FAQ - Sports Psychology for Competitive Athletes

Areas of Application

The areas of application for applied sports psychology in German competitive sports include research, support/advice, and coach training.

Funding Institutions in Research - Support - Education

Sports psychological support measures are funded for squad members through the BISp, the DOSB, as well as at the Olympic training centers (OSP’s).

The sports psychological training and further education for coaches primarily takes place at the respective state and top associations and at the Trainer Academy in Cologne.

The illustration provides an overview of the areas of application of applied sports psychology in competitive sports and the institutions where sports psychological work is either conducted or financially supported.

What can applied sports psychology contribute to competitive sports?

Applied sports psychology for competitive sports in Germany takes place through research, teaching, and support. Scientifically based sports psychological insights and training methods from research serve as "tools" for both practical sports psychological support work in competitive sports and for optimizing the professional skills of coaches within the framework of coach education.

With the help of these scientific support services, the aim is to contribute to the best possible promotion of the individual performance development of top and emerging athletes in Germany.

Overall, applied sports psychology is characterized by numerous core tasks in the areas of research, support, and teaching:

Sports psychological research in competitive sports aims to...

• Provide scientifically based sports psychological diagnostic, training methods, and techniques to enhance action competence
• (Further) develop innovative approaches to test the applicability of new theories, methods, and procedures to optimize sports performance through sports psychological measures

Sports psychological counseling and support in competitive sports aims to...

• Optimize the psychological performance prerequisites for athletes to access their performance potential in training and competition situations
• Support the personal development of athletes as well as coaches
• Assist in rehabilitation from sports injuries
• Maintain and restore the mental health of athletes and coaches (link to Mentalgestärkt)
• Optimize the individual action competence of athletes and coaches
• Enhance the relationships among athletes and their social environment
• Improve organizational structures and processes in sports

Sports psychological teaching in coach education aims to...

• Enhance the action competence of coaches
• Provide information for the dissemination and targeted use of current sports psychological approaches and training tools for their own training operations

Sports psychology research and support measures are highly relevant for various target groups and age ranges. For many years, the focus of research, support, and training was solely on athletes. Fortunately, in recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in diverse sports psychology research activities, support, and advisory measures for coaches and referees as well. This expansion of offerings is also being demanded and requested by the sports community. 

Moreover, the various sports psychology research and support activities include not only the senior sector but also the youth sector. The sports community and scientific experts agree that sports psychology measures must be integrated as early, long-term, and systematic as possible in the training and competition management from the youth level up to senior age.

For this reason, the BISp is increasingly promoting long-term systematic sports psychology support concepts in the youth sector up to the senior level, alongside its practice-relevant research projects. During project planning, intensive collaboration between associations and sports psychology experts in developing sports psychology support concepts is considered a necessary prerequisite for the funding of project applications (see BISp Guide to Project Funding, 2009, Appendix VI).

All sports psychology research and support services include the above-mentioned groups of people with and without disabilities.

Who is the focus of sports psychology research, practical support work, and knowledge transfer into the association structures or coach training and further education?

Sports Psychology Research

To scientifically support German competitive sports, there are various research activities. In the field of sports psychology, research projects at universities and non-university institutions are typically located within the sports science faculties and the associated sports psychology departments/institutes and their personnel. Due to the necessary practical relevance for application-oriented topics, many researchers work closely with sports associations. The transfer of research findings—including the implementation of sports psychological support measures in practice—often occurs through the same scientific experts.

Sports Psychological Support and Counseling

In addition to this group at universities and non-university institutions, psychological support work is carried out by freelance self-employed sports psychology experts. To ensure the quality of sports psychological counseling and support work, professionals working in performance-oriented sports must meet strict criteria, which can be found in the section "Quality Assurance of Sports Psychological Support in Competitive Sports".

Who is actually responsible for the structural, content-related, and financial orientation and further development of sports psychology and its offerings for elite and youth competitive sports in Germany?

Three institutions are at the forefront, which formed an interest group in early 2002 to consolidate resources and jointly develop and implement measures to improve the conditions of sports psychology in German competitive sports: the Working Group for Sports Psychology e.V. (asp), the Federal Institute for Sports Science (BISp), and the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB).

Through our joint efforts, various structural, financial, and content-related measures have been initiated and implemented in recent years to optimize applied sports psychology. Specifically, these include:

• Development and implementation of extensive training and continuing education obligations in theory and practice, as well as guidelines for ensuring the professional quality of practical psychological work in performance-oriented sports
• Consistent promotion of practice-oriented sports psychology research and counseling and support measures for competitive sports through the BISp
• Provision of an online expert database with qualified sports psychology experts active in sports practice
• Regulatory framework and funding for psychological counseling/support in competitive sports through federal funds