From baseball to biology, an award-winning journalist highlights the power of team chemistry in this "terrific" data-driven investigation of human relationships (Billie Jean King).
Does team chemistry actually exist? Is there scientific or mathematical proof? Is team chemistry as real and relevant as on-base percentages and wins above replacement?
In Joan Ryan's groundbreaking book we discover that the answer to all of the above is a resounding yes. As Ryan puts it, team chemistry, or the combination of biological and social forces that boosts selfless effort among more players over more days of a season, is what drives sports teams toward a common goal, encouraging the players to be the best versions of themselves. These are the elements of teams that make them "click," the ones that foster trust and respect, and push players to exceed their own potential when they work well together.
Team chemistry alone won't win a World Series, but talent alone won't win it, either. And by interviewing more than 100 players, coaches, managers, and statisticians, as well as over five years of extensive research in neuroscience, biology, physiology, and psychology, Ryan proves that the social and emotional state of a team does affect performance. Grit, passion, selflessness, and effort matter — but never underestimate the power of chemistry.
ISBN-13: 9780316434935
Media Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Little - Brown and Company
Publication Date: 04-28-2020
Pages: 272
Product Dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)
Joan Ryan is an award-winning journalist and the author of four books. Her groundbreaking book Little Girls in Pretty Boxes was named one of the Top 100 Sports Books of All Time by Sports Illustrated and one of the Top 50 Sports Books of All Time by the Guardian. Throughout her career, Ryan has been awarded thirteen Associated Press Sports Editors awards, the National Headliner Award, the Women's Sports Foundation's Journalism Award and the Fabulous Feminist Award from the San Francisco chapter of NOW. She is a founding trustee of Coaching Corps in Oakland, CA, and the Association of Women in Sports Media. Since 2008, she has been a media consultant with the San Francisco Giants.
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
1 You Complete Me 17
2 The Arrowleaf 25
3 Super-Carriers, or the Curious Case of Jonny Gomes 49
4 Super-Disruptors, or the Curiouser Case of Barry Bonds 77
5 The Seven Archetypes 119
6 Just Us 139
7 Humm-Baby, Kruke, and the Pygmalion Effect 175
8 Synthesis 211
Conclusion: What I Know Now 231
Acknowledgments 243
Notes 246
Bibliography 251
Index 255
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