PSAB NA: “We forget that that athletes are human beings, just like everyone else”
Dr Gloria Park will bring a vital skillset to the Pro Sport Advisory Board North America, as she leverages her expertise in sport, performance, and positive psychology to passionately advocate for re-humanizing Human Performance Optimization and bringing the best of science to helping individuals and organizations thrive.
This balance of a scientific and humanized approach will offer crucial direction to the new group of experts seeking to improve the awareness of – and protection from – gambling-related harm across US and Canadian sport.
We continue our board member profiles by taking a look at the career of Dr Park, who oversees the psychological, social, and spiritual fitness domains as the Director Performance Psychology with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, in support of the Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP).
She is also a certified mental performance coach working with individuals, teams, and organizations across a broad range of sectors on performance excellence and wellbeing initiatives through Perform Positive Consulting.
Dr Park explains how this will all make a key difference to the work of the PSAB NA and its intended positive outcomes…
What made you want to join the Pro Sport Advisory Board North America?
“I wanted to join the PSAB so that I could learn more about the impact of gambling within sectors that are near and dear to my heart. Often athletes, whether student or professional, are only viewed through a very public lens and their talents and abilities commodified to the point where we forget that they are human beings, just like everyone else.
“Gambling has been an ever-present (and now growing) dimension that is often ignored or unseen, but critical to address.”
What are you hoping to bring to (or take from) membership of the board?
“I hope to better understand how gambling impacts a broad range of sectors like higher education, professional sports, business, as well as other high-risk contexts.
“I hope to learn about various evidence-based methods to mitigate risk from the interdisciplinary members of the board. I hope to bring my expertise in holistic approaches to performance and wellbeing, best practices in education, and intervention science to this board.”
Why is it important that a specific North American board is being created to specifically focus on the niche wagering issues that affect this part of the world?
“As the mother of a teenaged boy living in North America, I see how technology is opening doors more quickly and easily to the slippery slope of gambling and all of its associated risks.
“Just as smartphones have evolved to become ubiquitous with little regulation and concern for the potential harms they may cause, it is so important to approach education and intervention about gambling now before the damages are irreparable.”
