Head in the Game

Despite already being at the top of the gene pool, athletes can actually become better. But the next frontier for sports training doesn’t rest with the body—it’s in the mind. Steph Curry, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Russell Wilson, and dozens of other elite athletes are hooking their brains to computers and using cutting-edge technology to measure every aspect of their performance. The results are “life-changing.”
In Head in the Game, Brandon Sneed takes us on a mesmerizing tour of this new frontier in performance enhancement and the dynamic people at its forefront: from the director of high performance at Red Bull to the former Nike executive who began his own cognitive engineering company; the drug addict who built sensory deprivation chambers that are now in high demand by top athletes to paradigm-shattering neuroscientists and many more.
Sneed reveals how mental engineering is dramatically altering the gazillion-dollar and ever-expanding sports business, fans’ perceptions, and how teams and owners analyze athletes. Head in the Game brings a new level of understanding to what is possible for our world’s elite athletes—and all of us.

Brandon Sneed is an author and journalist. He recently joined B/R Mag at Bleacher Report as a features writer. Previously, his stories have appeared in Outside, ESPN The Magazine, and more, and have twice been not-able selections in Best American Sports Writing. When Brandon’s not on the road, his home base is Greenville, North Carolina, where he lives with his wife, toddler son, the baby in his wife’s belly, and their two dogs, a Jack Russell Terrier and a half—Jack Russell half—pit bull. For news about Brandon’s work and events, or just to say hey, visit brandonsneed.com.