Greetings all. I have a Ph.D. in clinicial/school psychology and am in the process of gaining my state license. I have begun to have an interest in the field of sports psychology, but have no specific training in the area. What is the first step I should take in gaining training in order to practice sports psychology? Is there any postgraduate treining programs in the NY/NJ area? Thanks.

-- craig litman (craigphd@aol.com), January 28, 1999

Answers

Craig, There are many people who are in your boat. If you are clinically trained (i.e.: in clinical, school or counseling psych) you then need to take sports psych and sport science coursework and ideally receive supervision for your work with athletes. You are quite astute in noting that the NY/NJ area is barren of training opportunities. I am teaching an online sports psychology interventions course that is graduate level and the goal at Fairleigh Dickinson University is to develop a certification program and then perhaps a masters in applied sports psychology. If you would like more information, feel free to contact me. If you would like info on programs outside of the NY/NJ area, you probably should get a hold of the Directory of Graduate Programs in Applied Sport Psychology published by human kinetics.

-- Mitch Abrams, Psy.D. (MAbrams589@aol.com), February 23, 2000.