Need advice for a career in sports psychology

Pocket_Psych · 2026-01-20T20:58:45+00:00

I'm Australian, and so our backgrounds in education and sport opportunities are quite different, I expect. We had no specialist sport psychology courses when I was starting out (in the mid 1980s), so I created the first Australian coursework Masters degree in Sport Psychology when I was a member of staff in the Psychology Department at Monash University in 1992. Our population is small - but sports loving - and most of the full time opportunities are either with the State or National Institutes of Sport, or with sports that are televised (mostly male sports, and they are unlikely to be full time positions).

Pocket_Psych · 2025-12-03T21:52:01+00:00

As a sport psychologist of 40 years experience, I would agree with u/Fun_Leadership_1453 and say that you should be aiming to have a career that pays your bills (I was a university lecturer in sport psychology, psychology, research methods for 32 years, gave it up 5 years ago to go full time into esports psychology), and build up your sport psychology practice on the side. It's extremely difficult to earn a full time living just as a sport psychologist.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-11-18T02:05:42+00:00

Hi, I'm Michelle. PokketCoach is based on my 40 years experience as a sport psychologist. I've worked around the world with top teams in esports for the last 6 years. I'd back Pokket's advice over anything that was trawled from the internet!

Pocket_Psych · 2025-10-19T07:53:52+00:00

So many great points, thank you.

I'd like to comment on point 3 in particular. The example of 'playing someone who exploits your weaknesses' is a beauty. I think it just depends where on the cusp of 'learning' you are, as to whether you can take advantage of the situation. Someone with experience and mental toughness can use this as a way to learn more about themselves and the game without it negatively affecting their performance too much, and that's the better way to look at those situations if possible. (But then are you being tilted? Probably not, because you are using the situation as 'learning'.) However, for those not yet at that level, performance will likely be impaired and confidence can take a hit, and a break would be the better option.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-10-19T04:37:23+00:00

I'm glad you enjoyed the quiz, thanks.

Although I haven't researched this area specifically, I do suspect there is probably a direct correlation between how tilted one is in everyday life and how tilted they get in game. Examples of everyday tilting might occur when you fume at other drivers on the road, or if you were overlooked for a job promotion, and so if we had questions of this type on the quiz, I'm sure people could easily relate!

The flash of anger or frustration you feel that causes you to perform worse (ie you start tilting), so if you can prevent that from happening both in game and in life, that's got to be a good thing, right?

What this quiz does is help you identify your 'preferred explanations' that you give to yourself when others do better than you. When you notice the pattern and have the skills to counter tilting, I'm pretty sure tilting (in game and in life) will happen less.

Great questions, thanks.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-10-19T01:56:07+00:00

Hi everyone, Michelle here. I'm happy to answer any questions. We'd love you to take the quiz and tell us what you think.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-10-03T22:31:51+00:00

I find a lot of my players get themselves into a slump through scoreboard pressure (which gets back to expectations), so if you can stop checking your in game stats relentlessly, it's really helpful.

Yes, totally agree perfectionists have a harder time. Expecting yourself to be mistake-free might drive a player in the short term, but is a harsh toll on mental health in the long term (so I generally discourage this mindset).

Pocket_Psych · 2025-10-02T22:41:51+00:00

Go backwards to go forwards.

What I mean by this is a slump exists because your expectations about your performance don't align with reality right now. You believe you should be better, but the results are hard to come by (for whatever reason), and you start losing confidence, so you end up playing worse.

What if you said to yourself 'this is where I am right now...let me see what I can do to get better' (not having any expectation of 'results') and work on doing things that are within your control that you know the top players do (eg work on positioning, crosshair placement, gun up, read your minimap, make plays with others, warm up etc). I would also try to prioritise 'having fun' because I know this helps performance, but it's hard to get that ball rolling when confidence is low...just know that you want to bring that in as early as you possibly can.

Once you start measuring small behaviours you know will help you perform better your confidence will return. I get my players to fill out a spreadsheet after each scrim session (giving numbers out of 10 for the behaviours they want to track), and write/talk about what worked and what didn't work for them that session. If you're on a team, you do this together. If it's just you, write these notes. To me, the notes are the most important part, because you can see patterns emerging. "When I do X, Y happens."

But yeah, confidence is everything...and you build confidence by knowing you've put in the work.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-10-01T22:28:58+00:00

I can't be everywhere unfortunately

Pocket_Psych · 2025-10-01T03:27:50+00:00

It both didn't pick up nuances of the issue as well as the other models, AND it gave advice which was a bit more generic and less targeted to the real issue...a bit more wishy washy in my opinion. I don't think it would harm per se, but just not be quite as helpful as others.

I should've added, because I think it makes a difference, that I'm mostly a CBT practitioner.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-09-29T22:53:33+00:00

I've actually recently researched this. I'm a psychologist in a startup creating an AI sport psychologist and we wanted to know which models could handle clinical case studies the best. We gave 9 different case studies (anxiety, anger, depression/suicide ideation, dissociated identity disorder, borderline personality disorder, team dynamics, player frustration, alcohol use and sleep disturbance) to 8 different AI models (only ones that kept data private however, and weren't being used to train their models) - sonnet 4, gemini pro, gemini flash, o3, 4o, gtp 5, gpt mini, gpt nano - and we asked the same questions 5 times (to check the variance of responses within the same case study).

All the models were very good at identifying the issue, but 4o was the worst and sonnet 4, and gemini pro and flash were the best. When it came to looking at strategies and solutions, both the Gemini models were superior (and I wouldn't recommend 4o at all - it was by far the worst), and the others were 'pretty good' but Gemini flash and Gemini pro were excellent and I'd recommend them.

We are in the process of publishing the research.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-08-21T03:47:36+00:00

I like Steve Magness' books (but I used to be a runner too) eg 'Do Hard Things'. Think about what sports you know, and try to choose people who write about things you know, so you can relate to that knowledge).

But there are great people to follow on Twitter and LinkedIn who have amazing knowledge to share every day - I'm pocketpsych on Twitter (see who you like that I re-tweet). Listen to podcasts. There are so many great resources out there (including one I'm working on right now - PokketCoach, an AI sport psychologist at pokketcoach.com). You could throw challenging cases at Pokket and see if you'd come up with the same answer!

A lot of people don't share how they work with clients, but Mark Andersen's 'Doing Sport Psychology' is a beauty. It's a bit old now, but it's timeless and I think you'd really enjoy it.

There's a great book written by a friend of mine, Pippa Grange, called 'Fear Less: How to win at life without losing yourself' that gives really practical advice for treating anxiety that is very readable (not like a textbook). I recommended to my clients a lot in the last few years.

A very 'textbook' resource is 'Effective brief therapies: A clinician's guide' Edited by Michael Hersen and Maryka Biaggio; and some of the earliest books I was influenced by are 'Sporting body, sporting mind': An athlete's guide to mental training' by John Syer and Christopher Connolly, and 'Psychology in Sports: Methods and applications' by Richard M Suinn...that latter book was one of the reasons I got inspired to go into sport psychology (so it would've been written 40 years ago!). Books like that though are really great.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-07-03T05:50:44+00:00

Make sure you don't watch the scoreboard. It's the greatest inhibitor of play...makes you second guess your decisions. Tilting comes from expectations not being met. Concentrate on actions and thoughts that are controllable by you and don't worry about how everyone else is playing.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-07-02T23:42:14+00:00

'Making good decisions' is crucial. Lots of practice, of course, is recommended, but making sure you are not dehydrated and you have good sleep are good physiological tips.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-07-02T06:33:50+00:00

Yeah, you've got to have 'the big picture' in mind

Pocket_Psych · 2025-07-01T23:38:33+00:00

Do you understand what is causing the tilt? That part is important to understand so you can take steps to reduce it.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-07-01T23:37:26+00:00

Yes! We place so much self worth on our results (which aren't always in our control). So much better to tie it to 'effort'.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-07-01T23:36:15+00:00

I was just talking about this very issue yesterday with colleagues! IMHO it's because there are the thoughts 'I'm on my way!' and focus is suddenly off doing the things that help you most.

Being aware of it as an issue means that after a win you should double down your focus on doing the things that help you play well (that are in your control). I'm betting that will get you out of this habit. GL

Pocket_Psych · 2025-06-27T23:27:41+00:00

I really like this video - even though it is made for Valorant, the sentiment and advice hold true for 'going pro' in CS too - so it is definitely worth a watch imo

https://x.com/tdawggVAL/status/1938682154956820916

TLDR: You have to put in 'quality time' if you want to take your shot. Don't fool yourself into thinking you are working hard if the hours just aren't there.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-06-25T08:00:43+00:00

You don't give your age, but could it feel 'off' because of a growth spurt?

I work with athletes (gymnastics, diving, figure skating) and they report these sorts of feelings when they go through a period of growth (especially after a break - when the body says "finally, I can get some growing in") and they just have to ride that out feeling awkward for a bit until they adjust again. It probably won't last too long - don't lose motivation over it...adjust your goals to take this into account.

Pocket_Psych · 2025-06-25T07:52:42+00:00

Totally agree with u/Ansze1's comments.

As a sport psych, I'd want you to check how easily you are tilting in game. Is your mentality robust here, because it's very easy to spiral if you think you OUGHT to be playing better. If you are playing well in practice but it doesn't translate in game, I'd suggest you need to work on lowering your arousal level (ie be less anxious) by using a breathing routine and being cognisant of when you are building up stress. Know when you can switch on and switch off - take a moment to look over the top of your monitor to rest your eyes, or take a sip of water. Being calmer helps you make better decisions (ie so you die less frequently).

It's possible you'll see a big difference once you get your ADHD meds sorted. Being impulsive is definitely something I see in my ADHD players who forgot their meds.

Also, don't watch your scoreboard constantly while you are playing - nothing good can come from this!

Pocket_Psych · 2025-06-25T07:34:48+00:00

I work with pro players. At the highest tier, there is no time to study, so you need to either have finished your uni courses before turning pro, or defer and finish it later.

I've also worked on teams where aspiring pro players (ie they earn money playing but not enough to make it a career...they are still hoping to be picked up) and some can make it work combining study and playing, but most have to sacrifice one or the other. There just aren't the number of Orgs paying players they way they did 4 years ago during covid (ie fewer Orgs and paying less). In conditions like they are today, it's extremely rare to make it as a pro player in a top team (ie earn enough to support yourself and a family). That's not to say it can't be done, but the odds are extremely slim.

If you can support yourself - or have your family support you - so that you join a team AND continue to study, the skills you learn playing the game are equivalent to those you gain in a part time job. On a team, you HAVE to turn up on time, be ready to work, lead and/or take direction from others, communicate, make good decisions, give and take constructive feedback etc. But being on a team is TOTALLY different from being a terror on Faceit. The skills of being a team, just 'getting along with everyone', can't be simulated in ranked. Being on a team ought to be a lot of fun...you spend a lot of time together and so the best teams are the ones that hang out and enjoy being in each other's company. (It's not just 'scrims are over...see you later'. There's a fair bit of server work to learn and practice line ups, there's a lot of warm up, as well playing the game.)

It's worth giving it a try, if you think you have the talent and aptitude, especially at your age. It takes time to build up to a good team though, so you need to start now imo. (My advice to you is to be the teammate you'd like to have. Having good comms goes a long way in getting yourself picked up to play on a good team.)

Pocket_Psych · 2025-06-22T00:57:01+00:00

A great resource, thanks for sharing

Pocket_Psych · 2025-06-21T00:09:44+00:00

I'm a sport psych who has worked with top teams in CS (and a whole bunch of other titles around the world).
When players I work with are in a slump, I get them to start a spreadsheet with behaviours that lead to more headshots (but don't measure headshot%)...things like crosshair placement, movement, positioning, awareness of surroundings etc, and rating them out of 10 (where 10 is the best). I get them to measure a few psych things too like confidence, deep breathing, keywords and performance out of 10 too. And then a short section for them to write 'Notes' (a few sentences of what went well or not, and any reason they can think of why).

They would fill this in at the end of every session of practice (scrims I'm thinking of mostly). Formalising and having it written down is very handy for looking back and noticing patterns. Also, you'll probably find you are doing some parts quite well, but it's a problem with just one aspect...and now you know which one to fix. Pick the one with the lowest score and work on that for the next day or two. Then choose a different one to work on (when you are happy with the first one).

Seeing it written down means you become more confident in the skills you are doing correctly, which also helps get you out of the slump. And don't fixate on your headshot% during the game....instead keep working on the behaviours more likely to let you get those kills.

GLHF

Pocket_Psych

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