Sport and exercise psychologist
Use your psychological skills to support people to follow their sport or exercise goals and reach their full potential.
About the job
What it's like
As a sport and exercise psychologist you'll use your skills to support individuals and teams. You'll help them to follow their goals and reach their potential.
You'll probably specialise in either sport or exercise, but you may work in both.
As a sports psychologist, you'll work with everyone from sports amateurs to top professionals. You'll help them to deal with nerves, work through difficult emotions and stay motivated. You'll support them to improve their concentration and self-belief so they can perform at their best.
Your tasks might include:
assessing sports players' psychological needs
developing support programmes and psychological activities
creating mental strategies to help clients deal with injuries, stress or other difficulties
helping squads work together as strong teams
advising coaches and managers on their approaches
working closely with other professionals such as nutritionists and physiotherapists to help embed psychology into other areas
As an exercise psychologist, you'll find ways of helping the public to become more active and healthy. You'll help people manage long-term health problems, or recover from illness or injury.
Your tasks might include:
assessing people's psychological needs
designing personalised programmes and supporting clients to complete them
working in cardiac rehabilitation or GP exercise referral schemes
promoting the benefits of exercise by working with health promotion staff
studying the reasons some groups of people are more active than others
In both sport and exercise psychology, you'll usually combine consultancy work with teaching and research, or with work in other areas, such as clinical or occupational psychology.
Explore more information about this job
Here are some useful links to learn more about this career:
The British Psychological Society – explore career resources to help find your career in psychology
Sport Excellence – read case studies of how sports psychology has helped young people
The British Psychological Society – discover the impact an exercise psychologist can have
Like the sound of this career?
Browse courses in Scotland related to 'Sport and exercise psychologist'
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Top skills
Skills are things you're good at. Whether you know what yours are or not, everyone has them!
It's useful to learn which ones are important in a job so you know the areas you need to brush up on. It can also help you work out if you're suited to a career.
Meta skills
Here are some of the meta skills you'll need to do this job.
- analysing
- developing a plan
- filtering
- researching
- observation
- problem solving
- written communication
- verbal communication
- cooperating
Your skills are important
Our unique skillsets are what make us stand out from the crowd. Learn about each skill in depth and discover what employers look for in your applications and interviews.
Getting in
Explore each section to find more information about getting into this career.
Colleges and universities will list subjects you'll need for entry to a course. Some useful subjects include:
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Care
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Childcare and Development
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Human Biology
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PE (Physical education)
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Psychology
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Religious Moral and Philosophical Studies - RMPS
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Skills for Work: Sport and Recreation
University
To become a sport or exercise psychologist, you'll need an honours degree in psychology recognised by the British Psychological Society (BPS).
Or you may be able to do a BPS-recognised conversion course, if you have a first-class or 2:1 honours degree in another subject.
You'll also need to gain:
a BPS-accredited Masters (MSc) in Sport and Exercise Psychology
Use the My World of Work course search to find relevant degree and postgraduate courses.
College
Getting qualifications at college, such as an HNC or HND, could help you gain skills and progress to more advanced study. Useful subjects could include:
Sports Coaching
Psychology
Use the My World of Work course search to find relevant college courses.
Scottish Widening Access Programme
If you're an adult looking to get back into education, consider the Scottish Widening Access Programme (SWAP). It offers routes to university by learning at college first.
If you don't have a degree and have been out of education for at least 3 years, you could be eligible. You can read more about eligibility on the SWAP website.
Volunteering in a relevant role can help you build the skills and experience you’ll need to become a sport and exercise psychologist. Having relevant work experience is often a key requirement for many employers.
Search for sport, healthcare or education opportunities on Volunteer Scotland.
All practising psychologists must register with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
Depending on your client group, you may need to become a member of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme, run by Disclosure Scotland.
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Browse courses in Scotland related to 'Sport and exercise psychologist'
