On the 24 and 25th of May 2023 BOREC organized a two-day continued professional development (CPD) in collaboration with and co-funded by the BOIC, Sport Vlaanderen and the VUB. With its general theme of ‘Working as psychologist in elite sport and at the Olympic Games’ this CPD is targeted at psychologists providing services to athletes, teams, coaches and sport federations in Belgium with the aim of being informed by and sharing experiences with psychologists from six European countries working with Olympic level athletes, teams and coaches before, during and after Olympic Games. In order to relate to the fields of education and research, BOREC has also invited a selection of academics involved in teaching and/or conducting research in the fields (sport) psychology and coaching. The two-day sessions were opened by Prof. Paul Wylleman, BOREC-VUB and introduced by Mr. Olav Spahl, director elite sport at the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee (BOIC) and Mr. Tom Coeckelberghs, head department Elite Sport at Sport Vlaanderen. The program consisted of six sessions specifically related to the involvement and working of psychologists in elite sport and Olympic Games.
During this two-day CPD the following experts shared their experience:
Prof. Anne Marte at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and at the Norwegian Olympic Training Center (Olympiatoppen);
Prof. Göran Kenttä at The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences and the University of Ottawa and at the Swedish Sport Confederation;
Prof. Kristoffer Henriksen at University of Southern Denmark and at Team Denmark;
Robert Päkk Leading Advisor in Mental Coaching at the Finnish Olympic Committee;
Eefje Raedts manager of the performance behavior team at TeamNL.
The attending psychologists and coaches were also joined by Prof. Chris Harwood from Loughborough University.
