Awards column

This is always a fun column to write, as we highlight our stars! During the Honolulu convention we will confer the following awards:

Early Career Practitioner

This award will be given for the first time in the history of our division. The Early Career Award honors an individual who has made substantial contributions to sport, exercise or performance psychology. This year the award goes to Dr. Mark Aoyagi, who is the director of Sport and performance psychology and an assistant professor at the University of Denver.

Dr. Aoyagi obtained a MS in kinesiology, emphasis sport psychology in 2001 and a PhD in counseling psychology, emphasis sport psychology in 2006, under the tutelage of Dr. Rick McGuire at the University of Missouri. The combination of sport sciences and psychology training reflects his commitment to the field. Dr. Aoyagi has published extensively in the areas of definition of the profession, best practices and ethical service delivery. He has a long list of publications, including the 2012 book, co-edited with Artur Poczwardowski, Expert approaches to sport psychology: Applied theories of performance excellence, and the thought-provoking article Reflections and directions: The profession of sport psychology past, present, and future (Aoyagi, Portenga, Poczwardowski, Cohen & Statler, 2012, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 43, 32-38.). Dr. Aoyagi will give a brief presentation on his work during the division program at the convention.

Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Exercise and Sport Psychology

This award recognizes a sport psychologist or training program that over time has consistently provided significant contributions to education and training in exercise and sport psychology. Alternatively, the award may recognize a sport psychologist or training program that has made a single major contribution to the field. This year we had eight deserving candidates and the committee wrestled with the difficulty of comparing an individual’s achievement with those of a program. That issue prompted a request for separation of criteria for the future. This year’s award goes to the sport and exercise psychology program at West Virginia University. The unique contributions of this program to the broader field of exercise and sport psychology include the development and implementation of a bachelor’s degree program, the creation of dual degree programs at the graduate level, building diverse applied experiences, and a commitment to ethical training. A representative from the program will give a brief presentation at the conference.

2013 Dissertation Award Winner

Dr. Edson Filho is the 2013 recipient of the Div. 47 Dissertation Award for his research, “Cohesion, team mental models, and collective efficacy: Towards an integrated nomological network of team sports.” This research developed a statistically parsimonious model of team dynamics in sports, which resulted in both theoretical and applied guidelines to research and improve the performance of highly interactive, complex social units. From a theoretical standpoint, findings from Dr. Filho’s research represent an initial step towards clarifying the epistemological and nomological network roots of various team-level properties. From an applied standpoint, results suggest that team expertise starts with the establishment of team cohesion. Following the establishment of minimal cohesiveness levels, teammates are able to advance team-related schemas and a collective sense of confidence. Perhaps more importantly, Edson’s study leads to further questions on "how multiple minds work in synchrony" towards excellence and conflict resolution. Dr. Filho completed his doctoral studies in educational psychology, majoring in sport and exercise psychology at Florida State University under the guidance of Dr. Gershon Tenenbaum. Dr. Filho is currently a post-doctoral fellow in neuroscience and psychophysiology at The Behavior Imaging and Neural Dynamics (BIND) Center at the University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy, where he studies emotional profiling using bio and neuroscience technology, including EEG and fMRI.

2013 Steven R. Heyman Memorial Keynote

 The purpose of the Heyman lecture is to remember and memorialize Steve Heyman, a former president of Div. 47 and leading figure in the development of science and practice in exercise and sport psychology. A major goal of this lecture is to insure that topics Steve helped develop (e.g. inclusiveness, diversity, and tolerance) are present in our program. This year’s lecture will be presented by Dr. Stephanie Hanrahan, associate professor of sport and exercise psychology in the schools of human movement studies and psychology at The University of Queensland. Stephanie has published 11 books (including The Routledge Handbook of Applied Sport Psychology, Cultural Sport Psychology, and Sport for Development, Peace, and Social Justice). She exemplifies the values held dear by Steve Heyman in her work with athletes with disabilities and her use of sport to improve the quality of life of marginalized youth around the world. Look for Dr. Hanrahan’s presentation entitled, "Multicultural Interactions: Knowledge and Awareness are Only the First Steps."