Current issues and future directions for performance-related research in sport psychology

Thirty-seven British and international sport psychologists were asked to nominate performance-related issues that they considered to be priorities for research over the next 5-10 years. Their responses were subjectively categorized into seven different domains of sport psychology: motivational issues in performance; aspects of skill acquisition and motor control that might influence the attainment of excellence; stress and performance; interpersonal issues and group dynamics; the implications for well-being of the pursuit of excellence; psychological skills training; and the role of the sport psychologist. Each of these domains was then reviewed in order to confirm the research issues that had been nominated and identify any other outstanding issues that had not been nominated. Although it was not possible to provide detailed literature reviews because of page restrictions, every attempt was made to offer sufficient evidence to provide a clear rationale for each research issue, and enable the interested reader to trace all the necessary research literature.