Better Together: A Call for the Integration of Sport Psychology Research and Practice

Sport psychology is gaining relevance in research and in practice. We posit, however, that the integration of these contexts can be developed further. In our opinion, research lacks proximity to the field and to knowledge translation, whereas practice lacks evidence-based application and scientific methods. Specifically, barriers pertaining to knowledge, culture, motivation, relevance, immediacy, publication, reading, terminology, activities, education, time, funding priorities, systemic goals, and community readiness obstruct integration (Haddow & Klobas, 2004). To advance integration, we argue that research can work to include practice more and communicate its results better, whereas practice can rely more on research when designing interventions and employ more scientific methods. In our view, external stakeholders too can support integration. Ultimately, we posit that integration benefits not only research (via more applicable results, more relevant topics) and practice (via more targeted procedures, more efficient processes), but the whole field of sport psychology (via greater quality and funding).