Everything to know about sport psychology degrees
Coaches and trainers typically focus on helping athletes hone their physical skills to maximize their performance on the court or field. But what about their mental performance? Any athlete can tell you—or soldier, dancer, CEO, surgeon or anyone else familiar with performing under pressure—that your skills can only take you so far if your mental game isn’t on point. These mental aspects of achievement and performance are all within the domain of sport psychology professionals.
There are a vast range of positions within the field of sport psychology, and while one of them is becoming a licensed sport psychologist, there are many other roles that don’t require pursuing full licensure.
No matter what kind of job interests you, sport psychology professionals need the right education first. Most sport psychology degree programs are offered at the master’s and doctoral levels, and they each tend to lead students towards specific career paths. By understanding the different types of degrees available, you can make a more informed decision about your particular educational journey.
In this article:
What is sport psychology?
Sport psychology—which may go by other names such as sport, exercise and performance psychology or something similar—applies psychological principles to improve the performance and well-being of athletes and athletic personnel. Sport psychology also addresses the developmental and social aspects of sport participation and systemic issues within athletic settings and organizations.
While sports and athletes are a sport psychologist’s primary domain, their expertise can also be applied to other performance-based professionals like military personnel, performance artists such as dancers and much, much more.
“Sport psychology as a field really looks at two different things. The first one is the mental factors associated with performance enhancement, so this would be things like concentration, team cohesion, anxiety management, etc. That’s the one that most people think of right away,” said Brian Foster, PhD, an assistant teaching professor and coordinator of the sport psychology master’s program at Florida State University (FSU). “The other one is the mental outcomes associated with sport participation, so things like character development, burnout, athletic identity and in some cases mental health issues associated with sport participation.”
Types of sport psychology professionals
Foster noted that people working in the field of sport psychology generally fall into one of two categories.
“It’s important to note right off the bat that there are two types of sport psychology professional. One is an educational sport psychology professional and the other is a clinical sport psychology professional,” Foster said. “The educational professional is generally going to be educated in the sport sciences and their primary focus is going to be on performance enhancement and well-being. So if you’re hiring an educational sport psychologist to work with your team, for example, they’re generally going to try to help you perform on the field or on the court.
“The other type of professional is a clinical sport psychology professional. They are primarily educated in mental health and counseling. They’re the only type of professional that can actually use the term ‘sport psychologist’ because ‘psychologist’ is a protected term.”
This means that while there are licensed sport psychologists, there are other roles in the field that don’t require a doctoral degree and state licensure. Figuring out which kind of role interests you can help determine which degree is best for your unique career goals.
Bachelor’s degrees in sport psychology
Length: About four years
Prerequisites: High school diploma or GED
Who it’s for: Students that plan to advance to graduate studies in sport psychology later on
Although they are relatively rare, some schools do offer a sport psychology major or minor, or they offer it as a concentration within an existing major such as psychology, kinesiology or exercise and sport sciences. These programs can be an excellent option for students that know they want to work in the sport psychology field later on. However, it’s important to note that a master’s degree is considered the entry-level degree for sport psychology professionals.
“Students who are taking that undergraduate degree in most cases are doing so with the expectation that they’re going to at least get a master’s right afterwards,” Foster said.
In a sport psychology bachelor’s degree program, you can expect to take a breadth of introductory classes in subjects such as human anatomy and physiology, general psychology, abnormal psychology, exercise physiology and more. You must also complete a certain number of general education courses in subjects like English and mathematics for most bachelor’s degree programs.
Most sport psychologists and related professionals don’t have a bachelor’s in sport psychology, however, partly due to its rarity. There are many other more common undergraduate majors that can set you up for a career in the field.
“Psychology, kinesiology or sports sciences would be the most common undergraduate preparation for a master’s degree in sport psychology,” Foster said.
Master’s degrees in sport psychology
Length: One to three years
Prerequisites: Bachelor’s degree
Who it’s for: People that wish to work directly with athletes and other performers
Master’s degrees are generally considered the entry-level degree for sport psychology. Only at the graduate level can students obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to start consulting with athletes. It’s also the minimum degree needed to qualify for the Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) credential offered by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP).
“Here at Florida State, I would say that our master’s program is the more applied degree of the two,” Foster said. “Students who are doing that program are generally going to be more active in wanting to be consulting in the community with performers. They’re very interested in how to take information that they learned and actually use it with performers and other individuals.”
Foster said any master’s program curriculum is going to be a little different depending on the expertise of the program’s faculty, but there are some commonalities.
“There’s generally going to be an introduction to psychology course that is more of the research foundations of sport psychology, and then there’s also generally going to be an applied sport psychology class as well. There will also be classes such as group dynamics, psychology of sport injury, a stress management or anxiety management course and then there will likely be some classes that will be in the faculty members’ area of expertise.”
“Generally, there will be coursework as part of the major that will be in intro statistics and research methods. There may also be a class or two in the counseling space that students are required to take,” Foster added.
Experiential learning
Like many master’s programs in other disciplines, master’s degrees in sport psychology often include an experiential learning component in the form of an internship or something similar.
“Most master’s programs will have some kind of internship experience. With our program here at Florida State, most of our students are working at least one site where they’re providing sport psychology consulting to a team. For example, we have relationships here in Tallahassee with the two Division I universities in town, local high schools and local youth sport clubs. Our students are providing at least 30 minutes a week of consulting to those particular sites,” Foster said. “A more clinical program would probably also have arrangements in mental health centers and things like that.”
Career options for master’s graduates
Students that choose to pursue a master’s degree in sport psychology have many career options available to them.
“The number one hirer of sport psychology graduates in the United States is actually the U.S. military. The United States government is very invested right now in providing sport psychology services to their cadets—understandably so given the consequences of potentially making an error or not being on your game mentally,” Foster said. “Those positions tend to have one of two names, either mental resilience trainer or cognitive performance specialist. For a lot of students who are looking for a job right out of their master’s degree where they will use their sport psychology skills, those are a great option.”
Graduates of a master’s program may also be able to find positions working with kids and teens at youth sport clubs, or even helping people overcome the mental barriers of getting fit at exercise and health clubs. Foster cautioned that while full-time consulting positions for college or professional sports teams are possible, they’re extremely rare for recent graduates of master’s programs. Not only should people expect to need a lot of experience before getting this kind of job, those kinds of coveted positions usually go to those with doctoral degrees anyway.
Master’s graduates also have the option of continuing their education and getting a doctoral degree. If they want to teach in academia or conduct research within the field, they may move on to a doctoral degree in sport psychology. If they want to become a licensed psychologist, they may choose to pursue a doctoral degree in clinical or counseling psychology.
Doctoral degrees in sport psychology
Length: Three to eight years
Prerequisites: Bachelor’s or master’s degree
Who it’s for: People that want to focus on research efforts in the field and/or teach in academia
A doctoral degree in sport psychology allows students to reach the top of their field and possibly participate in or conduct cutting-edge research opportunities. With an emphasis on research in the sport sciences, doctoral degrees in sport psychology typically prepare students for research positions and/or to teach at the postsecondary level. They do not usually emphasize clinical mental health—those kinds of skills are practiced more often in clinical or counseling psychology doctoral programs. That said, every program is a little different and you should look into each individual program’s learning objectives to get a sense of what you’re supposed to learn.
Foster, who earned his PhD in sport psychology from FSU, wanted to teach in academia.
“You’re generally going to be taking coursework that is also outside of a sport psychology core to supplement your education. For example, I chose the academic route and I took a certificate in statistics in addition to my sport psychology coursework to help make up my course of study.”
Career options for doctoral graduates
If you’re familiar with how to become a licensed psychologist, then you know that you need a doctoral degree. While it might seem like a doctoral degree in sport psychology would be a perfect fit, it’s actually not the best option for those that want to provide mental health care directly to patients since it’s a more research-heavy program.
“The PhD at its core is a more research-based degree. That particular degree is designed to prepare students for positions in academia or in research positions,” Foster said.
Furthermore, many sport psychology doctoral programs don’t even qualify students for licensure. Foster said that’s because they’re not a clinical or counseling psychology program accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA).
So what if someone wants to be a licensed sport psychologist that works directly with patients?
“For students who want to have both [sport sciences and mental health expertise], which a number of our students do every year, they’ll take our master’s program and then they’ll follow it up with a PhD in clinical or counseling psychology that then gets them that licensure piece when they graduate. If somebody was coming to me and said, ‘I want to be an applied sport psychology professional, I want to work with athletes or performers for a living. What do you recommend that I do?’ then that would be my recommendation.”
Foster said that this route—a master’s degree in sport psychology followed by a doctoral degree in clinical or counseling psychology—has several advantages.
“The ability to get the psychological licensure just opens you up to entirely different clientele. You don’t have to refer out if you have somebody with a mental health issue. Right now in college sport, nearly every university has a position where they are asking for a university sport psychologist and that’s the background they want. And they want it because if an athlete goes to their professional, they don’t want that person to have to refer them out to the campus counseling center, which of course is completely overrun. They want to be able to deal with that in-house.”
A master’s degree in sport psychology followed by a doctoral degree in clinical or counseling psychology has several advantages.
Licensing and certification for sport psychologists
Those that want to go the extra mile and get licensed as a sport psychologist must satisfy some hefty requirements. Individual states issue licenses, and although the requirements vary by state, getting licensed as a psychologist—regardless of specialty—generally consists of three primary elements:
- Obtain a doctoral degree in psychology
- Accrue enough supervised clinical experience (1,500-6,000 hours depending on your state’s requirements)
- Pass the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP)
Once all your state’s requirements have been met, you can apply for a license.
Sport psychology professionals also have the option of pursuing voluntary certification as a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). The AASP defines the CMPC certification scope as individuals who have “obtained objective validation of their expertise in helping clients develop and use mental, life and self-regulatory skills to optimize performance, involvement, enjoyment and/or personal development in sport or other domains (e.g. performing arts, military).”
To obtain the CMPC certification, candidates must satisfy the following:
- Have a master’s or doctoral degree from an accredited institution in an area clearly related to sport science or psychology
- Have completed enough college coursework in specified knowledge areas
- Must complete enough mentored experience (several hundred hours)
- Pass a certification exam
- Pay a fee
- Agree to adhere to the AASP Ethics Code
Certification doesn’t expand your scope of practice like licensure does, but it does demonstrate a level of expertise and commitment to the profession. Having this credential, therefore, could lead to greater job prospects. Since a master’s or doctoral degree is enough to become a CMPC, the credential is available to licensed psychologists and unlicensed professionals alike.
Are online programs available?
Yes, some sport psychology programs are offered online. Keep in mind, however, that even online programs may require in-person internships or practicums to complete their degree, especially at the graduate level. In any case, make sure that the program is accredited.
Accreditation
Any and every degree you pursue should be accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. This not only ensures you receive a quality education, but it’s also necessary if you want to qualify for any federal financial aid.
If you intend on becoming a licensed psychologist, check with your state to determine whether your doctoral program and/or postdoctoral internships must be accredited by the APA, as some states do require this.
Resources to learn more
If you’re eager to learn more about the dynamic field of sport psychology, there are several industry organizations that can help:
- The American Psychological Association (APA) has several valuable online resources about pursuing a career in sport and performance psychology.
- Division 47 of the APA, also known as the Society for Sport, Exercise & Performance Psychology, has a wealth of resources for industry professionals and students including research publications, news and events, webinars and additional benefits for those that become members.
- The Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) is the leading organization for sport psychology professionals and offers the CMPC credential, the “sole accredited certification for mental performance in North America.”
- To learn more about the sport psychology field worldwide, consider checking out or even joining the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISPP).
- Yet another membership organization within the field, the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) focuses on the study of motor behavior and sport and exercise psychology.
What’s next?
Getting a bachelor’s degree is the first step to becoming a sport psychology professional. After that, a master’s or doctoral program (or both!) can open you up to a range of positions in the field, one that only continues to grow.
“I believe that in 20 years most sport psychology programs may actually rebrand as performance psychology, because the same principles you work with an athlete are the same principles you work with a soldier or a dancer or a surgeon or a business professional,” Foster said. “The principles of high performance transcend most disciplines.”
Foster noted, for example, that their program has an incoming student who has worked as a music teacher for some time but wants to get a master’s degree in sport psychology so that she can help her students overcome the mental barriers of musical performance. Students like her may continue to make the field more interdisciplinary in nature as time goes on.
Start by searching for programs today to get one step closer to a rewarding career in the sport psychology field.