The simple answer is to aim to become a Sport Psychologist! It's going to take a while though. I'm being supervised under BASES accreditation. BASES are "the professional body for sport and exercise sciences in the UK." Me and a group of other trainee Sport Psychs - under the guidance of an approved senior Psychologist - do our work with athletes (at whatever pace we feel comfortable at over two to three years) in order to meet the criteria laid down by BASES to become effective practitioners.
After a year of study though, I can't afford to try and take on clients straight away and earn a living off it. So I've gone back to my 'old' career and work at a very well .com, helping them with strategy and growth in 2010 onwards. It's a great place, full of clever folk, doing innovative stuff that challenges me. But it doesn't get me as energised and excited as the Psych work I do. I've been trying to think about what the real difference is between the 2 disciplines. Whilst I think it'll take me a while to fully see what the differences are, I came across the blog of one of my favourite bands and what their lead singer said about 'life online' these days. I like it very much.
"So i'm making a record, as previously blathered about, and this means that my horrible, useless website is getting redone by my friend sonya. i mean, it sucks, which was my choice. i was like "can this look more horrible?" i wish i was kidding, but i happen to like crap. i just do. but she's promised to work with me to make sure it's still unwieldy and awkward, which is good preparation for everything else lcdish, and i promise to be less grumpy about things actually being “useful”. it’s just that things that are too “useful”... well, i don’t entirely trust them. i kind of like useless things. for instance—and this is a pretty facile and simplified metaphor here—art is useless, and nazis made lots of useful things. i like dumb meandering things that make me happy and confused, and don’t particularly like “effective marketing tools designed for maximum accurate data capture” blah blah blah. it all sounds so sad and functional. i don’t like the idea of people sitting in a room talking about the best way to word things to get the right reaction from a base of “users” etc. i don’t like thinking that those people used to love to do something, or wanted to be something, and would up measuring the best way to manipulate other people. i honestly don’t judge them, but i feel weird, and sort of sad—not FOR them, in a pitying way, as i have no idea how they fell, for fuck’s sake, and i’m a ridiculous person by the measure of a pretty deep cut of the population—but ABOUT them.
So my take is this. I'm a bloke. One who thinks logically and in a structured way at work, where things are black and white. I'm paid to understand how the business is right now; how it will be tomorrow, how it needs to grow, and how to achieve these things through process. I'm good at process. Not wanting to bite the hand that feeds, but throughout the last 10 years of work in 'business' I feel like this guy at times.
In 'real' life, and in particular in people's sport and exercise, there is definite grey. Where performance and mindset isn't so clear cut (and clinical). Sometimes it makes me uneasy to know what I should do. Should I just listen to people articulate their World? Should I offer advice/judgement and/or intervention? Working that out, with people is really exciting. It requires real effort and appreciation of other peoples Worlds and how they construct them. I only have had limited experience so far. I've been frustrated trying to understand what the role of a Sport Psychologist is. What I do know is that it, deep down inside, when I'm practicing, it feels the right thing to be doing. I'm by no means the finished article. Quite the opposite. But what this blog entry by James Murphy reminds me of is what Tim Holder advises trainee sport psychs. That is you have to get used to working in the grey in this field. To feel uneasy, unsure and take your time in order to be effective.
I'll try and write more about this another time and give some concrete examples. For now though, trust me on this one!
After new year, I'll be writing on:
- What is Sport Psychology?
- What kinds of approaches are there to Sport Psychology?
- What is my approach to Sport Psychology and practice?
- What kinds of work are there in the Sport Psychology field?
- What are the ethical considerations you need as a Sport Psychologist?
- What is 'success' in Sport Psychology?
- and, where I can (within the bounds of confidentiality), I'll write on how practice is going.
Please note - the views contained within this post reflect those of the author and not those of the organisations Stuart works for.
