Aims

Sport psychology is one of the most recent additions to mainstream psychology and as such is a dynamic discipline which continues to evolve. The importance attributed to sport psychology within both elite and recreational sport is gaining momentum, with many organisations, athletes and coaches emphasising the important edge that sport psychology can contribute to enhanced sporting performance. The aim of this module is to provide a structured and theoretically sound approach to enhance students understanding of the contemporary approaches and processes involved in applied performance sport psychology (e.g. motivation, confidence, team dynamics, emotion regulation). Students should demonstrate an appreciation of historical perspectives and evidence but also demonstrate their enhanced understanding of advancements in research within the extant sport psychology literature.

Outline Of Syllabus

Students will cover a broad range of contemporary topics throughout the module which will be reviewed annually to ensure that students are studying the most up-to-date theories and advancements from literature with a strong emphasis on real world application.

Indicative syllabus plan:

Being a Performance Sport Psychologist

Professional Practice and ethical considerations

Performance Environment and Organisational Psychology in Elite Sport

Leadership

Team Dynamics and Group Processes

Coach-Athlete Relationship

Home Advantage

Parental involvement in youth sport

Confidence and Super-Strengths

Emotions and Psychological Resilience

Performance Routines

Mindfulness for Sport Performance

Career Transitions

Psychological Skills Training Techniques

Reflective Practice for Sport Psychologists

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Weekly lecture materials and academic skills activities will provide students with an understanding of the core topics and include relevant theory and contemporary research. Students will have the opportunity to engage with real-world problem-based case studies from which these theories can be applied and evidence informed judgements can be undertaken regarding the efficacy of such theories and their utility. The topics covered within the module provide a breadth of learning experiences via interactive lecture materials, practical tasks and debates. There will also be opportunities for the students to engage in tasks which will provide formative practice and feedback for the group and individual assessments. This will include looking at magazine articles from psychology publications, discussion of assessment plans and a mock evaluation of a sporting organisation. The module may also be supplemented with applied perspectives provided by guest speakers and/or practitioners.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The presentation provides an appropriate method for assessing the students’ ability to plan and prepare and deliver an oral presentation, which addresses one of the skill outcomes for the module. It has been widely acknowledged across the discipline of sport psychology that students should have an awareness of sporting organisations, how performance psychologists are integrated within organisations and have an understanding of ethical considerations. The presentation provides the platform for students to demonstrate all of these considerations and provide an oral articulation of their understanding. An individual and group mark will be awarded. Assessment of each individual student will be marked on personal presentation style and presentation format and the quality of content; The group mark will consider overall critical content, team work, innovation and creativity, presentation flow. The individual and group marks are weighted equally and combined into a single categorical mark per student and this will comprise 30% of the module assessment.


The written magazine article provides an appropriate way to assess students’ knowledge and understanding of a contemporary area of performance sport psychology. Students will be expected to provide a critical evaluation of theories and relevant research studies to inform their article. Moreover, they will also be expected to include a section within their article that is specifically directed to articulating their findings to a lay audience (such as a coach, athlete or parent) which is an essential skill in applied practice. Students will have to think creatively about how they present the information to engage the reader in their chosen topic.

If the module is failed, Stage 3 students may only be offered a resit if an honours degree is not awarded on the first occasion. Failed assessments will be the same format during the August resit period.