Focused and on Fire: The Athlete's Guide to Mental Training and Kicking Butt

“Focused and On Fire” is a fresh, smart, and moving book for all ages. Coach Lisa Mitzel portrays an authentic view of the athlete’s inner journey. She takes readers through highs and lows to reflect on thoughts and feelings, and brings light to inspiration in confronting battles and reaching goals. While training and competing, Lisa experienced injuries, surgeries, psychological fears, and intense training with sport psychologists. She fought and overcame all of it to win championships. As a coach and mental training expert, her stories and curriculum teach methods to manage doubt, distraction, fear, pressure, and how to manifest success. Included in the book are core mental skills (breathing, relaxing, positive self-talk, visualization, recall, and concentration) critical mindsets (like volition, expectancy, present-moment awareness, acceptance, letting go, and resilience), simple exercises, true inspiring stories of athlete-clients and teams who overcame challenges, and fun illustrations that enhance Lisa's powerful messages. Readers will learn self-awareness, higher-mind thinking, and the practice of believing that anything’s possible. This book is a rare gem, and kids and parents can read and practice the tools together. You have incredible inner power...use it!

Lisa Mitzel is a mental training expert and the author-illustrator of the inspiring new book, "Focused and On Fire: The Athlete’s Guide to Mental Training & Kicking Butt.” She’s touring nationally, bringing enthusiasm and fun mental training clinics to many groups and teams. Lisa is also a gymnastics coach, and a former Head Coach at Stanford University; she took her team to their first ever top-10 finish at the NCAA National Championships. As a Division I college gymnast at the University of Utah, Lisa was a crowd favorite and became an NCAA National Floor Champion, 6-Time All-American, member of 4 NCAA National Championship Teams, and later, inducted into the University of Utah Athletics Hall of Fame. She is a 2-Time JO National Champion, and an Elite gymnast, placing top 25 at USA Championships. Traveling across the country, Lisa has spoken at many universities, including Harvard, Stanford, San Jose State, and Denver University. She teaches personal awareness, how to manage thoughts and feelings to win in sports, overcome physical and mental struggles, and click in to emotional intelligence for confidence and safety. Published in Routledge Handbook of Applied Sport Psychology, she has a BA in Psychology and MFA in Writing. Her second book is for coaches, parents, and sports leaders, due out September, 2018.