If you’ve reached the point where you’d like some sport psychology support, the first step is to find an accredited sport psychologist. An accredited practitioner is someone who has completed rigorous training through a ‘governing body’ such the British Association of Sport & Exercise Science (BASES) or the British Psychological Society (BPS). They are practitioners who adhere to high standards and work under their governing body’s code of conduct.

So where do you look?

Word of Mouth

When searching for a sport psychologist, you may be able to get recommendations from people

What is it?

Sport Psychology can be described as the study of how psychology influences sports performance. Our thoughts, feelings and behaviours can all have an impact upon the way we approach sport, but quite this area of sports performance can be left unchecked.

Traditionally, there is a focus on the technical, tactical and physical aspects of sport. For example, teams and individuals might spend hours improving fitness, technical ability and tactical aspect of performance. But…how much time do we allocate to improving our mental fitness to perform?

There’s an urban quote that suggests:

“Sport is 90% physical and 10%

The use of Sport Psychology support has been gaining momentum in recent years. More athletes, coaches and team managers understand the benefits of engaging with it, but there are still some myths flying around. So here’s a few that I’ve debunked:

It involves sitting on a couch and sharing my problems

No! Not usually! Sport Psychology support comes in a range of shapes and sizes depending on your needs. When I work with individual sportsmen and women, I often meet in a venue that the athlete is happy with. This could be