Success beyond the scoreboard: Jamie Smokler's journey into Sport and Exercise Psychology.
Hi everyone and welcome to the next edition of the Pathways to Psychology blog. Today we hear from Jamie Smokler, Trainee Sport and Exercise Psychologist. Jamie highlights the importance of growth and development throughout his training, and how conversations with athletes, away from the podium, were making necessary change possible. We hope you find Jamie's journey inspirational food for thought.
Jamie Smokler – Trainee Sport and Exercise Psychologist
DPsych Sport and Exercise Psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University
When most people think about success in sport, they often think about winning. Medals, trophies, rankings, contracts, personal bests – these are the things we tend to associate with achievement. Sport, by nature, is performance-driven, and success is often measured visibly and publicly. There is usually a scoreboard, a result sheet, or a ranking system that tells athletes whether they have succeeded or failed.
As a trainee Sport and Exercise Psychologist, I’ve started to realise that success is much more complex than that. Through my experiences so far, both observing and working with athletes, I’ve found myself questioning what success actually means, how we measure it, and who gets to define it in the first place. What I’ve learnt is that success in sport is rarely as straightforward as it appears from the outside. More importantly, I’ve realised that this question doesn’t just apply to athletes – it also applies to us as practitioners.
During my training, I’ve become increasingly aware of how strongly sport culture emphasises outcomes. Athletes are constantly evaluated based on performance. Winning often brings praise, recognition, and validation, while poor performances can sometimes feel like failure, regardless of the context behind them. In many environments, there is an unspoken belief that results are everything. Of course, outcomes matter. Athletes train hard to compete, improve, and achieve goals. Performance is naturally important in elite sport. But I think the danger comes when success becomes exclusively tied to outcomes, because outcomes are not always fully within an athlete’s control. An athlete can prepare exceptionally well, perform close to their potential, and still lose. Injuries happen. Selection decisions happen. Opponents perform better. Circumstances change. Yet many athletes still internalise those moments as personal failures because success has been narrowly defined around winning.
One of the biggest things I’ve noticed during my training is that athletes often experience success very differently from how others perceive it. From the outside, someone may look successful because they are competing at a high level, performing consistently, or achieving impressive results. But internally, they may feel exhausted, anxious, disconnected from their sport, or under immense pressure. At the same time, I’ve also seen moments that might not look “successful” externally but represent huge progress for an individual athlete. Sometimes success is an athlete learning to manage their nerves before competition. Sometimes it’s rebuilding confidence after injury. Sometimes it’s learning how to separate self-worth from performance. Sometimes it’s simply enjoying their sport again.
These moments are not always visible, but that does not make them any less important.
I think this has challenged my own assumptions about performance and achievement. Before beginning my training, I viewed success in sport in a fairly traditional way. Like many people, I associated success with progression, outcomes, and accomplishment. But the more exposure I’ve had to the psychological side of sport, the more I’ve realised that success is deeply individual and often connected to values, growth, and wellbeing rather than results alone.
Youth athletes are different. Young athletes are still developing not only physically and technically, but psychologically and emotionally too, which makes their experiences in sport incredibly influential. I’ve realised that they can be particularly susceptible to external pressures, feedback, comparison, and changes in confidence, often placing significant importance on performance outcomes at a young age. At the same time, they are also highly open to growth, learning, and positive change. This has highlighted to me how important it is to create environments where success is not solely defined by winning, but also by enjoyment, development, resilience, and self-belief. When working with youthful athletes, I think there is a real opportunity and responsibility to help shape healthier perspectives on performance and success early in their sporting journeys.
This has also made me think differently about goal setting. In Sport Psychology, there is often discussion around outcome goals versus process goals. Outcome goals focus on results - winning, selection, rankings. Process goals focus on behaviours and actions that support performance, such as preparation, focus, communication, or effort. What I’ve started to appreciate is that process-based success can sometimes be more meaningful and sustainable than outcome-based success. An athlete cannot always control whether they win, but they can often control how they prepare, how they respond to setbacks, and how consistently they commit to their development.
I think there is something powerful about helping athletes recognise that success does not need to disappear the moment results do not go their way.
At the same time, this conversation has also made me reflect on how I define success within myself as a trainee practitioner. This is something I don’t think we talk about enough. When I began my trainee journey, I believed success was materialistic. I thought that the more clubs and teams I worked for, the more team kit I collected, the more successful I was. Looking on social media, I believed that those practitioners who worked with a vast number of teams were more successful, and that was what I aspired to be like.
As trainees, there can sometimes be pressure to feel like we should always know the right thing to say or do. There can be a temptation to measure our effectiveness based on athlete outcomes or visible changes. If an athlete performs well, it can feel validating. If progress feels slow, it can be easy to question yourself. I’ve definitely found myself reflecting on sessions afterwards, wondering whether I asked the right questions, whether I could have responded differently, or whether I was genuinely helpful. I think that self-reflection is an important part of development, but I’ve also realised that if I define my success entirely through athlete outcomes, I risk placing unrealistic expectations on both myself and the people I work with.
Athletes are complex individuals operating within equally complex environments. Their performances are influenced by countless factors beyond psychology alone. Because of that, I’ve started to realise that success as a practitioner cannot simply be measured by whether an athlete wins or loses.
Instead, I’ve begun to see success in smaller and sometimes less obvious ways. Success might be building trust with an athlete who initially struggled to open up. It might be creating a space where someone feels listened to without judgement. It might be recognising my own limitations and seeking supervision or support when needed. It might be learning from mistakes rather than avoiding them. Sometimes success is simply being present, curious, and willing to learn.
I think one of the most valuable lessons I’m learning as a trainee is that growth is often invisible and non-linear. Progress rarely happens in a perfectly upward direction. Athletes can improve and still have setbacks. Confidence can fluctuate. Motivation can change. Psychological development takes time. The same applies to us as practitioners.
There are moments during training where I’ve felt confident and capable, and other moments where I’ve felt uncertain or questioned myself. But I’m beginning to understand that those moments are not signs of failure – they are part of the learning process.
In many ways, I think Sport Psychology encourages us to embrace discomfort and uncertainty, both in athletes and ourselves. We often encourage athletes to tolerate pressure, learn from setbacks, and focus on long-term development rather than immediate perfection. As trainees, I think we need to apply some of those same principles to ourselves.
Another thing I’ve reflected on is how easy it is for both athletes and practitioners to tie identity too closely to performance. In high-performance environments, achievement can become closely linked with self-worth. When things are going well, confidence grows. When things are difficult, self-doubt can quickly appear. I think this is why broadening our definition of success matters so much. If success only exists when outcomes are positive, then confidence becomes fragile. But if success also includes growth, resilience, honesty, self-awareness, effort, and wellbeing, then it becomes more stable and meaningful. That doesn’t mean lowering standards or ignoring ambition. I don’t think success and high performance are opposites. Athletes can still pursue excellence while maintaining healthier and more balanced perspectives on achievement. In fact, I’d argue that sustainable performance often depends on it.
As I continue my journey as a Trainee Sport and Exercise Psychologist, I know my understanding of success will continue to evolve. I still have a huge amount to learn, both professionally and personally. But one thing I’ve become increasingly aware of is that some of the most meaningful moments in sport happen away from podiums and scoreboards. They happen in conversations. In moments of resilience. In vulnerability. In self-reflection. In the decision to keep going despite setbacks. And perhaps that is something we can all learn from – athletes and practitioners alike.
For me, success is becoming less about appearing perfect, looking in my wardrobe and seeing the kit of numerous teams or having all the answers, and more about remaining reflective, authentic, and open to growth. It’s about supporting people as individuals rather than simply performers. It’s about recognising that progress can look different for everyone.
Most importantly, it’s about understanding that success is not always something we can measure clearly from the outside. Sometimes the most important forms of success are the ones nobody else sees. Next time you see your favourite sports star smile after a loss, don’t judge them too quickly. They may have just won an internal battle they never believed they could.
Thank you for reading this, it was really nice to write this up and reflect on how my perceptions have changed since working with athletes. I’d love to hear from you about your opinions on this, let’s talk! You can email me at jsmokl300@caledonian.ac.uk , or shoot me a message on LinkedIn @Jamie Smokler.
Thanks, Jamie
Thank you Jamie for a thoughtful blog entry, focused on supporting athletes and psychologists alike. It is a real privilege to see behind the curtain what Sport and Exercise Psychology involves. We wish you every success with your studies.
Maybe reading about Jamie reminded you of your own training as a practitioner psychologist. Get in touch to add your blog entry.
Kind regards,
The Pathways Team.
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