Sarah Murray

Sarah Murray is a sport psychology practitioner and coach developer whose work sits at the intersection of performance psychology, wellbeing, culture, and people development across professional football and elite sport. She currently supports the professional game through the Premier League, where she has worked since October 2022 as an Elite Coach Development Mentor, and previously served as Coach Inclusion & Diversity Programme Cohort Manager(October 2022–August 2025). Alongside this, she is a High Performance Coach with Mindflick (July 2022–present), contributing to programmes that translate performance psychology and behavioural science into practical daily habits and team behaviours, and she also leads her own consultancy, Performance Edge Psychology (January 2022–present), supporting individuals and organisations with tailored performance, wellbeing, and cultural development work.

In applied football environments, Sarah has worked as a Sport Psychologist for the Football Association of Ireland Women’s National Team (February 2023–February 2025), and has provided consultancy support to clubs including Lewes FC (January 2023–May 2024) and Birmingham City FC (January 2025–April 2025). Her experience also extends beyond football, including a role as Sport Psychologist with England Rugby supporting the men’s U20 squad (August 2022–August 2023). A significant part of her professional background was built at Brighton & Hove Albion, where she spent over eight years and progressed through key roles including Sport and Exercise Scientist (Psychology)with leadership of psychological support for the academy (July 2013–July 2020), Performance Psychology Manager(October 2019–July 2020), and Women’s Senior Performance Psychologist (July 2020–January 2022), giving her a deep understanding of long-term player development and the demands of senior elite performance settings.

Sarah also brings an academic perspective through her work as a Senior Lecturer in Sport Psychology at the University of Chichester (part-time, June 2017–June 2019), teaching applied sport psychology across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Her education and professional accreditation include HCPC registration as a Sport and Exercise Psychologist, and BASES accreditation as a Sport and Exercise Scientist (Psychology). Across her applied and educational work, her content focus is often centred on motivational climate—how environments, leadership behaviours, and daily interactions shape learning, confidence, and sustained performance.

Academic Institution: Brunel University. Practical Affiliation (current & previous): Premier League, Mindflick, Performance Edge Psychology, Brighton & Hove Albion FC, Football Association of Ireland, Birmingham City FC, Lewes FC, England Rugby, University of Chichester. Languages Spoken: English. Content Feature: Motivational Climate. Area: Psychology.