A few years ago, while working with Dr. Doverspike, I and a couple other grad. students helped put together a series of group sport psych. workshops for some University of Akron (UA) sport teams. Sure we did our research and found some basic tools of the trade such as self-talk, imagery, relaxation techniques, etc., yet their seemed to be a paucity in research as well as practical models or approaches in this field. Because of my past involvement/interest in this work I recently attended the Sport Psychology Workshop (as Dr. Doverspike previously wrote about in this blog) presented by Dr. Jack Lesyk and his Ohio Center for Sport Psychology (www.sportpsych.org). Well, it seems to me that much has changed and is continuing to change in this field. I believe we did a good job with the UA teams a few years ago, but if we’d had benefit of a workshop Like Dr. Lesyk’s, I believe we could have done better.
As one of a number of solid educational resources in Sport Psychology, Jack’s annual workshop covers a gamut of issues for the current as well as potential future practitioner in this field. Some take-home highlights of the workshop:
1) Who (might) practices in this field? Licensed clinical/counseling psychologists who have gained the additional knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA’s) to practice in sport psychology (see ethics/qualifications below) may augment their practice with this type of consulting. These are the people that can legitimately use the title “Sport Psychologist.” Imagine clients who seek you out and are highly motivated to comply with necessary assignments and goals. Sport Psychology would appropriately and naturally wed with I/O Psychology for practitioners on either side of the I/O coin. Sport Psychology methods are wholly appropriate for individual as well as group/organizational development and certainly “performance” counts in the workplace too. For those without licensing (many I/O people) but possessing appropriate KSA’s and other qualifications/credentials to perform this type of counseling, the title “Performance Consultant” (or something similar) may be appropriate.
2) Jack provided a comprehensive multi-faceted Sport Psychology model replete with theoretical/research underpinnings, assessment instruments for individual as well as group, and specific as well as general interventions and treatments. I will not attempt to convey the rich detail of this aspect of the workshop (see the Ohio Center for Sport Psych. website noted above) here, but I believe these would have been wonderful tools when we worked with UA sport teams a few years ago.
3) Potential Sport Psych. business models including marketing methods were discussed in detail.
4)Ethics/Qualifications/Credentials and more information;
Of course there are others in the field, but it would seem that being a member of and compliant with these two organizations would be minimally and ethically desirable to anyone wishing to practice Sport Psychology.
a) APA Division 47 Sport and Exercise Psychology. This APA division has developed excellent proficiency criteria for practice in this field but as yet no certification program.
b) AASP, Association for Applied Sport Psychology (appliedsportpsych.org). This highly regarded organization offers a Certified Consultant certification program.
Now of course, in this context, I can only offer summary highlights from this two-day workshop that I found salient. I could not begin to relate all that Jack shared from his 20-plus years of experience in providing Sport Psychology services in the context of his practice.
Finally, I’d like to mention the special presenter we were honored to experience; Dr. Charlie Maher. He is renowned for his work with numerous professional sport teams such as the Cleveland Indians and the fact that he is one of a small handfull of Sport Psychology practitioners whose livelihood/practice is fully devoted to Sport Psychology (and quite successfully). Charlie’s presentation was refreshing to anyone seeking an antidote to the all-too-often staid approach in academia. In fact his being a native New-Yorker I could not help but think that, with his speech and overall demeanor, he could compellingly portray one of the legendary Westies (Irish-American gangsters from Hell’s Kitchen, NY). Please forgive me for this analogy Charlie–I have a very active imagination. Jack also revealed to we attendees who he is planning to have as his special presenter in next year’s workshop. I think this speaker will be very exciting, but I’ll leave it up to Jack to let that cat out of the bag when he’s ready to do so.
