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Counseling and Psychological Training Techniques for Atheletes

Code: 43889 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity OB 1

Contact

Name:
Miquel Torregrossa Alvarez
Email:
miquel.torregrossa@uab.cat

Teachers

Marta Borrueco Carmona
Eduardo Amblar Burgos
(External) Anna Vilanova
(External) Susana Regüela Saez

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

This course is scheduled for the first semester of the first year and there is no established prerequisites for it.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The general objectives of this course are:

  • To describe and analyse the athletic career from a holistic and developmental perspective
  • To work on the career transitions and dual career (combination of sport and studies or work)
  • To work on the athletes’ environment role in their development (coaches, families, environments)
  • To describe and analyse the latest trends in sport psychology (e.g., women’s athletic career, LGTBI)

Competences

  • Analyze the psychological factors that impact sports initiation, performance and abandonment.
  • Apply psychological interventions to school-age children, with trainers and parents, in the field of sports performance and exercise in relation to health.
  • Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of psychological interventions in sports initiation, maintenance and performance.
  • Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  • Know the main models of intervention in sports initiation and in the psychology of sport.
  • Optimize performance and prioritize the welfare of sportspersons with an ethical commitment.
  • Show skills in interpersonal relations with sports agents (trainers, judges, managers, sportspersons and fans) and the families of school-age sportspersons.
  • Use scientific terminology to argue the results of research in the context of scientific production, to understand and interact effectively with other professionals.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
  2. Detect the effectiveness of applying the different techniques (e.g. Career assistance programs, visualisation).
  3. Detect the influencing factors and the techniques needed to mitigate or favour them as required.
  4. Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  5. Know and apply particular techniques for sports practitioners (e.g. visualisation, or self-talk).
  6. Optimize performance and prioritize the welfare of sportspersons with an ethical commitment.
  7. Show skills in interpersonal relations with sports agents (trainers, judges, managers, sportspersons and fans) and the families of school-age sportspersons.
  8. Synthesise intervention models, and the advantages and disadvantages of applying each one.
  9. Use scientific terminology to argue the results of research in the context of scientific production, to understand and interact effectively with other professionals.

Content

Athletes and Athletic career from a holistic approach

  • Predictable and level specific transitions (e.g., junior to senior, retirement, secondary to university)
  • Predicable and holistic transitions (e.g., sporting migration, motherhood)
  • Unpredictable and level specific transitions (e.g., olympic cycle disruption)
  • Unpredictable and holistic transitions (e.g., covid lockdowns, war)

Athletes’ and entourage (coaches, families, etc.) counseling models

Dual career, cultural approach, gender and sport

Vulnerabilities, gender, LGTBIQ+ and sports career


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Master Classes 32 1.28 5, 7, 3, 2, 6, 4, 1, 8, 9
Type: Supervised      
Meetings with the tutor 22 0.88 5, 7, 3, 2, 6, 4, 1, 8, 9
Type: Autonomous      
Reading and exercises 84 3.36 5, 7, 3, 2, 6, 4, 1, 8, 9

Directed

  • Master classes
  • Oral presentations of exercises

Supervised

  • Meetings with the tutor

Autonomous

  • Reading articles/reports of interest
  • Elaborating assignments and reports
  • Individual study

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
EV1. Reflection based on the material provided by the teachers (Violence & LGTBIQ in sport) 25% 4 0.16 4, 1, 8, 9
EV2. Reflection based on the material provided by the teachers (Women & Sport) 25% 4 0.16 6, 4, 1, 9
EV3. Practical Cases: Sporting Career and Transitions 20% 2 0.08 4, 9
EV4. Open Question Written Test 30% 2 0.08 5, 7, 3, 2, 6

 

 

Evidence Code

denomination

Percent

Format

Authorship

Via

Week

Ev1.

Violences and LGTBIQ in sport

25

written

Individual

Virtual

8

EV2.

Women in sport

25

written

Individual

Virtual

11

EV3.

Cases

20

written

Individual

Both

12

EV4.

Open question exam

30

written

Individual

Presential

12

 

 

Kind of feedback

Evidence

Week

Written

EV1. Violences and LGTBIQ in sport

EV4. Open question exam

10

 

19

Digital tool

 

 

Classroom

 

 

tutorial

EV2. Women in sport

EV3. Cases

12

19

 

The student who presents 40% or less of the evaluation weight of the evidence will be considered non-evaluable.
 
The single evaluation will be done at the end of the semester. It will consist of a 4-hour face-to-face test in which the 4 evaluation evidences will be evaluated in the following format: a) Written reflection (2), b) Oral presentations of practical cases, and c) Written test with open questions.
 
In this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is allowed as an integral partof the development of the work, provided that the final result reflects a significant contribution of the student in the analysis and personal reflection. The student must clearly identify which parts have been generated with this technology, specify the tools used and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. The lack of transparency in the use of AI will be considered a lack of academic honesty and may lead to a penalty in the grade of the activity, or greater sanctions in serious cases.
 

Bibliography

Borrueco, M., Torregrossa, M., Pallarès, S., Vitali, F., & Ramis, Y. (2023). Women coaches at top level: Looking back through the maze. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 18(2), 327–338. https://doi.org/10.1177/17479541221126614

Pallarés, S., Azócar, F., Torregrosa, M., Selva, C., & Ramis, Y. (2011). Modelos de trayectoria deportiva en waterpolo y su implicación en la transición hacia una carrera profesional alternativa. Cultura, Ciencia Y Deporte, 6, 93–103. http://doi.org/10.12800/ccd.v6i17.36

Pallarès, S., Torregrossa, M., & Pérez-Rivases, A. (2017). No es por casualidad. Seis historias de mujeres en el deporte. Barcelona: Amentia Editorial.

Stambulova, N., Wylleman, P., Torregrossa, M., Erpič, S. C., Vitali, F., de Brandt, K., Khomutova, A., Ruffault, A., & Ramis, Y. (2024). FEPSAC Position Statement: Athletes’ dual careers in the European context. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 71, 102572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2023.102572

Torregrosa, M., Chamorro, J. L., & Ramis, Y. (2016). Transición de júnior a sénior y promoción de carreras duales en el deporte: una revisión interpretativa. Revista de Psicología Aplicada Al Deporte Y Al Ejercicio Físico, 1, 1–11.

Torregrossa, M., Chamorro, J. L., Prato, L., & Ramis, Y. (2021). Grupos, Entornos y Carrera Deportiva. In T. García-Calvo, F. M. Leo, & E. Cervelló (Eds.), Dirección de Equipos Deportivos (pp. 355–374).

Torregrosa, M., Ramis, Y., Pallarés, S., Azócar, F., & Selva, C. (2015). Olympic athletes back to retirement: A qualitative longitudinal study. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 21, 50–56. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2015.03.003

Torregrossa, M., Regüela, S., & Mateos, M. (2020). Career Assistance Programmes. In D. Hackfort & R. J. Schinke (Eds.), The Routledge International Encyclopedia of Sport and Exercise Psychology (pp. 73–88). Routledge.

Vilanova, A., & Puig, N. (2013). Compaginar la carrera deportiva con la carrera académica para la futura inserción laboral: ¿una cuestión de estrategia? Revista de Psicologia Del Deporte, 22(1), 61–68.

Vilanova, A., & Puig, N. (2016). Personal strategies for managing a second career: The experiences of Spanish Olympians. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 51(5), 529–546. http://doi.org/10.1177/1012690214536168

Zamora-Solé, R., Alcaraz, S., Regüela, S., Viladrich, C., & Torregrossa, M. (2024). Choose your own story: creative non-fiction about athletes attempting to qualify for the Olympics. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2024.2348446


Software

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Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TEm) Theory (master) 1 Spanish first semester afternoon