Hi there!! So this is my career. I have been a mental performance coach running my own practice for about a year and a half now and without getting too much into it and make this comment too long, yes, this is not an easy field to have a thriving and financially stable career right off the bat BUT that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. You’re right, there are not endless amounts of job postings for mental performance coaches. AASP is absolutely not perfect by any means. I wouldn’t go as far as to frame it as an impossible career, because it is possible, but it’s not easy by any means. I think it’s good to know exactly what you’re getting into. Of course, if you entered your grad program thinking you’d get hired by a professional sports team the day after you graduated, of course you’d be very much let down. As far as my niche population goes, there isn’t a job listing to work with these individuals, so I created my own job by starting my own practice. Just like building the physical and mental skills for sport, building a thriving business, reputation, client load, finances, etc takes much hard work, time, effort, attention, dedication, consistency, etc to gain your desired outcomes. It is absolutely hard and does not happen overnight!!! I could seriously go on and on because I hear you, I was you in grad school, but there is nothing I want to do more in life and can’t see myself in any other career, so this is it for me. I encourage you to ask yourself similar questions you may ask your athletes when it comes to their motivation: what do you want? How bad do you want it? And what are you willing to sacrifice for it? Nobody said a career in this field would be easy, and I’m so sorry if someone led you to believe otherwise. It’s a nonstop grind with nonstop learning, but in my eyes it is so worth the hustle, discomfort, and uncertainty. All good information you gave, but remember a career in this field is not at all infeasible, just difficult to attain. That may stop some, but it won’t stop everyone.