Enhancing wellbeing, long-term development, and performance in youth sport: Insights from experienced applied sport psychologists working with young athletes in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Although applied sport psychologists are supporting young athletes drawing on experiential evidence of what works, there is a lack of understanding regarding how to effectively help young athletes enhance their wellbeing, long-term development, and performance. The aim of the current study was to gain insights into the consultancy process from accredited applied sport psychologists working with young athletes (5–18 years) in the United Kingdom, to inform the training and development of practitioners. An Interpretive Descriptive (ID) design was used to generate grounded knowledge relevant to applied practice contexts. The current study was conducted by a British Psychological Society (BPS), Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology (DSEP), research working group and consisted of two phases: First, working group members (n = 6) participated in two separate focus groups. Second, in-depth interviews were conducted with UK-based sport psychology practitioners (n = 9) who had extensive knowledge and experience of working with young athletes. Reflexive thematic analysis generated six higher order themes: (a) Clear intentions, motives, and boundaries; (b) flexible and adaptable theoretical approaches; (c) seeking and securing connections; (d) multiple perspectives matter; (e) indirect interventions maximize impact; and (f) adaptation and integration determine Psychological Skills Training (PST) effectiveness. The current study offers unique and detailed insights regarding the consultancy process when working with young athletes. Such insights are crucial for applied sport psychologists to promote evidence-informed developmentally appropriate practice.

Lay Summary: Experienced applied sport psychologists in the UK demonstrated clear motives for working with young athletes, used flexible and adaptable consultancy approaches, secured connections, and assessed young athletes from multiple perspectives. Indirect interventions (delivered through coaches, parents, etc.) were considered the most impactful, but adaptation and integration determined PST effectiveness.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

• Practitioners should, whenever possible, work collaboratively with coaches and/or parents (indirectly or directly) to elicit greatest intervention effects.

• Interventions should match the demands of the sport, the young athlete’s developmental stage, and their unique individual wants and/or needs.

• PST in youth sport should be simple, adaptable, and where possible integrated within a young athlete’s training and competition context.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the participants for their time and sharing their thoughts and experiences. We would also like to gratefully acknowledge the help received from Nicholas Dann during the early stages of this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research supporting data is not available.

Notes

1 There are two sport and exercise psychology independent training routes in the UK which make practitioners eligible to apply for registration with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC): (1) BPS Qualification in Sport & Exercise Psychology (QSEP); and (2) British Association of Sport and Exercise Science (BASES) Sport and Exercise Psychology Accreditation Route (SEPAR).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the BPS DSEP research working groups initiative.