In-House Psychologist Helps Oklahoma Athletics
From The New York Times

Physical injuries aren't the only kind athletes face. Anxiety and emotional turmoil can impair them as well. Now, in perhaps the start of a new trend, the University of Oklahoma athletic department has hired a psychologist to give players support.

Dr. Nicki Moore, a former athlete with a doctorate in counseling psychology, helps students with problems like eating disorders, depression and stress. She also works to heighten achievement, stepping in when a golfer needs focus or a basketball player flounders at the free-throw line. Hired in July, she has already seen over 60 student-athletes.
 
"We needed someone to help us with the everyday issues of life that an athlete faces," says Kris Glenn, president of the Oklahoma Student-Athlete Advisory Council and a senior on the track team. "The ups and downs of athletics take a toll on your mental state. We decided it'd be really good to have someone in-house and on staff that the door is always open to talk to."
 
"I view this as a proactive move," says Dr. Gerald Gurney, an associate athletic director at Oklahoma. "This is by no means a place where our student-athletes aren't having a positive experience. We want them to have a better experience. These are problems athletic departments are dealing with everywhere across the country."
 
Mary Wilfert, assistant director of education research for the NCAA, said many universities had indicated a concern for the emotional health of student-athletes. Though some have sport psychologists at the campus medical center, Moore works full-time in the athletic department itself.
 
Kelvin Sampson, men's basketball coach at Oklahoma and an original signatory of the Game Plan for Amateur Basketball, said, "Sometimes you feel unqualified. I've had kids where I've said, ‘I wish that I knew how to help them.' But I didn't feel qualified to help."
 
Dr. Moore hopes other athletic departments will follow the lead. "Just the enormous demand for these services that has already been expressed since I've been here is proof enough for me that the issues are here," she said. "Absolutely, I think it's a need. It's been a need for a while."
 
Principle Three of the Accord says sports programs must enhance "the mental, social and moral development of athletes," and this emphasis on the internal well-being of college athletes advances this goal in an important way. [New York Times, 10/27]