West Chester University Kinesiologist Headed to Olympics

Speed and agility made her a star field hockey player and an all-around athlete, but Margaret Ottley’s career in sport psychology has taken her to the Olympics. Four years ago, she accompanied the Trinidad and Tobago elite teams to the Olympic Games in Greece. This month, she will be one of two sports psychologists working with the USA track and field team in Beijing.

Ottley will be a member of the medical team that includes physicians, chiropractors, massage therapists and exercise physiologists or trainers selected by USATF and USOC to help maintain the athletes’ best condition and keep them focused on what they were trained to do.

“ If the athletes are going through performance anxiety or their confidence or concentration is wavering, I am there for support,” she explains. Ottley will be a very visible part of the group, attending practices, eating meals with the athletes, even spending down time with them. Her services will range from being a good listener to being a guide or advisor.

Ottley notes that many of the Olympic-bound athletes may have worked with sports psychologists in the past so they often are familiar with such psychological skill principles as breathing techniques, positive self-talk, imagery and visualization, sensory awareness, mental rehearsal and competitive goals. Her experience on the sidelines of these elite games is that worry and apprehension go hand-in-hand with this level of competition.

“ As we all know, negative thoughts can compromise great performances in the most inopportune times. My role will be to help the athletes stay on track,” says Ottley.

A graduate of Valsayn Teachers College, Trinidad, Ottley received her undergraduate degree from Spelman College, her M.Ed. and Ph.D. from Temple University, and she completed her post-doctoral studies at Purdue University. She is a member of the board of the Black Women in Sport Foundation, the Pennsylvania State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and the Frederick Douglass Institute, a University program for advancing multicultural studies across the curriculum and for deepening the intellectual heritage of Frederick Douglass.