The importance of psychology in modern sports

“If you ask any sports person or any coach what is the difference at the highest level, it’s the mental side of the game.”

These are the words of former England Men’s manager Sir Gareth Southgate OBE, when talking to UCFB about the huge importance of psychologists within sport.

Across the past few years, one of the biggest growths seen in terms of careers within the football and wider sports industry has been that of sports psychologists.

The vital role of mental wellbeing within sport at all levels has become of paramount importance, whether team or individual sport.

Psychologists now assist athletes reach their full potential by addressing the psychological aspects of sport and promoting mental wellbeing.

Due to the enhanced importance on the value of sports psychologists, the demand has risen greatly in such a short amount of time.

Speaking to UCFB, Sir Gareth Southgate continued, as he talked about how important the role is.

 “I’ve worked with sports psychologists as a player and as a coach,” he said, “so I recognise the value of it.

“I think that within football, the role is not clearly defined. I think in other sports, it’s a lot clearer.

“I think tennis players, golfers, individual sports have been more open to the use of sports psychologists.”

Many other of UCFB’s impressive list of sports industry guest speakers have spoken about the value psychology has in modern football.

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe said: “I believe in sports psychology. I think there’s massive gains to be made in that area.

“We’ve used a whole range of (sports psychology) ideas, all for the players’ benefits.

“We’ve done psychology sessions as a team, in smaller groups; I’ve never pushed individual psychology on players. That’s up to them, but I would encourage them to do it if they needed it.

“The only things I’ve led are when we have a team session and have a guest speaker in.”

He added: “We worked with a sports psychologist at AFC Bournemouth who was very good at loads of different subjects and I hope the players all benefited from that.”

For this reason, UCFB launched an undergraduate degree course in BSc Sports Psychology, enhancing young people with the knowledge, skills and experience to forge a career in this much demanded field.

This degree combines contemporary and traditional areas of research and theory, which underlines the practical application of psychology in sport and physical activity.

To gain a better understanding of the factors which underline the psychological impact of performance, areas of focus on the course include:

• Social psychology
• Personality and individual differences
• Historical and conceptual issues in psychology
• Research methods
• Developmental, cognitive and biological psychology

Learn more about the course itself, as well as the many other sports science-related degree courses on offer at UCFB.

You can also view a UCFB prospectus and kick off your own career in the football and wider sports industry.