ABSTRACT
Returning to sport following injury represents a significant challenge for athletes and practitioners. Athletes should only return to sport when they are physically, psychologically, technically and tactically ready to do so. One area requiring advancement is knowing when an athlete is psychologically ready to return to sport. This is because low psychological readiness has been linked to several negative consequences. The purposes of this chapter are to (a) outline the return to sport process and discuss what readiness to return to sport is; (b) explore the construct of psychological readiness to return to sport, what it is, why it is important and how it is developed or diminished and (c) discuss how effective decisions can be made over an athlete's psychological readiness in preparation for shared multidisciplinary return to sport decision-making.
