Overview

How do great athletes defy the power law of practice, according to which improvements in skill eventually plateau?Commentators and spectators alike are fascinated by how athletes such as Roger Federer, Tom Brady, and Serena Williams are capable both of moments of exquisite brilliance and of sustaining such excellence over a prolonged period. But what separates these great athletes from those who have achieved a certain level of expertise before finding that their performance has started to plateau? How is it possible for world-class athletes- athletes who seem to be at the top of their game- to keep improving?To solve this puzzle, this book presents a theory of

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9780198852261

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Reviews

Excellent. A provocative statement of the role of mindfulness in action and the experiential dimensions of high-level performance. The rich interdisciplinary analysis here fills a major gap in the literature. This book should become a standard in the field for years to come. * Jason Holt,, Professor of Kinesiology, Acadia University, Canada * This book fills a very important and interesting gap in our knowledge: How do experts keep getting better? It is a very engaging read with real-world examples of high-profile athletes throughout. This book presents an innovative perspective which will be relevant to anyone interested in the process of improvement. * Christian Swann, Associate Professor and Chair of Human Sciences, Faculty of Health, Southern Cross University, Australia * Why do top athletes try to get out of their comfort zone? Integrating theory and evidence from a wide range of sciences and sports, the authors deftly demonstrate the lively intelligence of bodily skills. They show us the rich forms of awareness and control that experts develop and deploy in facing challenges. This provocative and informative book will benefit sports researchers and practitioners alike. * John Sutton, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia * Traditional theories of skilled action suggest that thinking about highly practiced movements can prove detrimental to performance. In Continuous Improvement, Toner and colleagues provide a persuasive counterargument and propose that an expert's ability to flexibly attend to and consciously control action is critical for skill enhancement and peak performance. Meticulously researched, and enriched with contemporary sporting examples, Continuous Improvement is essential reading for those with an interest in athletic expertise. * Noel Brick, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, Ulster University, UK * Continuous Improvement is an excellent resource for those seeking to understand the processes and mechanisms that drive progress in expert action. The authors' measured critique and synthesis of theory, empirical research, and real-world evidence all contribute to a detailed, thought-provoking, and compelling argument for their position, model, and advice. Overall, this book offers a well-timed counter to some prevailing trends in science and practice- and, jointly, a strong stimulus for future progression in both. * Andrew Cruickshank, Senior Performance Psychologist (HCPC-Registered), Grey Matters Performance Ltd *

Continuous Improvement explores all the facets of athletic expertise and is a terrific read for a wide range of readers, from scholars and academics to coaches and sports performers. One of the many triumphs of this book is its seamless ability to demystify and clearly reveal how performers manage to maintain and develop expertise aka 'continuous improvement'- a phenomenon whereby performers appear capable of continuously improving their skills even after they have become experts. * Dr Mark Campbell, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Limerick, Ireland * Excellent. A provocative statement of the role of mindfulness in action and the experiential dimensions of high-level performance. The rich interdisciplinary analysis here fills a major gap in the literature. This book should become a standard in the field for years to come. * Jason Holt,, Professor of Kinesiology, Acadia University, Canada * This book fills a very important and interesting gap in our knowledge: How do experts keep getting better? It is a very engaging read with real-world examples of high-profile athletes throughout. This book presents an innovative perspective which will be relevant to anyone interested in the process of improvement. * Christian Swann, Associate Professor and Chair of Human Sciences, Faculty of Health, Southern Cross University, Australia * Why do top athletes try to get out of their comfort zone? Integrating theory and evidence from a wide range of sciences and sports, the authors deftly demonstrate the lively intelligence of bodily skills. They show us the rich forms of awareness and control that experts develop and deploy in facing challenges. This provocative and informative book will benefit sports researchers and practitioners alike. * John Sutton, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia * Traditional theories of skilled action suggest that thinking about highly practiced movements can prove detrimental to performance. In Continuous Improvement, Toner and colleagues provide a persuasive counterargument and propose that an expert's ability to flexibly attend to and consciously control action is critical for skill enhancement and peak performance. Meticulously researched, and enriched with contemporary sporting examples, Continuous Improvement is essential reading for those with an interest in athletic expertise. * Noel Brick, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, Ulster University, UK * Continuous Improvement is an excellent resource for those seeking to understand the processes and mechanisms that drive progress in expert action. The authors' measured critique and synthesis of theory, empirical research, and real-world evidence all contribute to a detailed, thought-provoking, and compelling argument for their position, model, and advice. Overall, this book offers a well-timed counter to some prevailing trends in science and practice- and, jointly, a strong stimulus for future progression in both. * Andrew Cruickshank, Senior Performance Psychologist (HCPC-Registered), Grey Matters Performance Ltd *

Author Information

John Toner is a lecturer in sports coaching and performance science at the University of Hull (UK). He has published widely on the role conscious processes play in facilitating 'continuous improvement' among skilled performers. Recent work on this topic has been published in Body & Society, Review of Philosophy and Psychology and the Psychology of Sport and Exercise. Barbara Gail Montero is Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York Graduate Center and the College of Staten Island. Her research focuses on two very different notions of 'body': body as the physical or material basis of the mind, and body as flesh and blood instrument that we use when we run, walk, or dance. She is the author of Thought in Action: Expertise and the Conscious Mind (OUP, 2016) and a former professional ballet dancer. Aidan Moran was Professor of Cognitive Psychology and Director of the Psychology Research Laboratory in University College Dublin. His research investigated the cognitive processes underlying expertise in fields like sport, surgery and music. He wrote/co-authored 21 Psychology books over the course of an extremely distinguished career.

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