As Director of Mental Performance & Team Culture at Washington Spirit, he has worked with the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), and the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and has over a decade of applied experience. We caught up with him to talk about pathways, Gaelic games, and what it really takes to make it in the field.

How did you get into sport psychology?

I started out studying psychology and geography as an undergrad, and didn’t really know sport psychology existed until the first day I sat in a lecture and saw it listed as a possible career. As I got to the end of my undergrad, I thought, ‘What will I do next?’ I’d always been interested in coaching from my experiences as a young soccer player — what made one coach good and another not so good. Studying psychology helped me understand myself as an athlete and the coaches I worked with, and that made me want to be a coach. I see a huge correlation between sport psychology and coaching. I finished my master’s in 2014, and I’ve been lucky enough to build some sort of practice ever since. It’s been a great journey but a challenging one, too.

If someone graduates and wants to become a sport psychologist in Ireland, is there a clear system for that?

There’s no real clear accreditation pathway. Because Ireland is so close to the UK and a lot of Irish people live and work there, many practitioners go down the British Psychological Society route to get registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). That’s what I did, because it opens up more globally recognized opportunities. Irish accreditation, even if it existed, wouldn’t carry the same international weight. The system is still developing.

There are a lot of master’s training programs in Ireland, but the pathway after that isn’t well defined. People come out enthusiastic — they’ve got all this knowledge and want to get into practice — but there are very few internship opportunities in sport psychology globally, so it’s hard to break in. What I always suggest is to find the best accreditation pathway for your vision. For some, that might be the UK, for some it might be the Certified Mental Performance Consultant® (CMPC) credential. Maybe they don’t even need a sport psychology accreditation specifically. The first two to three years after graduation are a lonely period, and accreditation can help get you through it. If you can get through that period, you develop the competence and confidence that will help you develop impact.

How do Gaelic games fit into the sport psychology world in Ireland?

Gaelic games are very community oriented. Each town and village has a club, and if you’re born within that radius, that’s who you play for — there are no transfers. The best players then represent their county, and the counties play each other. So, there’s both a community element and a high-performance element.

A lot of club teams will have a mental performance coach come in three or four times a year. County teams often have somebody with them all year, which creates part-time work for practitioners. So, there is a real pathway and a real appetite. One of the unique things about Ireland is that, because of the community nature of the sport, it’s very easy to go down to your local club because you’ve probably played with them yourself. You can volunteer with the under-16s, deliver a workshop, and if it goes well, word spreads naturally. Suddenly, it grows. That’s one of the real advantages of Gaelic games for practitioners starting out — there are more opportunities to get experience compared to many other countries.

Is there something specifically Irish about the psychology of sport there?

There’s a real underdog mentality in Gaelic games. A lot of teams want to be the underdog and use that as motivation, and it can be a powerful force. But at a certain level, it can also inhibit elite performance. Irish rugby has broken through that barrier and been successful, but it does take a change in mentality and culture.

What I do think exists across all Irish sport is a real passion for the local community and a sense of identity. You hear Irish soccer players say they always love coming back to play for the national team because of that connection and sense of what it means to represent your country.

Do you bring that cultural identity into your work?

I focus a lot on identity and story. Irish folklore, Irish stories — I rely on them a lot because stories help create identity. The principle of moving from your local community to represent your county to your country is a powerful one. Now working in Washington, DC, with athletes, coaching staff, sport science and medicine, and front office staff from the United States and around the world, there isn’t that same connection to place, but the principle still applies. We all come from somewhere. We all have a shared story that has shaped our identity and shaped why we’re here. So, it’s about how we create an identity around what we have in common — through shared experiences and a shared story of where we want to go. My Irish background shapes how I think and how I practice, even in a completely different context.

Any final advice for someone hoping to get into the industry?

A few things come to mind. Getting your CMPC is important if you’re looking at opportunities in North America — it gets you past the screening process. Now, take the principle of Irish community sport and how it leads to elite sport — there are opportunities in every single town and village. Some may only be part-time, but if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, there is work out there. Don’t just focus on advertised jobs. Look at the unadvertised roles, the contracts, the pieces of work available in your community. Build that up, and it gives you a base to work from.

And finally — be sustainable. A mentor of mine who supervised students for over 30 years told me that about 70 percent of people drop out within three to five years because they try to go all-in too early. It’s better to have another job and do sport psychology on the side, then gradually shift the balance — 25 percent sport, 75 percent elsewhere, then 50/50, then the other way around. That could take three to five years, but it makes it sustainable. If you go all-in straight after your master’s degree is conferred with no client base and no contacts, you’re going to feel the pressure within six months, and you’re more likely to burn out and leave the field.