Sport and Performance Psychology Research Group

Under the leadership of Dr. Ruth Boat, a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, the Sport and Performance Psychology Research Group engages in comprehensive research across various domains related to the psychology of sport and performance. Our research covers a wide array of topics, including:

• Enhancing resilience in individuals, teams, and organisations;
• Stress, well-being, and mental health in elite athletes;
• Developing young people in and through sport;
• Understanding and enhancing self-regulation, motivation, and goal pursuit;
• Performance under pressure and decision making.

We employ a diverse range of research methodologies, drawing on a variety of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches. Our methods include laboratory experiments, interviews, case studies, and field-based experiments. The data analysis methods we use are equally varied, encompassing advanced quantitative methods such as multi-level modelling, latent profile analysis, and regression analysis, as well as innovative qualitative approaches like grounded theory, interpretative phenomenological analysis, and reflexive thematic analysis.

Our group collaborates closely with numerous national and international sporting organisations and foundations, including:

• National: British Universities and Colleges Sport, Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme, UK Sports Institute, League Football Education, Premier League, The Football Association, Swim England
• International: Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), International Olympic Committee (IOC)

• Active Notts
• British Swimming
• British Swim Coaches Association (BSCA)
• Cardiff Metropolitan University
• Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)
• Google
• High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ)
• International Tennis Federation
• Lawn Tennis Association (LTA)
• League Football Education
• League Managers Association (LMA)
• Leeds Beckett University
• Loughborough University
• Motorsport UK
• Notts County FC Academy
• Oxford Brookes University
• Premier League Charitable Fund (PLCF)
• Staffordshire Police
• The Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS)
• The English Football Association (FA)
• United Kingdom Sports Institute (UKSI)
• University of Bath
• University of Birmingham
• University of California

Example projects that staff/PGR’s within the Research Group are currently involved with:

• An exploration of swim coaches' use of positive youth development in their practice (and the challenges they face with this);
• Behavioural observation of resilience in academy youth football;
• Does smartwatch-induced health behavioural change improve student physiological health, psychological well-being and flourishing;
• Developmental and practice activities of elite youth racing drivers;
• Effects of prior self-control exertion on dyspnoea and tolerance to incremental threshold loading;
• Enhancing the well-being of elite sport performers operating in high performance environments from a longitudinal perspective;
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the implementation of elite athlete mental health support services in the United Kingdom;
• Evaluating the impact of mental fortitude (resilience) training on Staffordshire Police firearm instructors and students;
• Evaluating the impact of the “Teach Active” intervention on body composition, cognitive function, wellbeing, behaviour, school attendance, academic achievement, and neurodiversity for children and young people aged 8-11 years;
• Examining a teacher-led physically active mathematics intervention: Teachers’ perceptions of facilitators and barriers to UK primary school implementation;
• Examining the associations of self-control with physical fitness, cardiometabolic health, and wellbeing in young people;
• Examining the acute effects of a self-control focused daily mile intervention in young people;
• Exploring resilience in extreme environments;
• Exploring the daily reality of being a sport school student-athlete;
• Investigating and developing parental resilience in youth sport;
• Physical literacy of young people with visual impairment in goalball/football;
• Possible selves, psychosocial development and identity in youth sport;
• Prior self-control exertion and perceptions of dyspnoea during a CO2 rebreathing challenge;
• Promoting mental health through the Entourage in High Performance Sport (MENTIS);
• Psychological safety, fear of failure, and team resilience in elite football;
• Supporting the psychosocial development and wellbeing of young athletes through the 5Cs framework;
• Supporting the development and wellbeing of junior tennis players: A family-based psychosocial intervention;
• Talent identification and development in high-speed locomotor sports: A multidisciplinary perspective;
• The development and validation of a psychometric instrument to measure well-being in elite sport performers;
• The effect of a novel psychosensory intervention (Havening) on athletes’ mental health;
• The effects of perfectionistic climate on perfectionism, resilience, fear of failure, and psychological wellbeing in youth athletes;
• The effects of self-control exertion on subsequent physical performance in individuals with alexithymia;
• The impact of an interpersonal skills training intervention on coaches;
• The mental health of academy football players facing deselection;
• The mental health and well-being of swimming coaches in the United Kingdom;
• The role of personality in coach-athlete relationships;
• Understanding the holistic impacts of being a sport school student-athlete: A global perspective;
• Understanding the interpersonal dynamics between parents and coaches in youth tennis.

Arnold, R., Brown, D.J., & McLoughlin, E. (2024). An examination of the relationship between sport performers’ organizational stressor dimensions, physical health, and well-being. Journal of Sports Sciences, 42, 1050-1060. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2382561

Ashdown, B., Sarkar, M., Saward, C., & Johnston, J. (2024). Exploring the behavioral indicators of resilience in professional academy youth soccer. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 1-25. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2024.2361701

Boat, R., Cooper, S.B., Carlevaro, F., Magno, F., Bardaglio, G., Musella, G., & Magistro, D. (2022). 16 weeks of physically active mathematics and English language lessons improves cognitive function and gross motor skills in children aged 8–9 years. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19, 16751. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416751

Dowsett, R., Kinrade, N., Whiteside, D., Lawson, D., Barnett, C., Magistro, D., & Wilkins, L. (2023). Own goal or home run? Exploring the implementation of virtual reality training in football and baseball organisations. Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, 13, 665-584. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm-09-2022-0083

Fasey, K.J., Sarkar, M., Wagstaff, C.R.D., & Johnston, J. (2022). Understanding organizational resilience in elite sport: an exploration of psychosocial processes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 62, 102236. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102236

Garstang, K.R., Jackman, P.C., Healy, L.C., Cooper, S.B., & Magistro, D. (2024). What effect do goal setting interventions have on physical activity and psychological outcomes in insufficiently active adults? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 21, 541-553. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2023-0340

Giles, S., Fletcher, D., Arnold, R., Ashfield, A., & Harrison, J. (2020). Measuring well-being in sport performers: Where are we now and how do we progress?. Sports Medicine, 50, 1255-1270. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-020-01274-z

Graham, H.L., Boat, R., Cooper S.B., & Kinrade, N.P. (2025). Alexithymia in athletic populations: prevalence, and relationship with self-control and reinvestment. Personality and Individual Differences, 233, 112868: 112868. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2024.112868

Hunte, R., Cooper, S.B., Nevill, M.E., Taylor, I.M., & Boat, R. (2024). Self-control exertion and goal priming: effects on time-to-exhaustion cycling performance. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 13, 272-286. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000347

Kramer, S., Thrower, S.N., Steptoe, K., & Harwood, C.G. (2023). Parental strategies for supporting children’s psychosocial development within and beyond elite sport. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 35, 498-520. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2022.2043486

McGlinchey, T.R., Saward, C., Healy, L.C., & Sarkar, M. (2022). “From everything to nothing in a split second”: elite youth players' experiences of release from professional football academies. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 4, 941482. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2022.941482

McLoughlin, E., Arnold, R., & Moore, L.J. (2023). The tendency to appraise stressful situations as more of a threat is associated with poorer health and well‐being. Stress and Health, 40, e3358. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3358

Saward, C., Harrison, D., Healy, L., & Sarkar, M. (2024). Motivational profiles and their relation to wellbeing, burnout, and drop-out intentions in university football players in the UK: a mixed methods approach. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 71, 102585. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2023.102585

Stanford, J.R., Roberts, R., Johnston, J., Sarkar, M., & Healy, L. (2024). “There's only room for one of us in this relationship”: examining the role of the dark triad in high-performance dyads. Personality and Individual Differences, 226, 112688. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2024.112688

Steel, R.P. (2023). The longitudinal associations between wearable technology, physical activity and self-determined motivation. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 22, 1030-1047. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2023.2180067

Tagliavini, E.F., Harwood, C.G., Jowett, S., & Thrower, S.N. (2023). A collective case study of parent-athlete-coach (PAC) triads in British youth tennis. The Sport Psychologist, 38, 14-27. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2023-0014

Thompson, F., Rongen, F., Cowburn, I., & Till, K. (2024). A longitudinal mixed methods case study investigation of the academic, athletic, psychosocial and psychological impacts of being a sport school student athlete. Sports Medicine, 54, 2423–2451. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-024-02021-4