A look back at the 2017 APA convention

The 2017 APA convention was a terrific success with an exciting and diverse program, as well as award recipients within Div. 47. In addition to outstanding posters, symposia and workshops, our society was also very fortunate to have Neeru Jayanthi, MD, deliver the APA-ACSM exchange lecture entitled “Sports Specialization: What Effect Does this Have on Young Athletes?” Following that was Carole Oglesby, PhD, who delivered the Steven R. Heyman Memorial Lecture entitled “Widening the Lens: Amplified Definitions of Research and Practice in Sport Psychology.” Both presentations were extremely well attended and very informative and engaging. We also hosted a very successful speed mentoring session between students and professionals within the sport, exercise and performance psychology field, a successful Ray’s Race 5K and a fun Div. 47 social for our members. 

Div. 47 was also proud to honor several members within our society and the field. Trent Petrie, PhD, was awarded the Distinguished Education and Training Award, with Laura Hayden, PhD, being recognized with the Early Career Professional Award. Two poster awards were also given at this year’s convention for Div. 47. Anna Grace Cooper received the Student Poster Award and William Haefele, PhD, was honored with the Professional Poster Award. We also recognized Sean Locke, PhD, for the society’s Dissertation Award; Zenzi Huysmans for the Thesis Award; and Zachary Zenko, PhD, and colleagues for the Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology Journal Paper of the Year.

Preparations are currently underway for our next convention which is set in San Francisco from Aug. 9-12, 2018. We are extremely excited about this convention and will be accepting a variety of proposals for review and consideration for next year’s program. Innovative, collaborative proposals are strongly encouraged and involve between two to six divisions working together on a selected topic of interest. These proposals are due on Oct. 13, 2017. Other divisional program submissions — including posters, symposia and workshops — are due on Dec. 1, 2017. 

Next year’s APA convention themes for Div. 47 include:

• The promotion of collegiate student-athlete mental health and well-being (including general mental health).
• Sexual assault, relationship violence and substance abuse.
• The advancement of the practice of sport psychology through the development of professional practice guidelines.
• The promotion of social justice and activism in sport.

The co-chairs for the 2018 Div. 47 program are Brandonn Harris, PhD and Jessica Bartley, PsyD. We look forward to working with our society’s members to develop another wonderful and informative program on behalf of our division.