Mental Toughness For Young Athletes
Troy Horne & Moses Horne
Mental Toughness for Young Athletes is a workbook, not a lecture.
Written by father and son, most of it comes from Moses, a fifteen-year-old elite athlete who knows the in-game nerves first-hand. The difference is the voice: advice from a teenager still in it, not an adult looking back. The book breaks mental toughness into eight short exercises, each meant to take about five minutes, aimed squarely at the pressure, doubt and performance anxiety young players actually feel. It names the blockers — your own beliefs, your teammates, the adults around you — then hands over tools to work through them. The ideas draw on interviews the pair did with pro and college athletes, so they carry real weight. The tone is casual, sometimes goofy, clearly built for a kid to read alone. Practical, fast, and jargon-free. A starting point, not a deep dive.
Best for
Young players to think about the part of the game no practice drills touch.
Age
9-15
Format
Book
Kindle
Audio
Why It Works
Hockey pressure arrives early — tryouts, tiers, the bad shift replayed on the bench. Most mental-game books are pitched at adults. This one talks straight to your player, in language they won't roll their eyes at, and gives them eight quick tools they can use before a game instead of after. On audio, Moses narrates it himself.