Facilitating a Psychologically-Informed Environment for Optimal Athlete Development

This session will explore how the everyday sporting environment can shape athlete development and performance beyond physical and technical preparation. Drawing on Mustafa Sarkar’s work on psychologically informed environments, it will examine how coaches can foster psychological safety, support healthy motivation, encourage learning from mistakes, and help athletes manage pressure and setbacks. Through practical examples and reflection, coaches will consider how their communication, feedback, expectations, and responses to challenge can be used more intentionally to support both optimal performance and long-term athlete development.

Ian Lye has worked as a sport psychologist with the National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI) and the High Performance Sports Institute (HPSI) for the past 5 years, focusing more on precision sports. Prior to HPSI, Ian has worked in the Singapore Civil Defence Force on the application of behavioral science to personnel assessment, selection, and understanding human behavior in crisis situations. He holds an MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology from the University of Staffordshire, with his research examining how post-error rumination influences psychological recovery in precision sport athletes. Outside of work, Ian enjoys playing tennis and coaching calisthenics.