Tressel endorses OSU professors' sports psychology book

Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel has endorsed a sports psychology book recently released by two Ohio State faculty members.

Todd Kays and Leif Smith are co-authors of "Sports Psychology for Dummies," which was released in August. Kays was the first sports psychology fellow at OSU, and Smith is the head of sports psychology services at OSU.

"It's about getting the most out of the mental aspect of sports participation," Smith said. "We cover things such as goal-setting, relaxation, motivation, how to be confident. We talk about the art of swagger."

Smith, who has been working with OSU athletic teams since 2001, approached his mentor, Kays, about writing a sports psychology book four years ago.

"There's no ‘dummies' books out there on it, and it's an easy topic to write," Smith said. "I said, ‘Hey, let's write a book together. There's nothing out there on the topic,' and so Todd (Kays) jumped on board and was excited about it."

Although "Sports Psychology for Dummies" isn't the first book to discuss the topic, Kays said it is different from other sports psychology books.

"There's a lot of sports psychology books that discuss more theories," Kays said. "We wanted to write an applied book that athletes, coaches and parents could pick up today and begin to apply immediately to their life."

Kays has been involved in sports psychology for the past 16 years and helped establish a fellowship program at OSU in the mid-1990s when he saw the opportunity to combine two of his passions.

"I was finishing my doctoral program and, at the time, it just seemed to fit based on my personality and my experience," Kays said. "It seemed to be a good combination of counseling and sports, and I just really wanted to incorporate both of those into my career path."

Kays runs his own practice, Athletic Mind Institute, in Dublin, and also teaches OSU's Psychology 420: Psychology Applied to Sport. "Sports Psychology for Dummies" is a required text.

"It's really interesting that he wrote it, and we get to read it and see him in class," said Lindsey Hasis, a student in his class and co-president of the Psychology Club at OSU. "I like it a lot. There are some terms that are different from what we've learned in class because it's obviously more generalized to the public, but I think it's really useful and I think it's a great tool."

Tressel endorsed the book in a press release, "Leif (Smith) and Todd (Kays) have compiled a terrific resource for serious competitors. Every encounter that awaits the coach and player is addressed. This book needs to be on every coach's desk and in every player's locker."

Smith said the book is a natural fit for coaches like Tressel.

"Jim (Tressel) has always been very easy to work with," Smith said. "He's very psychologically oriented in what he's teaching his teams."

Neither Smith nor Kays was sure about the number of copies that have been sold, but both said they are pleased with the response they have received from readers.

"The publisher seems to be really, really happy, so I guess that's a good thing. We are selling a lot of them to college teams, high school teams, coaches," Kays said. "I'm just happy we're getting a lot of positive feedback from the people who are buying it and who are using it."

Kays and Smith will sign copies of their book at the campus Barnes and Noble bookstore on Nov. 26.