ABSTRACT
The work of a sport psychologist is, at its heart, an interpersonal interaction between a provider and client of a professional service. In the case of any psychological service, the interaction between the professional and client requires both overt and covert agreement regarding goals, timing, and effort associated with the delivered intervention, and necessitates a commitment to ethical behavior and the preservation of boundaries. Yet in the best of cases and worst of cases, sport psychologists know all too well that resistance to intervention occurs on a regular basis, and they further recognize that the manner in which resistance is handled largely determines the success of the sport psychologist’s intervention efforts. Encouraging sport psychologists to reflect upon their relationships with coaching staff, sports management personnel, and athletic clientele, this chapter highlights that in order to reach and impact our unique client base, we must first and foremost attend to the professional relationship, including resistance, and further, appreciate that our influence and effectiveness are likely to be slow, evolutionary, and dynamic processes.
