Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice Date: 21/12/

The worlds of elite sport and academia have a completely different set of demands and expectations. These two environments differ significantly in relation to the importance placed upon research. In elite sport, research is only used if it is grounded in and has genuine potential to make an impact upon the practical experiences of elite athletes (mainly in improving their performance!). Whereas, in an academic setting, based on the expectations of the Research Excellence Framework (REF), academic staff are encouraged to write and publish as much research as possible. This pressure to publish can cause academic staff to experience a significant amount of stress and in some cases burnout (Miller, Taylor, & Bedeian, 2011). Often, the research published, is written for the sake of writing and makes no contribution to real-world problems. Having spent considerable time in both elite sport and academia, I feel we need to find a balance between both worlds. I struggle with the concept of writing research for research sake! I also struggle to listen to people in elite sport who completely de-value what research can ‘bring to the table’. I recently organised a conference at the University of Bolton titled ‘Bridging the Gap

Between Theory and Practice’, during which one of the guest speakers (based full-time at a professional football club) spent an hour critiquing the need to conduct and read research altogether (clearly misunderstanding the point of the conference!). However, based on a lot of the research I have read myself, I understand why he and other applied practitioners would think this way (given the lack of understanding some researchers seem to

demonstrate of the real-world of elite sport!). I would often find myself out of my depth within professional football and at first; I would turn to the research for support and guidance. Nine times out of ten, I would be left disappointed with what I read and would need to rely on practical experiences of peers/supervisors and my own intuition to guide me through my challenges. Due to the amount of time I would spend fulfilling my role within elite sport, I barely had time to read research, let alone write my own! I now find myself in a position where I can still engage with elite sport, but also have the time to read and write my own research and I strongly believe that the gap that exists between research

121 and practice needs to be shortened and if possible removed altogether! The notion of ‘Publish or Perish’ is everything that is wrong with an academic environment (De Rond & Miller, 2005; Van Delen & Henkens, 2012) – especially within a Sport Department, which relies on its strong links to elite sport and the real world. Recently, I attended a research meeting where, as a department, we were told we needed to be able to produce a minimum of 2.5 journal articles each (not sure how to write half a paper) before REF 2021. Whilst I am confident in my ability to achieve this target (and beyond), a lot of my colleagues responded negatively to this challenge. This will undoubtedly lead to a lot of academic staff, writing research that makes no difference to the world. Looking at this more broadly, if this becomes accepted within our field, it will lead to the reduced effectiveness of the field of Sport and Exercise Psychology as a whole and create further segregation between those who work in elite sport and those publishing the research.

To date, I have only published one journal article. However, the article I have written has been published in the Journal of Sport Psychology in Action and clearly provides applied practitioners with guidance of how to use technology in applied

consultancy at a professional football club (Wadsworth et al. 2018). I am currently in the final stages of writing a systematic review, which focuses on the development of applied practitioners by exploring their applied experiences within elite sport. In addition to this, I am involved in several projects that are taking part in professional football, I am writing a number of case studies that I intend to publish and I am collaborating with applied

practitioners to encourage and support them in publishing their own case studies and applied reflections. These projects are being guided by the practical needs of the

clubs/clients involved and not driven by the research agenda (someone sat in a University worried about REF 2021!). Whilst my research portfolio is small, I am proud to be able to say that all of the research I am involved in has a clear link to practice. Based on my own high expectations, I aim to publish a minimum of five journal articles by 2021 (double the expectation of the University of Bolton), demonstrating that it is possible to publish research that makes some impact or have some link with the real world of sport.

References

De Rond, M., & Miller, A. N. (2005). Publish or perish: bane or boon of academic life?

122 Miller, A. N., Taylor, S. G., & Bedeian, A. G. (2011). Publish or perish: academic life as

management faculty live it. Career development international, 16(5), 422-445. Van Dalen, H. P., & Henkens, K. (2012). Intended and unintended consequences of a

publish‐or‐perish culture: A worldwide survey. Journal of the American Society for

Information Science and Technology, 63(7), 1282-1293.

Wadsworth, N., Charnock, L., Russell, J., & Littlewood, M. (2018). Use of video-analysis feedback within a six-month coach education program at a professional football club.

Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 1-19.

2. Conducting a Systematic Review