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Dr. Rob Bell, former Regional Student Representative, is the graduate coordinator of the Sport and Exercise Psychology program at Ball State University. He consults with various student-athletes at Ball State and caddies and serves as a mental training consult for golfers on the Nationwide Tour.
 
What do you know now that you wish you knew as a student? 

The biggest adjustment has been trying to build relationships and collaborate with others closely related in the school while at the same time focusing on the main responsibilities. A class on "how to be a professor" would have been nice. Not so much on the teaching aspect, but on where the energies should be devoted to and how to best handle everyday issues. It has been a great process nonetheless, Drs. Wrisberg and Fisher really prepped their students well.
 
How did your experiences as student rep affect your professional experiences?
Helping out the organization of AASP as a student rep helped me witness the passion of others to help the field. This in turn, motivated me to make AASP the best possible. It also helped a lot with the answer above.

 

 

Dr. Kevin L. Burke, former Student Representative, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Kinesiology, Leisure and Sport Sciences at East Tennessee State University and operates Kevin L. Burke Enterprises, LLC, a private consulting business. Dr. Burke has co-authored two sport-related books entitled, "Sport Psychology Library Series: Basketball" and "Tennis." He also has served as co-editor of eight editions of the "Directory of Graduate Programs in Applied Sport Psychology" which is also available on-line. Dr. Burke has served on the editorial boards for the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology (Associate Editor), Journal of Sport Behavior, Strategies, and as Associate Editor for the Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Physical Education. Dr. Burke authors two “iTunes” podcasts entitled “Sports Illuminated” and “Motorsports.”

Serving as the first AASP Student Representative for two years (1985-7) was an invaluable personal and exceptional educational experience - equivalent to earning an additional graduate degree. I was fortunate to be involved in the organizational development and nurturing of AASP with the dedicated professionals who sought to make AASP the foremost sport psychology organization in the world. My student experiences on the Executive Board positively impacted my career in academia and led to future opportunities to serve AASP as Secretary-Treasurer (1991-4), and on the Performance Enhancement/Intervention Committee (2003-6).

Currently Dr. Heather Peters, former Student Representative, is a post doctoral fellow at UC Davis Counseling and Psychological Services. She provides sport psychology services to two intercollegiate teams and individual athletes. This year she has run two groups specific to athletes- a Leadership Workshop and a Balancing Weight Management and Performance group. Additionally, she provides counseling services to the larger student body. Next year Heather will be an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, Morris.

 

Being a student representative for AASP was a great learning experience. I had the opportunity to listen to students and make changes that benefited ½ of AASP’s members. I participated in discussions regarding the history and direction of sport and exercise psychology. I formed relationships with people in all areas of the field (e.g., health psychology, social psychology, performance enhancement, research, applied). I learned what happens in a non-profit organization. I gained skills and self-awareness that have helped me become a better committee member and leader. Most importantly, I received mentorship from some of the top leaders in our field.

 

 

Currently, Dr Kirsten Peterson, former Student Representative, works for the U.S. Olympic Committee as a senior sport psychologist. I have been in this position for 11 years and in that time have worked with most Olympic sports, doing individual consultations with athletes and coaches, presenting educational seminars to teams and camps, teambuilding activities, and a smattering of book chapter and educational material production, among other tasks. I have been fortunate enough to have gone to four Olympic Games to provide sport psychology services as part of the US delegation.

 

My advice for students interested in doing what I do (as opposed to working for a university in academe which is a horse of a different color) would be to make sure that the life of an applied sport psychologist is what you want to do. Talk to people doing that sort of work, find out how things work and decide if that kind of lifestyle fits who you are. Then I would strongly encourage you to think about (a) getting your doctorate and (b) getting it in psychology. By being licensable as a psychologist, many more applied work doors are open to you, and you get to use the word psychology as part of who you are. Particularly in jobs where you are on your own, having expertise in both the mental training and counseling or clinical sides of things puts you in the position of handling most all of what happens. As we like to say at the Olympics, everything—performance, personality, or crisis—ultimately ends up being a performance issue.

 

I think that my experience being an AASP student rep was great, though it is probably true for this and most other things that it is only as good as what you put into it. I enjoyed being part of the Executive Board and hearing about what they had to deal with, and feel like my opinions were heard and respected. It gave me the confidence to later run for other sport psychology profession positions. I met a lot of leaders in the field, and had to speak up about my thoughts about the profession to the whole of AASP. A little intimidating, but worth it looking back. Traveling to the board meetings was also a blast. I can’t think of a group of people who know better how to work hard and also play hard than the professionals I had the fortune to work with during my tenure as student rep. That combination of hard work and play is one I live by to this day.

 

 

Dr. Kaori Araki is originally from Japan and earned a Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2004. Currently, I am an assistant professor at the Nanyang Technological University, National Institute of Education in Singapore. I also enjoy opportunities talking about psychological skills training at local schools. My experiences with the Singapore Sailing Federation as a consultant are great and I am excited to go to the Olympics with the sailors!

 

My advisers Dr. Diane Gill and Dr. Dan Gould prepared me well to be an independent researcher and consultant. Involvement in numerous research projects prepared me to plan and carry on projects efficiently by corroborating with federations, colleagues, and students. Hands on practices for consultations (including how to start consulting at the new places) have also helped me to work with elite and school level athletes in Singapore and Japan.  

 

It is challenging to find a job and start a new job! It is been 18 months since I moved to Singapore to take the current position. I face obstacles on a daily basis and need to think how to cope with them. However, I always remember the strengths, knowledge, experiences I gained through the Ph.D. program. Without the supports from my advisers and UNCG gangs, I would not be here. Even though I am far away from the U.S., I always remember what they have given to me. I would like continue to live my life through sport and exercise psychology. Arigatou.

 

Dr. Rudy Alleyne is very much in the process of the ‘obligatory job search,’ after graduating from Temple University in May 2007. Fortunately for me, I have been able to do some sport psychology work with a number of elite athletes. One of the teams with whom I worked participated in the recent ICC World Cup Cricket Competition held in the Caribbean.  

 

During my short period out of college I have encountered a few challenges. Finding a job has been quite a tedious and laborious process. Having earned a PhD, one would think that it would have been much easier to find a job, especially in academia. However, this has not been the case for me. One other factor that has been quite a challenge is negotiating with the administrators of various sporting organization for the delivery of sport psychology services. In some cases the administration appeared to be almost diametrically opposed to the use of sport psychology. There seemed to be a total unawareness of what sport psychology is and why it is important to sports development. This has reinforced to me that there is still a great deal of work to be done, in educating the sporting and general public, about the importance of sport psychology.

 

Because I have taken a variety of courses across disciplines, I have been able to incorporate other areas, such as exercise physiology, with my sport psychology work. Having knowledge and experiences with issues related to diversity has also been invaluable when working with different populations. The knowledge and use of information from other fields is not only important, but almost necessary, when working with the diverse clientele of the 21^st century.