School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure

Dr Christopher Sellars

Name	Dr Christopher Sellars
Job Title	Head of Sport and Physical Activity
School	School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure
Tel	01902 32 3172
Email	C.Sellars@wlv.ac.uk

Biographical summary

Chris worked and lived in Yorkshire for many years before he relocated to the West Midlands to take up his current post.

He has worked in Higher Education for over 14 years, prior to which he was Regional Coaching Development Officer and then national Coach Education Officer for the National Coaching Foundation (now SportscoachUK). Before that, he worked in sports development and conducted Sports Council-funded research at Loughborough University.

Teaching responsibilities

Chris contributes to teaching a variety of sport & exercise psychology modules spanning levels 4-6 (undergraduate) to 7 (masters); the former includes teaching on the BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching degree in Singapore.

Chris also supervises a number of PhDs in sport & exercise psychology.

Non-teaching responsibilities

Head of Department – Department of Sport & Physical Activity.

Research Interests

Chris’ research is in the area of sport and exercise psychology.

Specifically, his areas of interest are: the psychology of the coach-athlete relationship; emotion regulation of others in sport; the application of attribution theory and attributional divergence in sport; and, the training of sports scientists.

As an active applied sport scientist, working primarily with elite track and field athletes and in professional football, Chris is also interested in the application of psychological skills.

Qualifications

2008 – BSc (Hons) Psychology (Open University) (First class honours)
2002 – PhD Sport Psychology (Loughborough University)
1999 – Certificate in HE Counselling (Leeds Metropolitan University)
1990 – MSc Sports Science (Loughborough University)
1986 – BA (Hons) Sport Studies and Educational Studies (now Brunel University)
BASES Accredited Sport & Exercise Scientist and BPS Chartered Psychologist

Employment History

1992-1997 National Coaching Foundation (now Sport Coach UK)
1997-1999 Staffordshire University
1999-2008 University of Huddersfield
2008-present University of Wolverhampton

End-user engagement

Supervisor and reviewer of candidates taking BASES supervised experience
Undertakes applied sport science work with a variety of sports bodies/individuals

Publications and Conference Papers

Becoming an applied sport scientist: The role of experiential learning (Hooton & Sellars) International Convention on Science, Education & Medicine in Sport, Glasgow, 19-24 July, 2012
Moderating factors of interpersonal emotion regulation in ice hockey (Friesen, Lane, Devonport & Sellars)
Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology, Winnipeg (Canada), 2011
The social nature of emotions and its implications for sport and exercise psychology (Friesen, Lane, Devonport & Sellars)
Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology, Winnipeg (Canada), 2011
A comparison of two methods of analysis of attributions made in coaching sessions
The 12th ISSP World Congress of Sport Psychology, Marrakesh (Morroco), June, 2009
The psychic realities of a coach-athlete dyad and the deployment of defence mechanisms
European College of Sport Sciences Congress, Estoril (Portugal), July 2008.
Attributions and their investigation: alternative approaches
British Psychological Society Annual Conference, Dublin, April 2008.
Transition into new coach-performer dyads.
FEPSAC Congress, Halkidiki (Greece), September 2007.
The contribution of regional psychology networks to the delivery of good practice in supervised experience and applied support work: The case of the Northern Network
BASES Annual Conference, Wolverhampton, September 2006.
Organisational stress amongst head coaches in professional rugby league: A qualitative analysis
13h Commonwealth and International Scientific Conference, Melbourne (Aust.), March 2006.
Coping with transitions from elite player to professional coach: The case of rugby league in England
13h Commonwealth and International Scientific Conference, Melbourne (Aust.), March 2006.
Transitions from elite professional player to professional coach: The case of rugby league in England
European College of Sport Sciences Congress, Belgrade (Serbia), July 2005.
On undertaking BASES supervised experience: An autoethnographic account
1st International Conference in Qualitative Research in Sport & Exercise, Liverpool, May 2004.
Measuring and analysing attributions in natural discourse sport: What’s the problem?
FEPSAC Congress, Copenhagen (Denmark), July 2003
Coaches and performers: Same hymn sheet, but are they in tune?
12th Commonwealth and International Scientific Conference, Manchester, July 2002.
Is the coach the real sports scientist?
BASES Annual Conference, Newport, July 2001
An evaluation of the Leeds Attributional Coding System (LACS) in analysing ‘naturally’ occurring attributions in sport
BASES Annual Conference, Liverpool, August 2000
Assessing ‘naturalistic’ attributions in coach-athlete dyads
European College of Sport Sciences Congress, Jyvaskyla (Finland), July 2000
Coach-performer compatibility: an attributional analysis
11th Commonwealth and International Scientific Congress, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), September 1998

Publications

Friesen, A., Lane, A., Devonport, T., Sellars, C., Stanley, D., & Beedie, C. Emotion in sport: Considering interpersonal emotion regulation strategies. Submitted to International Review of Sport & Exercise Psychology (under review)
Sellars, C.N. (2007). Coping with transitions from elite rugby league player to professional coach, in Saunders, J.E., Hickey, C. & Maschette, W. People, Participation and Performance: Contributions of Professional Practice in Sport and Physical Activity. Proceedings from the 13^th Commonwealth and International Sports Conference. Melbourne:ACU.
Biddle, S.J.H., Hanrahan, S.J. and Sellars, C.N. (2001). Attributions: Past, present, and future, in R.N. Singer, H.A. Hausenblas, and C.M. Janelle (Eds). Handbook of Sport Psychology (2^nd edition). (pp444-471) New York: Wiley.