| Sport psychology researchers have continued to make positive discoveries with mental enhancement techniques that may help athletes at various competitive levels reach optimal potential. These same mental enhancement techniques are best taught by qualified sport psychology consultants who have the schooling, licensure, or proficiency to develop programs that may help individual athletes or entire teams. Quantitative studies and qualitative studies have focused mostly on perceptions of high school athletes', collegiate athletes', high school coaches', and collegiate coaches' perceptions and willingness to use sport psychology consultants. Minuscule research studies have examined the considerations of athletic directors regarding the need to add qualified sport psychology consultants on a full-time basis. This dissertation consisted of interviewing 16 NCAA Division I Athletic Directors, attempting to learn why sport psychology consultants have not gained increased full-time entry at the NCAA Division I level. The grounded theory from this study explains that NCAA D-I Athletic Directors generally identified funding as the primary variable for determining the relevancy for adding a full-time sport psychology consultant to the athletic department, although the theory that emerged demonstrated other significant factors.;Key Words: Sport Psychology, Perceptions, Gain Entry, NCAA Athletic Directors, Coaches, Athlete Perceptions, Sport Psychology Consultants, Qualifications, Grounded Theory.. |
