An Investigation of Future Market Opportunities for Sport Psychologists

For this study, questionnaires were distributed to 607 elite athletes, coaches, officials, administrators, and sport psychologists in Canada. Variables were examined to predict the development of the sport psychology profession. It was hypothesized that elite athletes had sport-specific psychological needs requiring the services of sport psychologists. This proposition was supported by the athlete population; however, the sport psychologists themselves felt that the sport-specific knowledge was a secondary issue. The perception of sport psychology services was found to be more positive the more the services were employed. Although awareness of these services was high, the access to sport psychologists was low, a finding which was attributed to a lack of adequate funding. All subgroups tested felt that the role of the sport psychologist is growing in importance and is becoming essential to the elite sporting environment.