ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses case study of a season-long intervention with a club rugby side as a canvas on which to examine the framework for the work of sport psychologists with teams. Our approach to sport psychology interventions with teams is centered on the influence of environmental and contextual factors. Working with teams in a performance environment is a common task for sport psychology professionals. Combining the development of individuals' mental skills with the refinement of the broader environment in order to facilitate consistent high levels of performance requires a sensitivity and flexibility that makes the job of a sport psychologist inherently fascinating. However, sport psychology in South African sport is far from a core service and is rarely used. In order for performance development to take advantage of the cognitive processes at work within performance, there needs to be a commitment to fully integrating the principles of sport psychology into training and competition.
