News Release: April 19, 2026 - Silicon Valley, California
The International Mental Game Coaching Association Announces The Publication Of The Book, Sixteen Principles for Maximal Performance: Coaching and Connection for Teens and Parents, by Ashley B. Benjamin, MD, MA and Jennifer Jenks, LCSW, MSW, ICDVP
Bill Cole, MS, MA, Founder and President of IMGCA, is proud and excited to announce the publication of a wonderful book written by two IMGCA graduates. Sixteen Principles for Maximal Performance: Coaching and Connecting Teens and Parents was published March 19, 2026. The authors are Ashley B. Benjamin, MD, MA and Jennifer Jenks, LCSW, MSW, ICDVP.
Both Ashley and Jennifer are Level I IMGCA Certified Mental Game Instructors.
The book can be purchased at a number of outlets:
https://coacheschoice.com/sixteen-principles-for-maximal-performance-coaching-and-connecting-teens-and-parents/
https://www.amazon.com/Sixteen-Principles-Maximal-Performance-Connecting/dp/1606796631/ref=sr_1_2?
Sixteen Principles for Maximal Performance: Coaching and Connection for Teens and Parents is a groundbreaking, innovative, practical, insightful and potent book that every parent, coach, teacher, administrator, mental health professional and anyone else connected with kids should own.
This book is a comprehensive approach to raising the awareness about the parent-child connection in sport and other disciplines. It contains a huge array of strategies, techniques and tools to actually help people make changes in their thinking, emotions and behavior.
I am the Founder and President of the International Mental Game Coaching Association (IMGCA). IMGCA’s mission is to advance the research, development, professionalism, and growth of the discipline of mental game coaching worldwide. I have been the mental game coach or sports psychology consultant with athletes or coaches of 25 world and national teams, 11 international and Olympic teams, 32 professional sports teams, associations or leagues, and of athletes who have won 40 world and national championships. I have been the mental game trainer for thousands of athletes, coaches and parents in over 100 sports, at all ages and skill levels, including recreational, junior high, high school, college, professional, world champion and world record-holding athletes. It has been my privilege to have been the mental coach or consultant to Olympic athletes who have won bronze, silver and gold medals.
I am a parent and kids are truly my favorite population to coach. I find them endlessly interesting, full of energy, inquisitive and passionate about what they do.
IMGCA has a special interest in helping to guide the lives of young people so they not only can fulfill their potential in sport, but so they can also mature and grow into responsible, healthy adults who can contribute to the betterment of the world.
That also, in a nutshell, is the essence of this book, Sixteen Principles for Maximal Performance.
Writing this foreward was not only a privilege, but an extra treat for me. I regularly review new research studies, books and article content in the sport psychology world. Part of IMGCA’s charter is to train and certify mental game coaches worldwide. Both Ashley Benjamin and Jennifer Jenks are graduates of the IMGCA Mental Game Certification Program. Ashley visited our offices in Northern California to undergo his certification in 2012, and Jennifer visited us to complete her certification in 2014. They both earned the title of Certified Mental Game Coach, (CMGC). Since then, we have stayed in touch, and it has been a true pleasure watching them grow their practices in sport psychology.
Little did I know that 10 years after I first met Ashley and Jennifer that they would be writing a book that I believe is destined to become a classic in the sport field.
It’s impossible to do justice to their high-achieving backgrounds in this short space, but here are a few highlights about each of them.
Ashley Benjamin, MD is a 20-year board-certified psychiatrist and a member of the American Psychiatric Association and The International Society of Sport Psychiatry. He also holds a master’s degree in exercise science from the Ohio State University, one of the top sport science programs in the country. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserves. Ashley has won awards in teaching, leadership and medicine.
Jennifer Jenks, MSW is a licensed clinical social worker. Jennifer studied world politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She holds a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and is an Illinois Certified Domestic Violence Professional and a Trust Based Relational Practitioner (TBRI). Jennifer is the recipient of the Jane Addams Scholars Award for outstanding academic achievement and commitment to working with disadvantaged urban populations.
It's notable that both Ashley and Jennifer have extremely strong backgrounds in journalism. Ashley graduated as a valedictorian related to his bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Kansas. Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism, with distinction, also from the University of Kansas. She was a professional newspaper reporter and copy editor for 12 years before moving into social work. Jennifer won a national Gannett foundation Journalism Scholarship. One of Ashley’s and Jennifer’s special skills as writers is to take the complex and to turn it into easily accessible and practical skills people can immediately begin using. They do this throughout the entire book. A unique and important feature of this book is that it is interactive. It’s a workbook. There are numerous places for the reader to be self-reflective.
Their journalistic background allows this book to be extremely well thought out, and extraordinarily well written. It flows beautifully.
Jennifer has an exceptionally strong athletic background as a competitor and participant. She has participated in dance, track, pilates, ice-skating, and hatha yoga, and she used mental training techniques to help her compete in 5K races and to complete the Chicago Marathon at age 48, finishing in 6:09:10. In 1991, she trekked in Nepal to 10,500 feet.
Ashley competed in basketball in high school, and also coached it, and has an extensive background competing in track and cross country in high school and college. He competed in junior Olympics in track multiple years. He also has deep experience as a track coach. He was the Assistant Track Coach at the University of Kansas under Coach Bob Timmons, who is the coach of famed world record holder distance runner Jim Ryun. Ashley was also the Assistant Track Coach at the Ohio State University, and has also been an Assistant Cross Country Coach and Sprint Track Coach. He was also the Vice President of the Lawrence Track Club, in Kansas.Ashley also has extensive competitive experiences in oratory, debate and chess.
One of the most compelling reasons for readers to select a book is based on the author’s qualifications and credentials. Without a doubt, the book you are about to read is coming from two absolute experts in multiple arenas. Both Ashley and Jennifer have deep psychological and psychiatric clinical training and expertise. Both have extensive training in journalism. Both are parents. Both have athletic backgrounds as participants and coaches. And perhaps most important of all, both Ashley and Jennifer are people of the highest character and integrity.
All of these qualities give them the utmost credibility for writing such an important book as this.
Sixteen Principles for Maximal Performance focuses on a wide range of important topics in the life of a kid in sport and other arenas, and one of the most important areas is character building, sportsmanship, being a good citizen, and giving back to the community and to the world.
There are not too many books written for parents and kids on how they can access more of their best selves, and become mature people of character, however, Sixteen Principles for Maximal Performance is that book. It covers the whole person, not just the athlete. This is one of the main strengths of this book, and also one of the reasons I believe it will make a huge impact.
Let me now give you a fast-moving tour of the parts of the book that resonated with me the strongest. The authors give advice and strategies for:
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Helping a child feel accepted and appreciated by their parents, and for living a balanced childhood. One of the major problems with sport parents is that they often live vicariously through their kids.
- Building character, and how kids can become their own best selves.
- Avoiding the pitfalls of social media and of how to avoid falling victim to approval addiction.
- Describing the many at-risk dangers that lurk in the life of kids and teens, such as alcohol and drug use, reckless driving, guns, and hanging out with the wrong people.
- Avoiding overidentification with being an athlete. The book elegantly describes how critically important it is for sport kids to separate themselves as an athlete from who they are as a person.
- Avoiding narcissistic, selfish behavior. One of the most important chapters in the book talks about making a difference. For sports kids who are naturally talented, or who are able to reach the heights, this fame can be intoxicating, but also full of pitfalls. There are far too many athletes who tend toward egoism, narcissism, and in having a sense of entitlement and arrogance. The star system in sport unfortunately promotes a superiority complex in some kids. Instead, the book asks parents and kids how they can perform as a leader, role model, volunteer, teacher and be of service to others. It’s incredibly important to have the attitude of gratitude.
- Drawing a line in the sand about not tolerating abuse in sport. They very pointedly describe the various ways that abuse can happen in sport, how to avoid these situations, and how to respond if they do happen.
Finally, the book concludes with a wonderful focus on enjoying the process. Sixteen Principles for Maximal Performance is a book whose time has come. You will quickly feel as though Ashley and Jennifer are speaking directly to you, as friends, and as coaches. They really are, you know. They care about all kids and parents in sport. They want the very best for them. And that comes through loud and clear in every page in this wonderful book.
Bill Cole, MS, MA
Founder and President
International Mental Game Coaching Association
http://www.MentalGameCoaching.com
The authors can be contacted directly at these emails:
jjenks1061@sbcglobal.net
armand323@hotmail.com
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