Mental Health and Mental Performance in Secondary School Sports: Guidelines For Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating Programs and Services

Secondary school sports in public and private school systems, at the high school and middle school levels, are growing in size and scope; they are similar yet different in many respects. Secondary school sports are similar to one another with the intent of providing extracurricular experiences for student athletes that are educational in nature and scope. In contrast, secondary school sports, as they occur in school systems, are diverse. Importantly, this diversity requires attention by educators and psychology practitioners who desire to integrate mental health and mental performance into sports in school systems. Notably, there are differences in school systems with regard to the cultures and contexts of urban and suburban communities; their student populations; variations in the structures of school systems; the amount of resources that can be allotted to interscholastic sports; experiences and values of school staff, parents, and other stakeholders; and organizational readiness for change. Increasingly, sport psychology has been considered as being a valuable contributor to the development of secondary school sports in the United States and globally. More specifically, it has been opined that providing mental health and mental performance programs and services at secondary school levels can add value to interscholastic sports as an extracurricular experience. However, unlike applications of sport psychology at professional and collegiate levels where there are relatively defined service delivery models, it is less clear about how and when to integrate mental heath and mental performance programs and services into high school and middle school sport routines. Thus, it will be helpful to examine in a systematic way and systemic manner how to apply sport psychology at the high school and middle school levels so that programs and services can occur--- in relevant cultural contexts--- in ways that meet the following criteria: (a) practical in terms of program implementation; (b) provided by qualified professionals; (c) informed by trustworthy evidence; (d) compliant with ethical and legal standards; ( e) adequately funded and (f) enable student-athletes to effectively balance sport with school and other aspects of their lives. This webinar will address the above matters by means of case studies, coupled with real world perspectives, and practical guidelines.