Sports Psychologist - Sports Medicine Career

Sports Medicine Careers

Sports medicine is an area of healthcare focused on athletes. A sports medicine practice covers myriad medical and physiological goals and concerns that can and do impact athletes.

Such an expansive goal demands a commensurate breadth of practitioners and professionals. That’s why the field of sports medicine encompasses a dynamic range of job types and career opportunities. 

The article below explores sports psychology. Additional sports medicine career roles include: 

• Certified Athletic Trainer 
• Orthopedic Surgeon
• Physical Therapist
• Sports Neurologist
• Sports Cardiologist
• Sports Nutritionist / Registered Dietician
• Team Physician

Sports Medicine Career Overview

Header image courtesy of UCLA Athletics. Pictured: The UCLA Bruins huddle up during their game against No. 1 Stanford.

Meet Chris Praetzel, PsyD, CMPC, Sports Psychologist at UCLA 

Sports psychologist Chris Praetzel, PsyD, CMPC directs student-athlete mental health programs at UCLA. He ensures athletes enjoy multi-layered mental health support that incorporates individual and team-wide approaches. 

Dr. Praetzel provides individual confidential counseling and mental performance support, team level interventions, consults with team staff and coaches on broad support strategies, and pulls from the extensive range of psychological interventions in his repertoire to help athletes achieve their goals. 

He began imagining doing the work he does now when he was just a young runner, soccer player, and ESPN enthusiast. 

He felt especially drawn to stories of athletes who overcame adversity. Their journeys made him curious about resilience. He wanted to understand how resilience worked in the mind, especially during the pressurized environments of sporting events and tournaments. 

Following that curiosity led him to discover the field of sports psychology.

“It just clicked,” he recalls. “I knew that's what I wanted to do—help athletes overcome a range of issues and flourish inside and outside sports.” 

What Does a Sports Psychologist Do?

Like other sports medicine professionals, sports psychologists help athletes perform to their full potential. Their contribution to this collective aim revolves around athletes’ mindset, mental health, and psychology.

Playing a sport may be highly physical, but it’s not exclusively physical.

Coaches, athletic trainers, and team physicians generally focus on the physical—the visual, observable aspects of an athlete’s performance. Sports psychologists, on the other hand, consider how the unseen workings of a player’s mind might be affecting their physical performance. 

A basketball player may have excellent technique and shooting form but hesitate to take advantage of clear scoring opportunities. A sports psychologist can help them work through thought patterns, automatic beliefs, or other psychological blocks hindering them from playing to their full potential. 

What can a sports psychologist help with?

• Visualization/mental rehearsal 
• Stress management 
• Positive self-talk strategies 
• Confidence 
• Relaxation techniques
• Anxiety and depression 
• Motivation 

How to Become a Sports Psychologist

It can take over 15 years to complete the education and training required to practice sports psychology: 

• Earn a bachelor’s degree. 
  • Estimated time required: 4 years 
• Earn a master’s degree in psychology. (This is an admission requirement for some but not all psychology doctorate programs. Check with your programs of interest for specific requirements.) 
  • Estimated time required: 2 years 
• Earn a doctorate in psychology. 
  • Estimated time required: 4 - 7 years 
• Gain practical experience by completing a residency or post-doctoral fellowship 
  • Estimated time required: 1 year 
• Complete specialized certification training in sports psychology, such as the Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) credential offered by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). 
  • Estimated time required: Varies 
• Pass the national Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP)
  • Estimated time required: 1 - 6 months 
• Meet all licensing and certification requirements for your state of practice. 
  • Estimated time required: Varies 

Where can aspiring sports psychologists find additional information about education, training, and certification? 

• American Board of Sports Psychology (ABS) 
• Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) 
• Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP)
• International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) 
• North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA)
• Society for Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology

Advice for Aspiring Sports Psychologists

Dr. Praetzel advises anyone interested in pursuing a career in sports psychology to think deeply about their motivations and desires. “Make sure you’re getting into it for intrinsic reasons: Because you want to make a difference.” 

Anyone drawn to sports psychology for externally directed reasons—the glory of hanging out on the sidelines of professional games, for example—may be disappointed in the long run. That’s because the idea of sports psychology being highly visible or celebrated is a myth. 

“The ways we can be the most impactful are often invisible,” Dr. Praetzel explains. 

He doesn’t mind that at all, because what motivates him and provides him with fulfillment and satisfaction is helping people. Student athletes, he’s found, are a particularly rewarding group of people to work with. 

“The athletes at UCLA are wonderful. They balance so much and also accomplish so much,” he says. “Being able to see them succeed, work through challenges, and overcome adversity makes me grateful for each and every day I'm here.” 

Beyond feeling a true desire to help people, promising future sports psychologists tend to have certain core personality traits in common, including a strong sense of caring and compassion and an engaging style of communicating and listening. 

Quick Facts: Sports Psychologists 

What are the core job responsibilities of a sports psychologist? 

• Manage the mental-health needs of individual athletes and entire teams. 
• Offer evidence-based psychological insights to team and coaching staff as part of broader performance optimization strategies. 
• Provide individual counseling on a regular basis. 

Where can a sports psychologist find employment?

Sports psychologists may find employment opportunities in a variety of different settings, including:

• Professional athletic teams and organizations
• Olympic teams and organizations 
• School athletic teams of all levels 
• Concussion centers 
• Academic medical centers and other research institutions 
• Sports rehabilitation centers 
• Sports medicine clinics
• Healthcare facilities (clinics, hospitals, and private practices) 

How much does a sports psychologist make?

• Estimated annual salary range: $80,000 to $150,000 

Psychologists practicing in all industries in the United States make on average around $80,000 to $150,000 annually, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Earning potential varies widely depending on the psychologist’s location and industry of work, education, and specializations.