Book overview
A Playbook for Excellence in Track & Field, School, and Life
Winning races is temporary. Becoming a champion lasts a lifetime.
In Choose to Be a Champion, coach and performance specialist Bob Leidel shares the lessons that build successful athletes-and more importantly, successful people. Drawing from years of experience coaching athletes at every level, this practical and inspiring playbook teaches young athletes how to develop the habits, mindset, and character needed to excel in sports, school, and life.
This isn't a book about talent.
It's a book about discipline.
It's about grit.
It's about leadership.
It's about learning to do hard things, respond to adversity, and become the best version of yourself.
Through powerful stories from elite athletes, championship coaches, military leaders, and real-life experiences, readers will discover how to:
- Build confidence through preparation
- Develop discipline when motivation fades
- Handle pressure and adversity like a champion
- Create habits that lead to long-term success
- Lead through service and character
- Stay focused on what they can control
- Turn setbacks into growth opportunities
- Build mental toughness and resilience
- Set meaningful goals and achieve them
- Use their gifts and talents to positively impact others
Each chapter includes reflection questions and practical exercises designed to help readers apply the lessons immediately.
The book is intentionally written more like a series of locker room pep talks than a traditional self-help book. Each chapter is short, direct, and designed to be read, reflected on, and put into action. Rather than racing through the book, I encourage readers to take it one or two chapters at a time and focus on applying the lessons in their own lives.
Whether you're a track & field athlete, a student-athlete in another sport, a coach, a parent, or a young person striving to reach your full potential, this book provides a roadmap for building the habits and mindset that create lasting success.
Because championships aren't won in a single moment.
They're built through thousands of small choices.
One day at a time.
One habit at a time.
One decision at a time.
The question isn't whether you have what it takes to be successful.
The question is:
Will you choose to be a champion?
