Interview with Josep Roca. Sport psychology: a new professional and research field

Abstract

It is possible that readers who are not very familiar with the new orientations of the psychological profession, nor particularly linked to the world and practice of sport, may have been surprised, indeed, by the title of this interview. However, on brief reflection, it becomes clear that, as psychologists, we are obliged to engage with all human activity. Sport has undoubtedly acquired, throughout the present century – and particularly in its second half – a personal and social relevance of the highest order. Furthermore, sporting activity involves a wide range of psychological processes that encompass almost the entirety of human repertoires, from the most “intellectual” (perception, decision-making, adherence to rules...) to the most “expressive” (behavioural styles, emotionality, motor activity). It therefore seems evident that, in the coming years, the professional activity of the sport psychologist in our country will develop and expand as it has in others, emerging as a new avenue for the growth of the profession.

In the following interview, Josep Roca i Balasch, PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor and Director of the National Institute of Physical Education (INEF) in Barcelona, discusses the scope of the sport psychologist’s work – particularly in relation to other professionals – the appropriate training for the field, and the research topics currently under investigation.