This book offers the Athletic Training and other Sports Medicine Professionals good advice when working with athletes who need guidance. It is not easy to educate and counsel athletes. Too often athletes hear only what they want and not what they need to hear. Since athletes are highly motivated to achieve success in competition, they tend to focus on their problems and how it affect them, not others.Athletes have multiple problems, just like the rest of the population, the difference is, that most will try to work on their issues if they are identified and given strategies that work. Ray and Wiese-Bjornstal do a good job of presenting problems and solutions. They have identified the sound techniques and theories that work in the counseling arena.
The authors are quick to point out the dangers of uneducated counseling and the warning signs of potential serious disorders. It is fair to assume that the reader should have some understanding of basic psychology, and human behavior.
The reader should also understand sport and the different circumstances it presents to daily living.
I have been a professional in Athletic Training for over 30 years and found the text to be very helpful. It is succint and to the point but also in detail and complete on the topics discussed. I highly reccomend the text for the Sports Medicine Professional.
