Since the 1890s, the field of applied sport psychology has gained increasing visibility within the sport and exercise science, psychology, and mainstream communities. Associated with this enhanced visibility has been an increase in the numbers of education and training pathways, registration and licensure schemes, and people offering services. At the same time, there has also been increasing recognition that applied practitioners operate in a range of domains, including sport, where there is a need for clients to respond to stressful, often competitive, environmental demands and perform to high levels, such as the performing arts and music, business, medicine, the military, and public speaking. These practitioners do not need to be interested in sport, and they come from a diverse range of backgrounds.
As sport and performance psychologists have emerged and formed a loose and porous community, researchers have documented their technical and personal competencies, the ways in which they help clients, the principles guiding their development toward expertise, and some of the ethical and other demands placed on them as helping professionals. This knowledge can be used to identify ways that these individuals can be helped to develop their knowledge, skills, and character so they can form salubrious relationships with clients and assist performers across various domains to achieve their goals and resolve issues.