ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on issues that arise when the neuropsychologist is part of the sports medicine team taking care of athletes in high-risk team sports such as football, soccer, ice hockey, basketball, baseball and lacrosse. Sports neuropsychology is a new and growing field. Most neuropsychologists entering the field of university and professional sports will find themselves in a new culture that could not be more different from the academic environment in which they were educated. Media coverage of sports adds to the institution’s visibility and for many potential students successful athletic teams increase the institution’s desirability. In addition to the economic variables influencing contemporary collegiate and professional sports, there are unique and complex psychological variables that may be new to some neuropsychologists. Sports-related neuropsychological testing programs in most colleges and universities have largely been developed as research programs.
