The team at the SPRINT Project are delighted to announce a new partnership with Getahead—a digital application start-up company. Through this collaboration, our Mental Skills Training (MST) Toolkit will feature at the heart of a new on-demand sport psychology smartphone app.
We originally created our MST Toolkit to support the wellbeing and resilience of young people experiencing disadvantage. The tools within the Toolkit are grounded in evidence-based sport psychology principles and encourage an individual to recognise and capitalise on their unique strengths. Through our partnership with Getahead, we will showcase the adaptability of our MST tools by supporting people who take part in sport and exercise at all levels to build motivation, positivity, and consistency.
So, why are we so excited about this new collaboration?
We are extremely excited to be returning to our sport psychology routes whilst transforming our work into the digital space.
Sport psychology can provide long-term benefits to a wide range of people who partake in sport and exercise. MST increases an individual’s ability to understand and use important mental skills, which can improve sporting and exercise performance and motivation. As we have also shown through previous work, MST can have a positive impact across all areas of life.
By translating our MST Toolkit to be delivered within an accessible sport psychology smartphone app, we will be able to reach a broad spectrum of communities who engage in sport and exercise. This will include those who compete up to the elite level, to those who are just starting their fitness journey—who may have limited access to sport psychology resources but are likely to benefit greatly from them.
We also believe that this collaboration may have important broad implications for public health by increasing the number of people who are able to meet government guidelines for physical activity.
Hear from Dr Mary Quinton from the SPRINT Project and Chris McAdam from Getahead below!
“We’re really excited to be working with Getahead. This collaboration aligns strongly with the principles of the SPRINT Project – that everyone can benefit from using and developing mental skills. Getahead bring invaluable business and applied expertise to help us adapt the MST toolkit into a new and exciting app to help us reach new audiences.”
Dr Mary Quinton, Assistant Professor in Sport and Exercise Psychology, SPRINT Project, University of Birmingham.
“Our collaboration with the SPRINT Project grew out of a shared purpose. From the start, there was clear alignment in adopting a strengths-based approach within communities, backed up by an excellent team. The credibility they provide through their research and projects is invaluable to the success of Getahead. We're so excited to see how the relationship develops.”
Chris McAdam, Co-Founder of Getahead.
Find out more about Getahead by accessing their website here.
We are grateful to the University of Birmingham's Life and Environmental Sciences Impact Urgency Fund for the provision of funding to support the development of this new collaboration.
Watch this space to find out how our exciting partnership with Getahead develops!
Photo credit: Getahead.
Written by Dr Sally Reynard, Research Associate in the SPRINT Project.