Dr Sarah Williams

Lecturer in Sport Psychology and Coaching Science

School of Sport and Exercise Sciences

Contact details

Telephone +44 (0) 121 415 8187

Email s.e.williams@bham.ac.uk

School of Sport and Exercise Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

About

Sarah Williams is a lecturer in Sport Psychology and Coaching Science. Her interest to study sport was stimulated by her participation in a number of different sporting activities from a young age. Through this involvement she pursued a degree in Sport and Exercise Sciences and then a PhD in Sport Psychology both in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Birmingham. Sarah’s PhD thesis, entitled athlete imagery ability and effective imagery use, was awarded the British Psychological Society Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology’s Outstanding PhD Thesis in 2011. Under the supervision of Dr Jennifer Cumming, Sarah’s thesis developed novel measures to assess athlete imagery ability, established techniques to improve imagery ability, and investigated how imagery could be used by athletes to alter their stress appraisals of upcoming competitions.

Since her PhD Sarah has remained an active researcher in the area of imagery and observation. She was recently awarded full funding from the Applied Association of Sport Psychology to investigate and establish methods to improve imagery ability and subsequent sporting performance and continues to investigate and establish ways in which imagery can be more effectively used. Now in the department of Sport Pedagogy in the School of education, Sarah has developed an interest of how imagery can also be used with children in P.E classes to improve their participation and performance. She has published various peer reviewed journal articles and presented her work at a number of national and international conferences.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Sport Psychology, University of Birmingham
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Research and Education, University of Birmingham
  • BSc (Hons) in Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham

Teaching

Sarah lectures on the Sport, Physical Education and Coaching Sciences degree and the Applied Golf Management Studies degree. Her teaching responsibilities include: 

  • Psychology of Golf 
  • Research Methods in Sporting Contexts

She also contributes to modules on the PGDip/MSc Sports Coaching degree

Research

Sarah’s research interests centre around the following areas: 

  • Imagery use in sport, physical activity, exercise, and rehabilitation 
  • Methods to improve imagery ability 
  • Using observation to improve motor performance 
  • Other psychological strategies such as self-talk, and goal setting to improve performance and participant well-being 
  • Stress appraisal and additional performance issues such as anxiety and motivation

Publications

Williams, S.E., Cooley, S.J., & Cumming, J. (in press). Layered stimulus response training improves motor imagery ability and movement execution. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology.

Cumming, J., & Williams, S.E. (in press). Introducing the revised applied model of deliberate imagery use for sport, dance, exercise, and rehabilitation. Movement and Sport Sciences.

Williams, S.E. & Cumming, J. (2012). Athletes' Ease of Imaging Predicts Their Imagery and Observational Learning Use. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 13, 363-370.

Williams, S.E. & Cumming, J. (2012). Challenge vs. threat: Investigating the effect of using imagery to manipulate stress appraisal of a dart throwing task. Sport & Exercise Psychology Review, 8, 4-21.

Williams, S.E. & Cumming, J. (2012). Sport imagery ability predicts trait confidence, and challenge and threat appraisal tendencies. European Journal of Sport Science, 12, 499-508.

Williams, S.E., Cumming, J., Ntoumanis, N., Nordin-Bates, S.M., Ramsey, R. & Hall, C.R. (2012). Further validation and development of the Movement Imagery Questionnaire. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 34, 621-646.

Cumming, J., & Williams, S. E. (2012). The role of imagery in performance. In S. Murphy (Ed), Handbook of Sport and Performance Psychology. (p. 213-232). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Williams, S.E. & Cumming, J. (2011). Measuring athlete imagery ability: The Sport Imagery Ability Questionnaire. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 33, 416-440.

Williams, S.E., Cumming, J. & Balanos, G.M. (2011). The use of imagery to manipulate challenge and threat appraisal states in athletes. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 32, 339-358.

Williams, S.E., Cumming, J., & Edwards, M.G. (2011). The functional equivalence between movement imagery, observation, and execution influences imagery ability. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 82, 555-564.

Ramsey, R., Cumming, J., Edwards, M.G., Williams, S., & Brunning, C. (2010). Examining the emotion aspect of PETTLEP based Imagery and penalty taking performance in football. Journal of Sport Behavior, 33, 295-315.

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