Sports Psychologist

James is one of fewer than 500 endorsed sports psychologists in Australia. This is testament to his level of commitment, training, and passion around supporting the mental skills required by athletes to compete at their best and do so consistently. He knows the discipline, commitment, and sacrifice required to achieve lofty goals and has utilised these on his own journey.

He can walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Some working in sports focus solely on either mental skills (goal setting, confidence building, visualisation/mental rehearsal, motivation, performance anxiety, routines, self-talk) OR wellbeing and mental health. But James knows that a happy and mentally healthy athlete will perform better and that they have the same issues as anyone else, it’s just their environment that is different.

As a fully qualified psychologist he can move seamlessly between both skills and wellbeing challenges to find the right focus for the athlete in their current moment.

As a sports psychologist he has worked with athletes, coaches, and officials from over 50 different sports, from weekend competitors looking to improve their game, to juniors looking to break into professional or senior levels: from full-time professional athletes to Commonwealth and Olympic Games representatives. He understands the unique demands and expectations of sport and other high-performance environments, such as SAS, CEOs and medical specialists and can provide appropriate strategies and techniques for each client’s unique situation.

At ATUNE James is part of the Acute Sports Clinic and heads up the Integrated Sports Unit that includes The Complete Athlete: Kickstarting your journey to professionalism talk series, and the Comprehensive Athletic Profiling (CAP) program. Individually he provides educational seminars and presentations for teams and businesses around sport and performance issues.

As an athlete himself he built a reputation for working hard and getting the best out of his talent and he brings this experience to his work as a sports psychologist. He continues to set his own goals around the gym and his fitness and has set his sights on a single figure handicap now he’s taking golf a little more seriously after a lifetime of cricket Saturdays.