Description: Mental mastery of a sport is not only about winning - it is about coping with the inevitable disappointments, and using those experiences to adapt and come back better and stronger.

Best Features: You know that feeling of relief when you get rid of your holiday luggage at the check-in desk and you suddenly realise you haven’t got to drag it round for several hours?  And that you can relax in the certain knowledge that you have remembered your passport and tickets and that you have a seat on the plane. Mission accomplished. Bring on the sun and sangria.

This is just about how I felt when I read Chris Smith’s book, ‘Your Secret Coach’. For years I have been dragging a heavy suitcase with unstable and wobbly wheels around agility shows. Not a real one, of course, but a whole load of emotional baggage that has slowed me down to say the least. Chris’s book is helping me to check that baggage in at a virtual desk and I sincerely hope the baggage handlers redirect it permanently.

There are many great self-help books and mighty tomes on sports psychology out there but they all seem to have one thing in common – they are very long and involved. Chris has done the hard work for us and taken the best bits from these books and blended them into her philosophy of the whys and wherefores of competition. Her emphasis on enjoyment of our sport whilst not being ashamed to enjoy winning is extremely refreshing.  It is not a training manual for agility dogs or even handling techniques. It is aimed at the most important organ in your body (steady on there chaps), your brain.  It can help you get your head around what you REALLY want out of your sport and once you’ve decided, how to achieve it. I already knew many of the techniques and I have used them over the past few years to develop from a person who could not speak in front of a group of more than two or three people to someone who actually enjoys public speaking. Chris has used them to get to Olympia and to WIN.

Even if Olympia isn’t on your itinerary, this book is definitely for you if you have ever thought any of the following:

• I don’t stand a chance in Intermediate so I might as well just go for a training round.
• This is just a fast collie course.
• There’s 12 weave poles so that us out for a start.
• I know I will get that twiddly bit wrong.
• I’ve never gone clear on one of that judge’s courses yet so why should today be different.
• We’ll never get round in the time.
• I’m too fat, too old, too unfit to do well.
• My dog is a rescue, the wrong breed, doesn’t like indoor venues.
• I haven’t trained much recently so I don’t expect anything
• I’ve never been the sort who wins.
• I don’t want to win out of Starters anyway.

I think I’ve even said all of those out loud!

So, if you want to consider your hobby as a competitive sport as well as a great day out with your mates, this is a highly recommended read. Get rid of that baggage and travel light!

This book is written specifically for agility which is great, but with imagination it can be transferred to all areas of life.

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