains the most important rules.

I like the historical context too. Lot of the things we do in rugby have their origin in the long tradition that rugby is. Like, touching the ball behind the try-line was not rewarded with any points, it only gave you the opportunity to Try to score a goal.