Paul Wylleman

Paul Wylleman is full professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel where he teaches Sport Psychology, Mental Training and Support Services throughout the Athletic Career, High Performance Management and Competencies in Sport Management. Paul is also head of the department “Topsport and Study” which provides support to elite student-athletes at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Paul’s research includes interpersonal relationships in competitive sport, the career development of talented, elite and former elite athletes, the education and consulting in applied sport psychology, and the development and use of mental skills in high performance contexts.

Paul has published articles, chapters and books and has been a key-note speaker on the topic of, amongst others, mental skills of elite athletes and coaches, the quality of sport psychology support service/providers, and career and life style management of elite (young) athletes at international congresses as well as at meetings of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the European Olympic Committees (EOC), different European Olympic Committees and elite sport bodies (e.g., UKSport, France’s National institute of elite sport and performance INSEP), as well as different elite sport federations (e.g., the English FA). 

Paul has coordinated the projects “Sport psychology support services for topsportschools and sports federations”,  “Career support services for elite and former athletes” (Carrièrebegeleiding Topsport Vlaanderen) and "Be a Winner In elite Sport and Employment before and after athletic Retirement– financed by respectively the Flemish sport administration Sport Vlaanderen and/or the department of the Flemish minister of Sport and the European Commission. 

At international level, Paul was the former President of the European Federation of Sport Psychology (FEPSAC) and is founder and coordinator of the European Forum for Applied Sport psychologists in Topsport (FAST) which brings together sport psychology service providers working with elite and Olympic athletes and teams in thirteen European countries. He is also board member of the International Athletes Services Forum which brings together service providers from around the world. Furthermore, he made contributions to the European policy documents and committees the ad hoc group of Experts of the ‘EU Guidelines on Dual Career of Athletes’, the Expert Group ‘Human Resources Development in Sport (XG HR) of the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the EOC and IOC. Finally, Paul is also consulted by the Olympic Committee of the Netherlands (NOC*NSF) on dual career and career transitions. 

As sport psychologist, Paul has been consulting and worked on-site during several European and World Championships with Olympic and elite athletes (e.g., in tennis, swimming, figure ice skating, fencing, athletics, archery, horse riding, judo), with elite teams (e.g., soccer, basketball), as well as with the topsportschools of the Flemish Tennis Federation (Vlaamse Tennisvereniging; VTV) and the Flemish Swimming Federation (Vlaamse Zwemfederatie). Paul is also consulted by the Olympic Committee of the Netherlands (NOC*NSF) on dual career and career transitions.