Frank L. Smoll, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of Washington
Frank Smoll is Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Ripon College (Wisconsin) and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. As an undergraduate, he played on championship basketball and baseball teams, and he is a member of Ripon’s Athletic Hall of Fame. As a University of Washington faculty member, Dr. Smoll teaches courses in sport psychology, and he has served as Graduate Program Coordinator, Human Subjects Coordinator, and Co-Director of the Sport Psychology graduate training program. From 1993-1999, he co-directed (with Ronald Smith) a psychological skills training program for UW athletes (Husky Sport Psychology Services).
Dr. Smoll’s research focuses on coaching behaviors in youth sports and on the psychological effects of competition on children and adolescents. He has published more than 130 scientific articles and book chapters, and he is co-author of 20 books and manuals, including Way to Go, Coach! (2nd ed., 2002), Sports and Your Child (2nd ed., 2005), and Mastery Approach to Coaching (2009). Professor Smoll has made over 140 presentations at scientific/professional conferences and invited colloquia.
Dr. Smoll’s professional honors include election to fellow status in the following organizations: American Psychological Association, American Academy of Kinesiology, Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). In 2002, he was the recipient of AASP’s Distinguished Professional Practice Award, which was bestowed for “demonstrating exceptional quality and innovation in delivering sport psychology services to the public.” Dr. Smoll was also named a Sports Ethics Fellow for 2008 by the Institute for International Sports, which honored him as a “pioneer in researching ways to improve youth sports.”
With respect to professional services, Dr. Smoll has been an officer for several associations, and he has organized and participated in many sport psychology symposia. He is a Certified Sport Consultant (AASP) and has been actively involved with local and national youth sport organizations.
In collaboration with Ronald Smith, Professor Smoll was the recipient of research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the William T. Grant Foundation. A major goal was to develop, test, and disseminate an educational program for youth sport coaches. This program, which is known as the Mastery Approach to Coaching, is the only scientifically validated coaching-education workshop that has been shown to have desirable effects on youngsters’ personal, social, and athletic development. The research was honored as one of the top 100 science-technology contributions in the history of the University of Washington. More than 25,000 coaches have participated in some 500 workshops in the United States and Canada. Workshops have been presented to volunteer coaches in a variety of sport-specific organizations (e.g., Little League Baseball, Washington Youth Soccer, Minnesota Hockey) and multi-sport organizations (e.g., Catholic Youth Organization, Boys and Girls Clubs, community recreation departments). The program has also been offered as in-service training for PE teachers and coaches in public school districts.
Ronald E. Smith, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of Washington
Ronald Smith is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Clinical Psychology Training Program at the University of Washington. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Marquette University and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Southern Illinois University. He completed his advanced clinical training at the Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, Center for the Health Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles. He has held a faculty position at Purdue University and visiting scholar appointments at Marquette University, UCLA, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Hawaii.
Dr. Smith’s major research interests are in personality, the study of anxiety, stress and coping, and in performance enhancement research and interventions. One focus of his performance enhancement work has occurred in the area of sports. For 12 years, he directed a psychological skills training program for the Houston Astros professional baseball organization and has also served as Team Counselor for the Seattle Mariners. He has also served as a training consultant to the Oakland Athletics Baseball Club and to Major League Soccer.
Dr. Smith has done extensive work in youth sports, researching the effects of coaching behaviors on child athletes and developing and evaluating intervention programs for coaches and parents to help them create a more positive psychological environment for young athletes. Grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the William T. Grant Foundation to Smith and Frank Smoll have supported the development, evaluation, and national dissemination of the new Mastery Approach coach and parent training programs.
Dr. Smith is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a Past President of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. He is the recipient of a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute for his contributions to the field of mental health. At the University of Washington, Dr. Smith has served as Head of the Social Psychology and Personality area and as Co-Director of the Sport Psychology graduate training program. He also chaired the President’s Intercollegiate Athletics Advisory Board, and he co-directed (with Frank Smoll) Husky Sport Psychology Services in the University’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Dr. Smith has published more than 180 scientific articles and book chapters in his areas of interest. He also has authored or co-authored 26 books on introductory psychology, personality, stress and stress management, sport psychology, and human performance enhancement. His books include Children and Youth in Sport: A Biopsychosocial Perspective (2nd ed., Kendall/Hunt, 2002) with Frank Smoll, Personality: Toward an Integration (6th ed., Wiley, 2004) with Walter Mischel and Yuichi Shoda, and Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behavior (4nd ed., McGraw-Hill, 2008) with Michael Passer.