Chris Harwood

Professional background

Dr. Chris Harwood is a Reader in Applied Sport Psychology within the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University where he serves as the MSc Programme Director in Sport Psychology. His personal research and teaching interests lie in the area of achievement motivation, optimal performance and talent development environments, and educational consulting, with a particular focus on social psychological issues in youth sport. He has published extensively within these areas in applied sport psychology and is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. He also serves on the Editorial boards of The Sport Psychologist and the Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, and was Vice President of FEPSAC from 2007-11. He is currently the research coordinator for the English Football Association’s ‘Psychology for Football’ programme and has been a member of the sport science advisory panel for the Womens Tennis Association since 2007.

Applied experience

Outside of his academic positions, Chris is a BASES High Performance Sport Accredited Practitioner, BPS Chartered and HPC Registered Sport Psychologist whose areas of consultancy extend to a youth and senior athletes, coaches and parents across variety of team and individual sport organizations. He has worked extensively in professional football and cricket organisations as consultant psychologist, and has worked individually with coaches, athletes and parents in swimming, rugby, squash and athletics. However, his primary experience lies within tennis where he currently serves as Lead Sport Psychologist for the Lawn Tennis Association in Great Britain focusing on player, coach and system-wide talent development initiatives related to psychology.

Sport background

Chris played national level tennis as a junior and senior player and was Head Coach and Director of Tennis at Loughborough University in the 1990’s. He continues to play competitively at senior county level. He is also a keen runner, having completed three marathons, and enjoys golf, skiing, swimming and scuba diving in his spare time

Selected list of presentations:

– Integrating player, coach and parent education in youth sport: The 5’C intervention programme. Invited keynote at the French Society for Sport Psychology (SFPS). Bordeaux, April 2011.
– Integrating sport psychology into elite youth soccer: Player, coach and parent interventions. The Icelandic National Olympic Committee (NOC) Sport Science Conference. April 2009.
– Stress in sport parents: Qualitative studies within long term athlete development. The Icelandic National Olympic Committee (NOC) Sport Science Conference. April 2009.
– Developing the 5C’s through interactions with athletes. The Icelandic National Olympic Committee (NOC) Sport Science Conference. April 2009.
– Implementing psychological programmes for the development of elite young athletes. The Italian Society of Sport Psychology Conference, Rome: October, 2008.
– Psychological intervention work with coaches and parents in a professional youth academy. Invited presentation to the Institute of Youth Sport’s Research in Youth Football Conference, Loughborough: September, 2008.
– Developing mental skills in training sessions: Empowering the role of the coach. The Chinese Association of Sports Sciences National Conference. University of Tianjin (Beijing): March, 2008.
– The psychology of elite performance environments. National Sports Science and Medicine Conference, The British Paralympic Association, Loughborough: February, 2006.
– Psychological skills in elite young athletes: Some research-to-practice reflections and considerations. Institute of Youth Sport, British Association and Sport and Exercise Sciences Conference, Loughborough: September, 2005.
– Beyond motivational climates in competitive sport. British Association and Sport and Exercise Sciences Conference, Loughborough: September, 2005.

Selected list of publications

– Higham, A., Harwood, C.G., & Cale, A. (2005, 2007). Momentum in Soccer: Controlling the Game. Leeds: Coachwise/1st for Sport Publications.
– Harwood, C.G. (1998). Handling Pressure.  Leeds, UK: National Coaching Foundation.
– Harwood, C.G., & Chan, D. K. (2009). Achievement goals and coping in sport. In A. R. Nicholls (Ed.), Coping in sport: Theory, methods, and related variables. Nova Science: New York.
– Goodger, K.I., Lavallee, D., Gorely, T. and Harwood, C.G. (2010). Burnout in Sport: Understanding the process – from early warning signs to individualized intervention.  In J. M. Williams (Ed.), Applied sport psychology: From personal growth to peak performance (6th Ed), pp. 492-511. McGraw-Hill, New York.
– Harwood, C.G. (2009). Enhancing self-efficacy in professional tennis: Intensive work for life on the tour. In T. Holder & B. Hemmings (Eds.). Applied sport psychology: A case-based approach, pp. 7-32. Wiley: Chichester.
– Harwood, C.G. (2008). From researcher to water boy: Reflections on in-depth consulting with an elite British student-athlete team. In U. Johnson, & M. Lindwall (Eds.), Svensk Idrottspsykologisk Förenings årsbok 2008 (Swedish Yearbook of Sport Psychology), pp. 28-48, Trydells Tryckeri AB.
– Harwood, C.G, Spray, C.S., & Keegan, R. (2008). Achievement goal theories in sport. In T.S.Horn (Ed.), Advances in Sport Psychology (3rd Ed), pp. 157-186. Champaign, IL; Human Kinetics.
– Harwood, C.G. & Beauchamp, M.R. (2007). Group functioning through optimal achievement goals. In M.R Beauchamp & M. Eys (Eds), Group Dynamics in Exercise and Sport Psychology, (pp. 201-220). Routledge: London and New York.
– Kingston, K., Harwood, C.G., & Spray, C. (2006).  Contemporary developments in sport motivation research. In S. Hanton & S.D. Mellalieu (Eds.), Literature Reviews in Sport Psychology, (pp. 159-198). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science.
– Harwood, C.G. (2005). Psychology and young athletes: The widening role of the coach. In S. Jowett and M.Jones (Eds), Psychology of Sport Coaching. The British Psychological Society, Leicester.
– Harwood, C.G. (2004).  Goals: More than just the score. In Shane Murphy (Ed.), The Sport Psych Handbook (pp. 19-36). Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics.
– Pain, M.A., Harwood, C.G., & Anderson, R. (2011). Pre-competition imagery and music: The impact on flow and performance in competitive soccer. The Sport Psychologist.
– Little, G.C. & Harwood, C.G. (2010). Enhancing our understanding of the potential violation of sexual boundaries in sport psychology consultancy. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 4, 302-311.
– Jackson, B., Harwood, C. G., & Grove, J. R. (2010). On the same page in sporting dyads: Does dissimilarity on 2 x 2 achievement goal constructs impair relationship functioning? Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 32, 805-832.
– McCarthy, P.J., Jones, M. V., Harwood, C.G., & Olivier, S. (2010).  What do young athletes implicitly understand about psychological skills.  Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 4, 158-172.
– Harwood, C.G., Drew, A. & Knight, C.J. (2010). Parental stressors in professional youth football academies: A qualitative investigation of specialising stage parents. Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, 2, 39-55.
– Pain, M.A. & Harwood, C.G. (2009). Team building through mutual sharing and open discussion of team functioning. The Sport Psychologist, 23, 523-542.
– Keegan, R., Spray, C.M., Harwood, C.G., & Lavallee, D. (2010). The ‘motivational atmosphere’ in youth sport: Coach, parent and peer influences on sport motivation in specializing sports participants. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 22, 87-105.
– Knight, C.J. & Harwood, C.G. (2009). Exploring parent-related coaching stressors in British tennis: A developmental investigation. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, 4, 545-565
– Wylleman, P., Harwood, C.G., Elbe, A-M, Reints, A, & De Caluwe, D. (2009). A perspective on education and professional development in applied sport psychology. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 10, 435-446
– Harwood, C.G., & Knight, C.J. (2009). Stress in youth sport: A developmental examination of tennis parents. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 10, 447-456.
– Harwood, C.G., & Knight, C.J. (2009). Understanding parental stressors in tennis: An investigation of British tennis parents. Journal of Sport Sciences, 27, 339-351.
– Jones, M. & Harwood, C.G. (2008). Psychological momentum within competitive soccer: Player’s perspectives. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 20, 57-72.
– Pummell, E.K.L., Harwood, C.G., & Lavallee, D.(2008). Jumping to the next level: Examining the within-career transition of adolescent event riders. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 9, 427-447.
– Harwood, C.G. (2008). Developmental consulting in a professional soccer academy: The 5C’s coaching efficacy program. The Sport Psychologist, 22, 109-133.
– Pain, M. A. & Harwood, C.G. (2008). The performance environment in English youth soccer: A quantitative investigation. Journal of Sports Sciences, 26, 1157-1169.
– Pain, M. A. & Harwood, C.G. (2007). The performance environment in English youth soccer. Journal of Sports Sciences, 25, 1307-1324.