The Sport Psychology Canvas: Designing, adapting, and documenting Sport Psychology provisions in men’s football academies in England

Feddersen, NB, Champ, F ORCID: 0000-0002-9319-8292 and Littlewood, MA ORCID: 0000-0003-1881-6035 (2025) The Sport Psychology Canvas: Designing, adapting, and documenting Sport Psychology provisions in men’s football academies in England. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 37 (5). pp. 507-528. ISSN 1041-3200

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Abstract

In this paper, we aim to: (1) identify common contextual forces influencing sport psychology practice in men’s football academies in England, (2) classify common sport psychology departments, and (3) provide a research-informed tool for designing, adapting, and documenting sport psychology provisions called The Sport Psychology Canvas. The study involved 16 sport psychologists working in men’s football academies in England, comprising six women and ten men. Data collection consisted of three stages: two individual interviews with each participant and one round of two focus groups with ten participants split evenly in each group. Following each stage, data were analyzed through open coding, followed by grouping codes into concepts. The findings informed the development of the second interview and focus group guides. The findings are presented in three sections. The first section discusses two key forces shaping provisions, (i) Uncertainty for Players and Staff: How players, parents/carers, and staff navigate existential needs, leading to significant stress and anxiety, (ii) Pervasive Unrealistic Expectations: The impact of unrealistic expectations, often shaped by notions of objectivity and ideals from other sport sciences. Second, we offer an overview of common organizational structures in sport psychology departments, highlighting their strengths and limitations. Last, we introduce The Sport Psychology Canvas, a flexible template for designing, adapting, and documenting sport psychology programmes. This Canvas can guide practitioners or department heads in delivering high-quality provisions tailored to their specific context.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	5203 Clinical and Health Psychology; 52 Psychology; 1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences; 1701 Psychology; Sport Sciences; 4207 Sports science and exercise; 5201 Applied and developmental psychology; 5203 Clinical and health psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports > GV711 Coaching G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis
Date of acceptance:	20 December 2024
Date of first compliant Open Access:	6 August 2026
Date Deposited:	06 Aug 2026 13:11
Last Modified:	06 Aug 2026 13:11
DOI or ID number:	10.1080/10413200.2024.2446206
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29119

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