BRINGING WELL-BEING INTO THE PERFORMANCE PICTURE

By: SARAH MURRAY, SENIOR PSYCHOLOGIST, BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION FC


Sarah is currently women’s senior psychologist at Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club working with the first team in the WSL top tier. Having joined BHAFC in 2013 she was tasked with setting up performance psychology across the whole club, performance psychology is integrated fully from the bottom up and from the top down within both the women’s and men’s sections to ensure the mentality of players coming through is developed to positively impact on pitch performance during the season.

Sarah has also been a senior lecturer in Sport Psychology at the University of Chichester using her applied to experience to support the next generation of Sport Psychologists.

Sarah graduated from Brighton University with a degree in Sport Science and then completed a PGCE in PE teaching. After 8 years as a Physical Education teacher she decided to pursue her passion for the mental side of performance and completed an MSc in Sports Psychology at Brunel University, going on to gain BASES (British Association of Sport and Exercise Science) accreditation in 2012.

Before going full time in football she ran her own consultancy working with both individual athletes and teams including England cricket, various professional golfers, England Athletics AASE programmes, England Lacrosse, Football Referees Association and Sport Coach UK.

Sarah has many years coaching and playing experience in sport and has spent much time working with young athletes due to her teaching background. Her own sporting experience is extensive, having played national league Hockey and played at regional level in Cricket, Tennis and Football.

Sarah is interviewed by Dr Andrew Shafik, a junior doctor in London, BJSM reviewer and Editorial Board Member at FMPA’s publication ‘football medicine & performance’.

Links:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11970860/psychology-in-football-missed-opportunity-for-the-english-game

https://eightypercentmental.com/ – Culture drives well being and therefore performance (see podcast)