sport psychologist

wexpsych

I have recently passed my exams in my masters in sport psychology. I am looking to get some experience and will work with anyone willing to try it out. I have worked with G.a.a teams, shot putters, referees, and soccer players.

vicwatson

wexpsych wrote: »

I have recently passed my exams in my masters in sport psychology. I am looking to get some experience and will work with anyone willing to try it out. I have worked with G.a.a teams, shot putters, referees, and soccer players.

For free ??

If so put the thread Bargain Alerts and you'll have loads of volunteers;)

And try a thread in the Cycling section for starters.

wexpsych

ya for free starting off anyway, need to get some experience. thanks for the advice

who what when

wexpsych wrote: »

I have worked with G.a.a teams, shot putters, referees, and soccer players.

What am I missing, you already have experience!

wexpsych

not enough yet though..the past were mostly people i knew or part of college. Id like to work outside my comfort zone a bit more

vicwatson

Or maybe try the golf pros in Wex, St,Helens and Rosslare and other, maybe you can offer them some services or their clients?

Gaunty

You could offer your help to some of the darts teams in the Wexford town darts league currently ongoing?

Corvo

Gaunty wrote: »

You could offer your help to some of the darts teams in the Wexford town darts league currently ongoing?

They already have a sports psychologist.

Goes by the name Arthur Guinness

Xander_82

Have you completed a Masters at an actual university or just in Waterford or somewhere? Are you registered with a professional body like the BPS? Are you undergoing supervision through the IIS?

wexpsych

I am registered with BASES. i am not undergoing any supervision yet as i need someone to work with for that. unfortunatly i JUST did it in Waterford I.T. not an actual university. but i still had to do an actual dissertation, actual exams, actual placment. I passed and I will have an ACTUAL masters degree in applied sport psychology. some people may look down their nose at it but i believe education is no advantage without experience. thats why i am volunteering for ACTUAL real world experience.

Xander_82

I am not denying that you worked hard to get it. Good work. It's just not the same standard as one would get from a university. If you were able for that standard of Masters, you'd have gone to one.

wexpsych

maybe you are right i'd love to hear your arguement. if i was able for that standard? at the time it was the only sport psych masters in the republic. thanks for your advice i was researching doing a phd but thank god you put me straight on that one. maybe I will go do a real masters any suggestions?

peddlers

Xander_82 wrote: »

I am not denying that you worked hard to get it. Good work. It's just not the same standard as one would get from a university. If you were able for that standard of Masters, you'd have gone to one.

Sorry, with all due respect, is this from your actual experience of attending an IT?? Because, if you have never attended both, well then I really don't think you’re in a position to make such an arrogant statement.

Xander_82

peddlers-If WIT was the same standard of education as one gets at a university, it would be called University of Waterford. Are you trying to tell me that the education one gets at an IT is at the same level as at a university?

Wexman-almost all universities in Ireland offer Masters by research in Sport Psychology so long as you have a BA or BSc in psychology or sport science. Do you have one of these? I never said you didn't do a real masters. Did I? The masters at WIT is just of a lesser standard than one gets from a university. But it is way ahead of pretenders who have a cert or diploma in sport psych from some night course, or those guys with NLP certs who claim to be able to do everything. Its streets ahead of those.

wexpsych

again you have not given an arguement. waterford has been university level for many years
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0117/1224310362772.html
will the standard of education change just because there will be a different name?
your arguement is that a masters by research is better than a thought masters? while i agree it does promote self learning, all a research masters does is allow someone specialize in one single area. if I did a research masters on my thesis I would have only specialized in confidence, or for my first thesis motivation. whereas I was thought by 3 phd grads and a double masters holder. there is actually a change from research to taught phd in many of the top universities.

Xander_82

That article says that they will be combined into a Technical University. The key sentence in that article is " the move could damage the international reputation of Irish education by lowering standards". Regardless of that, yes, a Technical University would be useful in some areas, like engineering and science.

Psychology does not belong in a Technical anything. Would you hire a surgeon who had been educated at an IT? Or a clinical psychologist? No you wouldn't. Sport Psychology is no less a discipline of psychology than clinical, educational or counselling psychology are. Yet because it is an emerging field, there are courses being offered all over the place. I repeat, the masters at WIT is way ahead of any cert or diploma being offered in Ireland. But it is not at the same level of qualification or recognition of competence that a masters by research at one of the universities would have, and is definitely well below someone who has gotten a masters from Loughborough, Univ of Edinburgh or Liverpool John Moores.

wexpsych

would I hire a clinical psychologist or a surgeon educated from an I.T.? If it were for myself I would not be so subjective as to base my decision on where they were educated. I would find out about their track record, meet the person to see if I trust them, if that checked out (especially with a surgeon I would research their course to examine the standard of lecturing).
Like I said earlier I believe experience is much more important than education.
this thread was a simple request for experience, no pressure meet up have a chat if your happy o.k if not o.k. at first I thought you were a troll stirring, but your writing makes me think you have a psychology background?
If you have look at your posts from an outsiders perspective, would you employ someone who is belittling, judgmentive, and from my opinion showing an absolute superiority complex? and before you say you were arguing your point I got that impression from the language used in your first post.
If you are interested in sport psych work..you could have started your own thread, or seen how small the response to mine was and used another medium. also i would have been happy to meet up and discuss the subject and work oppertunities with you as I believe the only way to improve is through peer review. however judging from your post you do not see me as a peer, thank god. I will judge myself not by my education but by my deeds
"Education helps one acquire a higher grade of prejudices.
- Laurence J. Peter"

Xander_82

"Like I said earlier I believe experience is much more important than education". That is where we differ. They are equally important. Just because a guy in a factory has changed parts in a highly complex machine several times, does not make him an expert. However, if he was also a highly educated engineer, that would make him an engineer.

I know quite a bit about how sport psychology works in Ireland and in the UK. In Ireland there is no pathway laid out by the PSI for someone to become a registered psychologist (like there is with the BPS in the UK). As a result, people go through BASES which has lower criteria than the BPS. Or, in many many cases, don't go through anywhere and just call themselves Sport Psychologists. There is no law against this, and some of the people working with some of the top athletes and teams in the country have no qualifications whatsoever.

This is rubbish. This is completely unfair on every person who worked hard to get the points in their Leaving Cert to get to do Psychology at a university (approximately 500-530 points). On top of that to get a 1st or a 2:1 in that degree, and then on top of all that to either spend two years doing an MLitt here, or spend serious money moving to the UK to do a taught Masters at a university there. What does that guy/girl get? The same as some fella with a cert from 6 weeks of night courses and a NLP cert from a weekend. That's not right.

I'm not saying you are the person with the cert and the NLP. Far from it. That person is stealing your prospective clients and your prospective money. But your masters from WIT is not at the same level of education as what the above person has put themselves through.

I'm sorry you think I am criticising you. But I am sick of all the PC stuff and people thinking "college is college". Its not. There is a big difference between Trinity-WIT-Enniscorthy Tech-Bob's €20 certificates.

wexpsych

Xander_82 wrote: »

"Like I said earlier I believe experience is much more important than education". That is where we differ. They are equally important. Just because a guy in a factory has changed parts in a highly complex machine several times, does not make him an expert. However, if he was also a highly educated engineer, that would make him an engineer.

nothing like a good arguement I have also worked on sites with Highly qualified engineers, architects alongside people without a junior certificate and 9/10 times its those at the practical side of it who are rightI know psych is different but i would listen to a builder before an architect any day. my father is a farmer told the county engineer he was doing our road wrong he didnt listen a month later they were back digging it up again

I agree with what you say about online courses, but in terms of where you went to college in the sports psych game doesnt matter diddly squat (maybe contacts) its all about experience and reputation. I understand your frustration feel it too sometimes. but your original response was bang out of order for a professional no matter what your frustration. If you are interested in the sport psych game remember the majority have done it in W.I.T. the lecturers are heavily involved in trying to redevelop standard practices, so find out a bit more about the course first. it does have its flaws but I got a university standard education while building good relationships with staff that will help me in the future.

St Senan

Mod Final Warning


wexpsych and Xander_82
take your Tit for Tat to PM.


@peddlers
If you could also email the Community Managers Dav/Darragh on hello@boards.ie to verify who you are before posting again - standard Boards procedure!

Trevster

Hi Xander_82

I've been thinking about doing a Masters in Sport Psychology myself. I'm just not sure whether to do one in Waterford I.T. or a University. Can you tell me specifically why a Masters from a University in this discipline would be better? Thanks!

Trevster

Hi Mod. Do you mind putting back up some of Xander_82's previous comments? I found some of them quite informative but can't remember some parts. Thanks

Xander_82

Hi Mod. What parts of what I said were inaccurate? Why were my posts removed? I asked several questions and gave several factual statements.

wexpsych

he started it!
to be honest though scaller thought it was a nice arguement with nothing personal bit off topic alright but didnt see anything offensive just people arguing their point.
ill be good

St Senan

Mod Note

Some informative posts have been put back up
Again i will say Lads be civil and respectful to each other.

And Welcome to the Wexford threads

bruschi

not sure how a thread started by someone offering their services for free has descended into an arrogant thread about their education is lesser than others.

best of luck with it wexpsych. sports psychology is something I think in the next few years will become more and more important. If I ever intend to use one, I'll make sure to check they went to a university though. :pac:

Trevster

I've been bold. I actually hold the MA in Sport Psychology from W.I.T and was one of the first graduates. It was a course developed by people with huge experience in the area.-People who were studying the discipline when Xander and myself weren't even born I'd warrant. Suffice to say thought went into it and continues to do so. If you want to check how it measures up against University courses in Ireland and the UK, ask the people who run it.

To say that it is of lesser value than a Masters from a University, is absolute nonsense. From an applied perspective, a taught masters can be much more useful than a research one, in my opinion. Coupled with accreditation, it's down to the individual to then demonstrate that they are actually a good Sport Psychologist. At the end of the day, a coach or manager decides who they want to employ, or fire.

"If you were able for that standard of Masters, you'd have gone to one"- Xander_82- if you deem it necessary to make your point in such a nasty, disrespectful way, then I'm afraid even the valid points you have made (of which there are many) are negated. Shave that chip of your shoulder saaaaaaaaan!

St Senan

Mod Note

This thread has nothing to do with Wexford and has gone completely off topic. The original post wasn't a discussion , but a request, and if people can help they can PM wexpsych.