New PN: Raise the Player, Not the Pressure
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The Parent and Coach Playbook for Confident, Happy Athletesby Brandon Guyer |
“Take a moment to ask yourself: What kind of mindset am I modeling for my child, especially when things get hard? No judgment. Just awareness. Because the mindset you model becomes the mindset they adopt.”BRANDON GUYER |
FROM THE BOOK“Youth sports today can feel more intense than ever—early specialization, travel teams, rankings, scholarship dreams, and social media reels.
Every season, it seems the stakes rise, and the moments that once felt like fun family bonding suddenly become stress-filled contests where everything feels like it ‘counts.’
Most players don’t lose because of talent. They lose because of excess stress and pressure. Most parents don’t fail because of bad intentions. They fail because of bad information.
This book is here to change that.
I spent seven years in Major League Baseball and I’m now raising three kids of my own. Everything in this book is something I had to earn—as a player who learned to listen, stay open, and trust the process, and as a father still doing the same work every single day.
This isn’t a book about turning your child into a star. It’s a book about helping your child become whole, even while chasing big dreams.
You’ll learn how to reframe game-day nerves, avoid toxic comparison traps, teach resilience through failure, and become the rock your athletes can lean on.
Most importantly, you’ll leave this book knowing that what you do matters. Your voice. Your presence. Your tone in the car. Your body language in the stands. It all becomes their internal story.
Let’s help them write a great one.”
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Brian's Notes
Brandon Guyer is the Founder of Major League Mindset—a program that helps young athletes win on AND off the field.
He’s in the University of Virginia baseball’s Hall of Fame and played Major League Baseball for seven years. Fun fact: He holds the all-time highest hit-by-pitch per plate appearance in MLB history. And... He got hit by so many pitches one year that, when he was playing in the World Series, the announcer nicknamed him “La Piñata”! :)
He’s also one of my favorite people on the planet—a dear friend, big Heroic investor, and Heroic Coach with whom I’ve shared my Oura scores every single morning (except when I’m in super-deep mode!) over the last several years.
He and I trade those Oura score texts with another dear friend, Sean Casey, who is a 3x MLB All-Star and another one of the best humans on the planet.
Sean’s testimonial shows up on the front cover of the book. He says that it’s “A must-read for any parent who wants to show up as their best for their child.”
I also happen to have a testimonial on the back cover in which I say: “Brandon Guyer is the embodiment of everything he teaches. There’s no one I’d trust more to help bring out the best in my kids on and off the field. This book masterfully integrates the science of peak performance with the wisdom of great parenting. A must-read for any parent or coach who wants to help athletes win and flourish in life.”
I read this book at a chess tournament the day after I got it.
It’s a SUPER-quick read—only 88 pages.
But...
It’s PACKED with Big Ideas and immediately-applicable practical wisdom.
As a guy who has spent his life studying practical wisdom, there just aren’t a lot of great books to help parents in this domain. And, in my opinion, it’s not just for parents (or coaches) of traditional athletes playing youth sports.
I think it’s a GREAT little handbook for every parent with kids who compete in ANY activity— whether it’s chess (like my kids), marching band (like an Admiral-dad friend of mine with whom I just traded texts), or debate, drama, or any activity that challenges our kids to perform at their best under pressure (and thereby challenges US to show up as OUR best as we strive to help them bring forth the best within themselves!).
To put it in perspective, the day I read this, I dropped Emerson off for his first chess game at 10:00 am and I was using wisdom from this book by the time that first game ended at noon—which happened to be an uncharacteristically tough loss to a lower-rated opponent which happened to give me a chance to practice my (and this!) philosophy immediately!!!
With that long prelude, let’s get to work!
P.P.S. Caroline Adams Miller also wrote a blurb for the book. Caroline is one of the world’s leading practical positive psychologists. Check out our Notes on Getting Grit, Big Goals, and Creating Your Best Life.
P.P.P.S. Check out these Notes on some of my favorite books on parenting: The Daily Dad by Ryan Holiday, 10 to 25 by Dave Yeager, Parenting Champions by Lanny Bassham, and The Power of Showing Up plus The YES Brain by Dan Siegel. And, check out my old-school Fatherhood 101!
Big Ideas
01: THE ULTIMATE GAME =
02: THE FUN FACTOR
03: THE PRESSURE PARADOX
04: YOU’RE A SIGNAL
05: WIN OR WIN!
“Every parent wants what is best for their child. But if we aren’t honest about what ‘best’ really means, we risk chasing the wrong dream, and missing what matters most.”BRANDON GUYER |
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