Over the course of the summer I have had the opportunity to read and review In the Flow by Jonathan Males. Jonathan has coached both the British and Australian Olympic slalom teams in the past has has used his knowledge of coaching and recent research to create a book that aims “to help paddlers and coaches understand the theory behind success and provide practical skills to improve performance”.

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Now don’t be put off if you are not a slalom paddler. In the Flow is applicable to all areas of the sport and has actually been broken down in to a number of component parts with only a small percentage of the book being focussed on competition.

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Section 1 – Self Confidence and The Fundamentals
Chapter 1 – Mastery Motivation
Chapter 2 – Decision Making
Chapter 3 – Execution
Chapter 4 – Teamwork
Chapter 5 – Developing The Fundamentals

Section 2 –
Chapter 6 – Competition
Chapter 7 – Paddling Whitewater – Really enjoyed this chapter. Well thought out and thought provoking.
Chapter 8 – Women On The Water
Chapter 9 – Paddling with Young People
Chapter 10 – Canoeing Through Life
Chapter 11 – The Experience Of The Wilderness

Firstly despite looking at psychological fundamentals you don’t need a BSc to understand what is going on. The format and language used makes the book very easy to read/follow. A great deal of text within the book is given over to quotes and real life examples which I found aids the understanding/theory behind the particular topic being discussed.

However I do find parts of the books that uses quotes as demonstration of negative and positive use of language a little cheesy but that is something that I don’t like generally and doesn’t detract upon the impact of the rest of the text in this case.

Since reading the book cover to cover I have found myself dipping back in to certain chapters and looking at my own paddling. This says a great deal about the quality of the book.

I reckon that most sports people (not just paddlers) would be able to gain something from In The Flow and would suggest getting a hold of a copy if you can. In The Flow is available as a hard copy or as Kindle download.