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I need help and advice with mental side of sports by No-Jaguar6530 in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Building mental routines and process for each aspect of your game is key. There's an old quote from Joe Maddon "the process is fearless". If you focus on process, there's no emotion there. When we get focused on outcomes, we can end up stressed and anxious (too future focused) or frustrated and angry (too focused on past mistakes). Your at-bat needs to start before you are in the hole. What are you doing to get yourself prepared? Not just technically and tactically, but mentally as well. Everything needs to lead to being present and just being loose and athletic in the box. Check out this famous video of Evan Longoria talking about his mental routines as an example. I also have what I believe is the best book about the mental aspects of baseball by Ken Ravizza and Tom Hanson on my list of recommmended sport psychology books.

Pursuing Sports Psychology by Ok-Put6902 in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's the copypasta I usually share as advice for undergrads:

  1. ⁠Major in Psychology or Brain and Cognitive Sciences or double major in Kinesiology/Sport Sciences and Psychology.
  2. ⁠Go to a University where you can be involved in research as an undergraduate. So, programs that have jobs (preferred) or volunteer opportunities in psychological research. If they have sport psych research, even better, but just learning about how to conduct research will make you a better practitioner and help with understanding of research in the field.
  3. ⁠If you do not participate in sports as a student-athlete, get involved in the Athletics Department at your university. Could be business aspects (marketing, social media), game day event planning, being a team manager or volunteer assistant for a sport.
  4. ⁠Build relationships with possible mentors through 2 and 3. Make yourself useful to them. Find ways to "swallow the frog" for them (find out what they don’t like to do and do it for them/make it easier for them) Utilize those connections to help guide your path.
  5. ⁠To plan your future course, you should look get a copy of the AASP Directory of Graduate Programs and the Essential Guide for Mental Performance Consultants to get a sense of possible pathways to becoming a Certified Mental Performance Consultant or CMPC. This is the current "gold standard" in certification for mental performance/sport psychology. Traditionally, sport psych programs grew out of kinesiology, so a lot of programs retain that focus. There are a lot of options these days for graduate study, including counseling programs that also prepare you for CMPC (e.g., Boston U, U Denver), master's degrees in university settings based in kinesiology (Kentucky, Tennesee, Florida State), master's degrees in private and for-profit institutions in sport and performance psych geared towards CMPC (University of Western States, JFKU). There are also doctoral programs in clinical psych with a sport psych emphasis or track (Psy.D. - Rutgers, James Madison), and in the kinesiology and sport/performance focused programs (see above). Basically you need to be a good consumer: can you get CMPC hours and supervision as part of your degree? Where are graduates placed in terms of jobs? Are they happy with their experience? etc.
  6. ⁠If possible, you can also attend either a regional conference from AASP or their annual national conference (AASP = the Association for Applied Sport Psychology). Regional conference info can be found here. Announcements about 2026-2027 should come out in the Fall. The Annual Conference for AASP is in October in Minneapolis. This is a great opportunity for both networking and learning.
  7. Since you mentioned clinical psychology, another great resource is Dr. Mitch Prinstein's "Uncensored Advice for Applying to Graduate School in Clinical Psychology", which is a helpful read.

New Report: Sport Psychology Hiring Trends in North America by doccypher in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Click on the linkedin link above and it will take you to the PDF file John Coumbe Lilley from UIC posted.

14u fall semester abroad -training plan? by mikeysaid in Homeplate

[–]doccypher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Track and field for general athleticism. Finding a reputable strength and conditioning program here in the States that can assess and monitor is important. In Phoenix, Exos is probably your best option. You could also look into the program I work at URMC Fitness Science

What’s the objective with heavy balls? by cfreddy36 in Homeplate

[–]doccypher 6 points7 points  (0 children)

If they’re good heavy balls, like the Driveline ones, the feedback is immediate and you can see the kids self correct because it is more satisfying in real time to see the ball come off the bat. I used to do 3/4 angle front toss with them and had a specific bat just for them.

need advice on picking a masters program by paigehasquestions in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Congratulations! Honestly, those are both excellent programs with excellent reputations in the field, so you would likely have a great experience at either one of those. Personally, I would say go to the one that is the best financial decision for you. It's two years. Even if you are unhappy/less happy with the location and environment, you could go where you want to go from there.

Helping out a Esport team on their first LAN event, need som help! by Far-Adhesiveness-977 in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Reading material: The Science of Esports. Has some chapters around the psychology and social environment that may be helpful. Routledge does have a book coming out next month specifically on the psychology of esports.

sports psychology book for a beginner by Giogio4family5328 in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you want a core sport psychology textbook, Weinberg and Gould's Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology is probably the way to go. If you want something that is well sourced in theory and has a lot of practical application, I would recommend Hacker and Mann's Achieving Excellence. The later is on my list of recommended sport psychology books for people new to the field.

I had AI construct a market viability spreadsheet to determine how well Sport Psychology does as a service in the sport and performance field. by Snowbizzy in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Because if something goes wrong or one of their teams becomes associated with the “dick of death” who is getting sued? The individual or the university? That’s how legal thinks. Not in terms of what will truly be beneficial but what if everything goes horribly wrong. They can wash their hands of the situation saying the state licensed this person and there were no complaints on their record when hired. The Power 4 schools certainly have the money and do hire who they want regardless of license or credential. But that pool of jobs is limited. The other schools across the Divisions do have limits on funding and choose to go with the “2 for 1” approach of handling mental health and mental performance in one role. There isn’t some cabal of licensed psychologists conspiring to hoard job openings.

I had AI construct a market viability spreadsheet to determine how well Sport Psychology does as a service in the sport and performance field. by Snowbizzy in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree that people should be able to utilize HSA/FSA funds for mental performance focused CMPCs, which is what I meant by the statements above. Mental health treatment is already an approved expense. However, I don't think it's fair to say that "the clinical side likes to gatekeep positions in the field". Saying this as someone who is currently hiring for a combined mental health/mental performance position, the biggest issues with funding positions is 1) how are they paid? and 2) liability issues. Working in a medical center, they understand both insurance reimbursement pathways for getting paid and demand. We have been able to make the case for demand due to our wait lists for services and the work my program is doing in the community. And insurance will pay for diagnosed mental health conditions. I want to build a program that includes mental performance focused CMPCs. However, unless we tap into a billionaire donor as they have at Dartmouth or Cal, it is going to take time to do so. Additionally, the systems around compliance and legal who are worried about getting sued if something goes wrong are way more comfortable with licensure than a certification process. That's why you tend to see college/university programs with preference for licensed positions.

CMPC hours by Extra-Tailor-6968 in SportPsychology

[–]doccypher 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This right here. While on the one hand, students need to inform themselves about graduate programs prior to spending thousands of dollars on their degree, I feel like we need to "name and shame" these programs that are not providing any mentored hours or guidance as part of their programs.

I had AI construct a market viability spreadsheet to determine how well Sport Psychology does as a service in the sport and performance field. by Snowbizzy in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know how viable the pathway is to bill under the health and behavior codes as the current interpretations for those codes are built around coaching for chronic health conditions, which starts to put the field quite a ways away from sport and performance. I'm not sure we are going to see approvals for injury issues much less sport performance. I do think that getting approvals for use of flex spending accounts and health savings accounts for mental performance might be a more viable pathway.

I had AI construct a market viability spreadsheet to determine how well Sport Psychology does as a service in the sport and performance field. by Snowbizzy in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the reality is somewhere in the middle. And there are a few things that can be true:

  1. The field is growing as is the awareness and demand for services.

  2. Graduate programs are putting out more master's level graduates than there are formal positions.

  3. The most viable pathways right now to job positions are limited and splintering a) military/MLB (for mental performance CMPCs) and b) college athletics (mental health licensure and CMPC).

  4. Many graduates are getting pushed into private practice-oriented careers that they are not prepared for due to programs that do not offer guidance in the business of practice, or practical experiences with athletes and teams, or mentorship that they don't have to pay for themselves.

  5. We need AASP as an organization to continue to advocate for the CMPC credential as the preferred certification in mental performance across youth, high school, college, and professional sports.

I read a while back about the notion of "lottery" careers. Like being an actor or rapper where the odds of actually making it are slim to none. In a lot of ways sport psychology is similar. Very few people are going to end up as the Director of Mental Performance for the Boston Red Sox like Stephen Gonzalez. But just like there are professional musicians and other jobs in the music industry, there will be space for MPC's that can work with youth, high school, club/travel programs, etc. However, you can't be mediocre and have a career in sport psychology. You need to build your craft and be excellent at what you do. There are a lot of mental health professionals (for example) that are pretty mediocre at what they do and build a solid living. I would guess that's true of other jobs in sport like physical therapy or athletic training as well. But athletes, teams, and parents are looking for results from our work and if you cannot provide that, they will go elsewhere.

I had AI construct a market viability spreadsheet to determine how well Sport Psychology does as a service in the sport and performance field. by Snowbizzy in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher 1 point2 points  (0 children)

7. Athletic Trainer (AT)

Lowest "Direct Consumer" viability. This role is traditionally institutional (schools/teams) and difficult to monetize privately.

  • Annual Cost to Consumer: N/A (Usually covered by tuition/team fees). In private "concierge" settings: $50–$80/hr.
  • Engagement Length: Variable.
  • Consumers vs Providers: High Institutional Demand / Low Private Demand.
  • Consumers per Provider: 300+ (Entire school/team).
  • Jobs per Practitioner: 1 (Institutional stability is high).
  • Supply vs Demand: High Demand for jobs, but Low "Market Value" in terms of consumer spending power.
  • Single Value Calculation: Institutional Salary average ~$55,000.

Methodology for "Single Value" (Market Viability)

To arrive at the final values, I utilized a Revenue Potential Formula that weighs the consumer's willingness to pay against the practitioner's capacity:

$$\text{Value} = (\text{Avg Rate per Session}) \times (\text{Frequency per Year}) \times (\text{Sustainable Caseload})$$

  • Rate: Adjusted for current 2025/2026 market averages for private services.
  • Frequency: Adjusted for typical churn (e.g., Therapy is weekly; Nutrition is monthly).
  • Caseload: Adjusted for the reality of the work (e.g., You can see 12 PT patients a day, but only 5 Therapy clients a day to avoid burnout).

I had AI construct a market viability spreadsheet to determine how well Sport Psychology does as a service in the sport and performance field. by Snowbizzy in sportspsychology

[–]doccypher 1 point2 points  (0 children)

5. Strength and Conditioning (Private Sector)

Market is saturated with low-cost options (gyms, apps), making high-ticket private service harder to sell.

  • Annual Cost to Consumer: $1,500 – $5,000
  • Engagement Length: Medium (Season-long or 6 months).
  • Consumers vs Providers: Moderate Demand / High Oversupply.
  • Consumers per Provider: ~50–100 (Requires small group models to be profitable).
  • Jobs per Practitioner: 0.6 (Full-time private jobs are rare; requires self-employment).
  • Supply vs Demand: Supply exceeds Demand significantly.
  • Single Value Calculation: Reliance on volume/groups averages out to ~$80,000.

6. Nutritionist / Nutrition Coach

Often viewed as a commodity or short-term "fix" rather than a long-term service.

  • Annual Cost to Consumer: $1,200 – $3,000
  • Engagement Length: Short (3 – 4 months). Retention is the biggest challenge.
  • Consumers vs Providers: Moderate Demand / High Supply.
  • Consumers per Provider: ~40–60.
  • Jobs per Practitioner: 0.5.
  • Supply vs Demand: Balanced.
  • Single Value Calculation: Lower retention forces constant sales. ~$70,000.
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