Courtney Stevens left Canmore and began her undergraduate degree in 2018 at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus.
Courtney graduated from UBCO with a BA in Psychology in 2022 and is currently a MSc student completing research in the PALS (Psychology for Active Living and Sport) lab under the supervision of Dr. Paige Pope.
Courtney’s passion for sport psychology arose from her time playing soccer competitively with various clubs within Canmore, Cochrane, and Calgary, at the provincial level, and within the Whitecaps Development Academy. During lulls in her playing career, she stepped into coaching roles, volunteering with youth soccer programs and development camps, as well as the Canmore Collegiate Women’s Soccer program.
Attending the University of Lethbridge has offered Courtney many opportunities to gain experience and develop professionally, while working on her thesis. Currently, she is a research assistant for Dr. Pope, the KNES graduate student representative, and a student member of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association. Funded by the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship, Courtney’s research will test the effectiveness of the delivery of pre-performance anxiety information to coaches, for increasing coaches’ knowledge and use of information with their athletes.
Courtney is striving towards certification as a mental performance consultant and hopes to continue working with athletes and coaches to foster awareness and development of the mental skills and strategies she found to be so important throughout her athletic and coaching career.