Who are the top experts in sport psychology?
When elite athletes are deciding between working with a sport psychologist or mental performance coach, they need to evaluate the professional’s education and just as important their applied experience. In terms of education, sport psychology professionals should have graduate training in sport psychology, mental health licensure & possess the AASP CMPC certification (Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Certified Mental Performance Consultant). For applied experience, professionals need to have worked with a combination of collegiate, professional and high school athletes. This blog post explains in detail what athletes and coaches should look for when they select an expert in sport psychology to work with on mental training.
Published on 4/3/26, written by Benjamin Foodman, CMPC, LCSW, CSCS
Ben Foodman is a licensed psychotherapist & Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). He owns his private practice located in Charlotte North Carolina where he specializes in working with athletes to help them overcome mental blocks (the yips), increase mental toughness and improve focus using techniques such as Brainspotting, biofeedback, exercise science and sport psychology. If you are interested in services, use the link here! Enjoy the article below!
Who Are The Top Experts In Sport Psychology?
Athletes, coaches & teams oftentimes have difficulty either deciding who they are going to work with on mental training or even training with someone that is somewhat competent in the field. This is because there are a wide variety of professionals with different backgrounds & training, and without insider knowledge on what makes someone the top sport psychology expert, it can be challenging to identify who is truly talented in this field. Put simply, individuals who have the AASP CMPC and advanced training in interventions such as EMDR, Brainspotting, biofeedback and neurofeedback are the top experts.
Sport psychology is a field of study with many different experts such as clinical social workers, psychologists, licensed family & marriage counselors, and psychiatrists. There are also non-licensed professionals such as Certified Mental Performance Consultants (CMPC) or researchers with no applied training, but specialized knowledge about certain aspects of this field. So for this article, we are going to breakdown the different categories of professionals in this field and what consumers should look for when deciding who to work with.
What Is The Difference Between A Sport Psychologist & CMPC?
There is technically no such thing as a sport psychologist. There are licensed psychologists who happen to be working within the field of sport psychology but there is no specific licensure for being a sport psychologist. That term is outdated and was coined during the 1950s. A CMPC (Certified Mental Performance Consultant) is the more modern, technically correct professional title practitioners in the field possess.
Within the field of mental health there are many different licensed professionals such as licensed clinical social workers, licensed psychologists, licensed family & marriage counselors, etc. The field of sport psychology is made up of individuals with those types of licensures, who then go on to provide mental health services to athletes. What consumers need to be aware of is that many of these individuals do not have additional graduate training in sport psychology, nor do they possess meaningful certification to demonstrate specialized training when working with athletes.
If the athlete or organization insists on working with a licensed professional, it is imperative that they make sure the sport psychology expert possesses the top certification in the field, which is the Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). According to AASPs guidelines, individuals who possess must undergo the following requirements to receive the certification:
Applicants must have completed a 400-hour mentored experience consisting of a minimum of 200 hours spent in direct client contact
150 hours minimum spent in support activities, and a minimum of 50 hours spent in mentorship (i.e., face-to-face mentorship, electronic mentorship, and direct knowledge of services)
A minimum of 100 hours across these categories must be spent with competitive sport populations. Mentors must be approved to provide mentorship by the Certification Council
Applicants must also have competed specific graduate-level coursework in sport psychology, kinesiology, biomechanics, & sport psychology ethics
How Do I Determine Which Sport Psychology Expert Has The Right Experience?
Most professionals can’t reveal who they have specifically worked with due to confidentiality requirements. But typically, sport psychology experts with meaningful experience have advanced training in specific interventions that they use, which can reveal to consumers their level of expertise.
The average sport psychology professional unfortunately does not have specialized training in specific interventions and instead rely exclusively on their graduate training in low-impact interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy or positive psychology. As a result, when athletes go to work with these individuals, they are often disappointed and see minimal performance gains. However, athletes that work with sport psychology experts who use more modern, advanced interventions typically have better results. Some of these interventions include but are not limited to the following:
Eye movement desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)
Brainspotting (A modified version of EMDR)
Neurofeedback & Biofeedback Protocols
Polyvagal Theory & Exercise Psychology
The reason these interventions can help athletes determine who has meaningful, applied experience, is because professionals in sport psychology that use these approaches typically have a better understanding about how the human brain operates in a sport-performance environment. Research presented in the Journal for Applied Sport Psychology supports this position, strongly suggesting that professionals that use modalities such as the ones listed above provide significant performance benefits. Oftentimes professionals that use low-impact approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy or positive psychology have no meaningful training or understanding about how the brain functions in high-pressure situations…which should tell consumers all they need to know.
Why Is AASP The Top Sport Psychology Organization?
Professional & collegiate sports organizations will only hire Certified Mental Performance Consultants (CMPC) because the level of training, supervision and applied experience required to attain the certification far surpasses that of any other organization or certification. Furthermore, these elite teams have found that CMPCs can not only meet, but exceed the demands required to help athletes with their mental performance.
For example, in the Journal for Applied Sport Psychology, research demonstrates how complex working with athletes can be, and that sport psychology experts need specialized training that AASP requires in order to meet those demands. Another reason this certification is so critical is that it can help athletes determine the difference between competent professionals vs. those who claim to be sport psychologists or mental training experts. For example, there are many licensed psychologists with no formal training on how to work with athlete populations, but they will still advertise that they work with athletes and call themselves sport psychologists. While unethical, many mental health therapists will do this as a way to increase their private practice clients, but will oftentimes deliver poor results.
Another reason the AASP CMPC is recognized as the flagship professional organization is because they adhere to high ethical and educational standards. Unfortunately, there are many “professionals” within the field of mental performance that will invent their own certification, but do not adhere to any standards. They will say that their certification is based on their “applied” experience but there is no formal research or ethical guidelines that shape the foundation of the certification process. AASP goes above and beyond in making sure that its’ members adhere to the highest ethical standards needed to adequately serve athletes at all levels.
Frequently Asked Questions About The Top Experts In Sport Psychology
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No. Athletes can work with whoever they feel is able to help them achieve their goals as it relates to mental performance. However, if an athlete is struggling with mental health concerns, licensed psychotherapists with CMPC certification will be the best option because the dual clinical training with specialized training in sport psychology will offer them the best chance of success.
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These two terms in many ways are intertwined with one another. If an athlete has poor mental health status, they will have poor mental performance outcomes. With that being said, mental health issues typically focus on specific clinical problems such as eating disorders, depressive disorders or substance use issues whereas mental performance involves training the mind to increase aggression, focus or preparing to become comfortable with the discomfort of psychological stress associated with sports.
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Some do, but this is still a new field of development. Most sport psychologists give ‘one size fits all’ type talks on mental toughness and motivation. They will typically try to give a motivational speech or some very low-impact, basic talk on confidence. There are more elite organizations such as Ibex Tactics that design customized training systems that use data-driven sport psychology interventions to help the whole team optimize group psychological performance.
Why Should Athletes Only Work With the Most Credentialed Sport Psychology Experts?
If athletes are in need of mental health services for issues such as eating disorders, depression or PTSD, working with a licensed psychotherapist possessing the AASP (Association for Applied Sport Psychology) CMPC (Certified Mental Performance Consultant) will give them the best chance at achieving their goals. If athletes are looking just to acquire mental training for performance, working with an AASP CMPC that does not possess licensure will also give them the best chance, and broaden their selection of possible professionals to work with.
There are two additional considerations athletes and coaches need to factor when selecting the top experts in sport psychology. Typically, CMPCs that have training in somatic-based interventions such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing), Brainpsotting, biofeedback and neurofeedback elevate those professionals to elite status. Finally, and maybe most importantly, personal fit will be the biggest factor in achieving success. Athletes need to select the individual that they feel the most comfortable with that can build rapport easily. Combining these factors will greatly increase the odds of success and are good guidelines for athletes to follow when trying to identify who to work with.
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