Andersen, Mark B and Speed, Harriet (2011) The practitioner and client as storytellers: metaphors and folktales in applied sport psychology practice. In: Critical essays in applied sport psychology. Gilbourne, David and Andersen, Mark B, eds. Human Kinetics, Champaign, Ill., pp. 87-104.

Abstract

In the sport psychology literature, recent attention has been paid to the stories, or narratives, or life histories, that athletes relate to their practitioners. But what of the stories the sport psychologist tells? Mark and Harriet ask whether sport psychologists can use their clients' and their own metaphors, stories, and tales (from their cultures and other cultures) to promote athletes' self-understanding. Myths, folktales, and metaphors have been used for centuries to instruct, warn, delight, pass on values, and even enlighten. In this essay, the authors focus on sport psychologists and clients as metaphor creators and stortellers and on how telling stories, both ancient and modern, may be a type of activity that contributes to therapeutic alliance and helps athletes see and feel their worlds in new and salubrious ways.

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