IoS - Dr Mike McGreary

Hi, I'm Dr Mike McGreary, and I'm the program lead and senior lecturer in sport and exercise psychology here at Keele University. Alongside this, I'm also HCPC registered sport and exercise psychologist and chartered psychologist with the British Psychological Society. 

I suppose my interest and passion in sport and exercise psychology originally stemmed from a wider interest in all things psychology. And then just coupling that with a lifelong love and passion for all things sport and exercise. This then took me into a career in sport and exercise psychology where I was fortunate enough to work with a variety of organisations and teams such as working with professional men's and women's football clubs, cricket teams, and also supporting individual athletes across a range of sports in darts, golf, gymnastics and many more. 

As the role of a sport and exercise psychologist is extremely varied and doesn't just involve working with athletes but also working as part of the wider support network. So for example, you might find yourself working with an individual athlete, helping them to manage some of the competition pressures or overcoming some potential challenges that they're experiencing whilst at the same time, working with coaches to help overcome the role or the demands of the role and avoid coach burnout, which is obviously something that we started to see quite recently hit the headlines in kind of mainstream media. 

Part of this degree we're looking to applying psychological principles to sports coaching performance as well as exercise and wellbeing. As part of this degree, you'll get valuable hands-on experience of research design, critical reviewing and critical understanding of contemporary issues in sport and exercise. 

Here at Keele, we offer a thriving and dynamic environment for both research and teaching excellence. With our over 600 plus acre campus, there'll be plenty of space for you to play, study, exercise and train. So if you have any questions about studying here at Keele or our new Institute of Sport, please feel free to reach out to me. I'm more than happy to take any questions.