St Mary’s Academic Publishes Positive Psychology Book

Programme Director for Sports Coaching Science at St Mary’s University, Twickenham Abbe Brady has co-edited a new book on Positive Psychology.

Entitled Positive Psychology in Sport and Physical Activity: An Introduction, the book brings together leading academics from around the globe to explore real life case studies.

As a fast-developing area of research and practice, Positive Psychology emphasises personal well-being, flourishing and enabling communities. This is the first book that applies its principles to sport and physical activity.

Traditional approaches to Sport Psychology have focused on treating anxiety, stress and burnout, to help people enjoy sport and perform well. In contrast, Positive Psychology supports enhanced sport and physical activity experience and achievement through a focus on participants’ well-being, strengths and capacity for growth.

The book covers a range of topics including:

• Passion, enjoyment and flow;
• Positive pedagogy and appreciative inquiry for sports leaders, coaches and teachers;
• Gratitude, mindfulness, optimism and hope;
• Positive psychology coaching for sports leaders and practitioners;
• Character strengths, growth mindset and resilience.

With contributors from around the world, the diverse range of case studies are drawn from: professional football, sport and exercise psychology consultancy, disadvantaged youth, secondary physical education, corporate leaders, coach development and Performance Lifestyle support in high performance sport.

Speaking of the book Abbe said, “I was delighted to co-edit this book. Positive Psychology invites those of us who work in sport and physical activity to embrace new ideas and to acknowledge the centrality of well-being for flourishing and achievement. I hope this easy to read introduction encourages more practitioners to explore its benefits and for academics to undertake further study into how it can be applied.”

If anyone is interested in finding out more about positive psychology and its applications in sport and physical activity or other domains please contact Abbe directly on abbe.brady@stmarys.ac.uk

To see more or order your copy, visit the Routledge website.