Im grateful that the degree and masters I completed were accredited by the PSI and BPS. This allowed me to further my studies and training in the UK.

I first started working in golf and was given access and support by the Golfing Union of Ireland and the Paddy Harrington Golf Scholarship at Maynooth University.

Jim Gavin was very influential in the development of my career as I spent six years working with the Dublin Senior Football team. I learned everything I needed to know about high performance under his wing.

I have been very fortunate in my career to-date. Working with the Dublin Football 5-in-a-row winning team has opened a lot of doors for me. My experience is if you work hard and do great work, that will be recognised. Working in sport can be a ‘relationship based’ business ie. You are sought after based on reputation.
In the past I have also applied for advertised positions from Cricket Ireland and Sport Ireland. This is usually through a public tendering process. I have been successful in some and unsuccessful in others. It is very exciting when you land a contract with a team that may be, for example, working to qualify for the Olympics or World Cups.

Every day is different but for me at the moment it looks something like this.....

9am Check emails and respond to queries

10 – 12am Clients (online)

12-1pm Workshop/educational resources preparation for teams/athletes

1-2pm Reading/studying/researching

2-3pm Lunch and pick up my girls from school

3-4pm Client (online)

4-5pm Prepare for evening session/training with teams

6-11pm Onsite training with team

As the sport psychologist for a team you may be responsible for any number of areas ie. Athlete mental health and wellbeing, planning and organisation, systems and logistics, mental skills development and training with athletes/coaches, performance enhancement, training support, competition support.

The most challenging part of my job is helping coaches and managers understand the nature of my work and how it can impact performance. In order for me to be able to do good work there must be ‘buy-in’ from the management teams and also the athletes. Building trust and relationships is vital to being able to work effectively in sport.

I love meeting new people. I love being part of a team working towards a shared vision/goal. I love helping people to become the best they can be. I love to travel and seeing parts of the world I would never have seen only for sport eg Pakistan, Guyana, Zimbabwe etc.

I least like the business side of being self-employed ie invoicing, tax returns etc.

My biggest strength is my relationship building. I care about my athletes and teams and I make sure they always know and feel this. I am very grounded and down-to-earth and can make my clients feel at ease no matter what the context.

My preparation will always be commented on by my clients. I like to be fully prepared for any environment that I am working in.

What I didnt expect in my psychology degree was the level of maths and statistics that was required. I was poor at maths and struggled a bit with this aspect of my degree. I probably would have chosen biology for leaving cert in hindsight just to get a better insight into how the brain works.

I found honours English throughout secondary school did help as I was used to writing essays and critically analysing pros and poetry. There was a lot of philosophy in my degree which can be taxing if you havent been exposed to it before so if there was an option to do a philosophy subject I would recommend that.

• BA (Hons) Psychology (PSI accredited) 4 years
• MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology (BPS accredited) 1 year
• BPS QSEP Stage 2 training (Doctoral level – Chartership) 4 years

My undergraduate degree gave me the general grounding in psychology ie. Personality, cognitive, social, health, forensic, developmental, organisational, neuropsychology, biopsychology and psychoanalysis.

My Masters degree gave me the theoretical underpinning of sport psychology ie. The theories and research in areas such as motivation, confidence, behaviour change, group dynamics, physical activity and mental health.

It is during your stage 2 supervised training that you learn your craft. This training provides you with all the skills and competencies to become an applied practitioner. It is during this training where you learn how to apply theory to practice, to become a reflective practitioner, and to practice ethically.

• Being part of the Dublin GAA Football team for the 5-in-a-row
• Supporting the Ireland Track Cycling team that won silver and bronze at the World Championships and qualified the biggest Irish cycling team for the Tokyo Olympics.
• Ireland Women’s Senior International Team - Qualification for the T20 World Cup in 2018, 2023 and ICC Women’s Super League 2022
• Becoming Chair of the Division of Sport Exercise Psychology at the Psychological Society of Ireland
• Being asked to sit on the GAA’s Central Games Development Committee for a 3 year tenure (2024-2027)

Ambitious, driven, self-motivated, caring, authentic, hardworking, always eager to learn, resilient.

As a huge Arsenal fan – it would be my dream to work with their first team.

I am very passionate about my work and I feel very fortunate in my career to-date. My work does not ever feel like work because I love and enjoy it so much. Being self-employed can be challenging but I have total flexibility in my working hours to an extent. I can take days off and holidays when I need to. I have gotten to work with the most incredible people and have travelled the world doing what I love.

It can take between 7-10yrs to properly qualify so you need to be committed. There is limited work in professional sport in Ireland and this should be factored in when you weigh up the years of study versus the outcome.

Resilience – it is a tough industry!

Authentic

Poor and disrespectful communication.

Lack of clear roles and responsibilities.

Yes 100%. I attend various training courses at least twice a month. I have completed training in Spotlight which is a performance profiling tool used in the world’s biggest clubs/teams. I have completed CBT and ACT training. I will also regularly attend webinars on sleep for performance, eating disorders among athletes, recovery strategies for sport, half-time talks, building culture, effective visualisation and imagery training, goal-setting etc. 

Any work within a team will give you an insight into the sport environment.

Chartered Sport Psychologist