Persons First, Athletes Second: If Aquinas Came to the English Premier League

This essay draws on the author’s applied experience of delivering sport psychology support to professional soccer players in the English Premier League (EPL). The work of a sports psychologist at senior levels is focused on providing a counseling-based approach, one where discussions about meaning,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nesti, Mark 1959- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke Center for the Study of Religion and Society at Creighton University 2019
In: Journal of religion & society. Supplement
Year: 2019, Volume: 20, Pages: 94-105
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
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Summary:This essay draws on the author’s applied experience of delivering sport psychology support to professional soccer players in the English Premier League (EPL). The work of a sports psychologist at senior levels is focused on providing a counseling-based approach, one where discussions about meaning, spirituality, and religious belief often take place. This should not surprise us since many of the soccer players in the EPL are from countries outside of Europe where there is a much higher prevalence of religious belief than in Europe itself. This essay provides a critique of the dominant perspectives in (sport) psychology and argues that we need a more personalist perspective that can accommodate words like sacrifice, play, joy, courage, faith, hope and love since these concepts are used frequently by participants to describe their experience of sport, especially at higher levels of commitment.
ISSN:1941-8450
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion & society. Supplement