This book presents a theoretical framework for applying compassion in sport, demonstrating how it can help athletes reduce self-criticism and shame, build emotional resilience, and improve mental health outcomes. Compassion introduces a paradigm shift in sport psychology: it emphasizes holistic well-being alongside performance, fosters empathy toward opponents (recognizing that competition cannot exist without them), and shows that compassionate mind states can enhance resilience without diminishing competitiveness.

Alicia Carter is a practicing Health Psychologist, Clinical Psychologist, AHPRA board approved supervisor and academic whom completed her PhD in 2021 at the University of Queensland, under the supervision of Associate Professor Dr James Kirby and Professor Paul Gilbert, OBE. Her research has contributed to the expansion and application of compassion focused therapy as well as the theoretical understanding and treatment of body weight shame. She has advanced skills and experience implementing and researching in the field of compassion science. She is a member of the Compassionate Mind Foundation and served a 2-year term as the Chair of the Australasia Compassion Focused Therapy Supervision group (2023 – 2025). Alicia is the co-director of the Compassionate Mind Foundation Special Interest Group for Sport.

Angus Meichan specialises in compassion-based approaches to athlete care and development and is committed to bridging the gap between wellbeing and performance in sport. He has over 20 years’ experience working in English Football League academies both as a foundation phase/youth development phase age group coach and as an academy psychologist. He initially trained as a teacher and has master’s degrees in recreation management and applied positive psychology. Previously he worked as a researcher in children’s play at Loughborough University then as research/information manager at social services departments in England. Currently he is a PhD candidate in psychology at the University of Hull where his research has involved examining the effectiveness of Compassionate Mind Training in academy football.

Philip Molyneux is a skilled HCPC registered clinical psychologist with over 30 years’ experience in both clinical and academic settings. He has worked in a range of specialties and developed a deep interest in applying Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) in his clinical work. He has brought this enthusiasm into different roles with the Clinical Psychology Doctorate at the University of Hull, inspiring new generations of clinical psychologist to develop their own CFT practice alongside supervising a range of original research projects investigating various clinical applications of CFT. This has been at both the individual and organisational level and more recently, he has turned his attention to exploring how to apply CFT in sporting environments. 

Alberto Filgueiras Goncalves is a seasoned Sport Psychologist whom completed his PhD in 2015 in Cognitive Neuroscience under the supervision of Professor Dr Jesus Landeira-Fernandez and his Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 2020 in Physical Education and Sports Sciences under the supervision of Dr Gislane Melo. He completed his formal training in Compassion-Focused Therapy at The Association for Psychological Therapies (ATP, UK) and started applying it to the sports context. He has worked with Sport Psychology in elite settings since 2007 in numerous high-level organizations in Brazil such as the C.R. Flamengo professional male soccer team, the Brazilian Olympic Committee, the Octagon Mixed-Martial Arts Team, and in Australia such as the Cairns Taipans and the Dunbar Rovers F.C.