Vettise Psychology

21/08/2025

I want my girls to continue to have a lifelong love of their sport, in any shape or form. I’ve been so fortunate to meet and work with incredible wahine toa from grassroots, community to high performance.

Unfortunately the drop out rate for girls in sport after the age of 14 years old is double that of boys! What started a year ago, the SupportHER Club driven by 2Degrees is an incredible initiative and ongoing plan to keep girls, like mine and yours, in sport for a long time. Please take a moment to look at resources and initiatives being launched today. There is merchandise (wearable sport psychology ☺️) available with key messages/ reminders, of how important our words as parents and coaches impact the way our girls think about themselves.

Small messages start to make a difference; it creates conversations, which lead to awareness, which lead to more funding, bespoke pathways, development and culture change! 100% of proceeds from the merch go back into girls sport pathways!

https://www.2degrees.nz/supportherclub?srsltid=AfmBOoqJ0_7Sow1AIftdZTYikL2fKmEgycBBwJO2EGq4B5lhsV_Ll0oe

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2019000840/girls-drop-out-of-sport-at-twice-the-rate-of-boys-by-age-14-study

A new study has found that by age 14 girls are dropping out of sport at twice the rate of boys. Sports psychologist Dom Vettise spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

10/07/2025

For those of you who are interested in some
more of my ramblings! The focus here is more on pre-HP athletes, but we do cover some elements of high performance.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3zlDjS41r78fx7q4JU1PjT?si=V-n0gpMtQs2L5sc6fC_FPQ

STRIVE 365 · Episode

01/04/2025

I'm thrilled to have shared my insights on 2Degrees SupportHER, highlighting the importance of empowering girls in sports. In this interview, I discussed the statistics, obstacles, and ways we can collectively make a positive impact as parents, teachers, and coaches. While time was limited, I've outlined additional solutions on the 2Degrees website.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018981348/why-girls-drop-out-of-sports

Thank you to everyone who has reached out in support - let's continue to work together to create lasting change for our girls! PS; I'm committed to amplifying my voice this year, sharing my thoughts and research more widely, and honing my interviewing skills to inspire meaningful conversations. 😊

The SupportHer Club is our commitment to supporting women and girls in sport at every level.

27/03/2025

Qualifying for the 2026 World Cup has been an incredible journey, marked by challenges and growth. I want to acknowledge staff, players, and NZ Football for creating an environment that embraces family as an extension of the team. Seeing my son Theo and daughter Sienna as player mascots with Libby and Max was an unforgettable moment—one that made this even more special.

Reflecting on this journey, several key lessons stand out:

- Embrace a Collective Growth Mindset: A team’s ability to learn about each others views and challenges as opportunities for team development, belonging and performance is crucial.

- Prepare for Uncertainty with Cognitive Flexibility: Recognising that anything can happen in sport, developing cognitive flexibility and mental performance plans to adapt effectively in the lead up and during games.

- Self-awareness: Being a sport psych can be tough; navigating between performance and wellbing support for players, coaches, staff, team; slightly on the outside, but also very much on the inside of team dynamics. Constant reflection, introspection and having great mentors and supervisors (and family) is critical to being able to bring my best self to the environment in order to sustain my own high performance.

These lessons have been instrumental in our journey, a kiwi way, achieving success with good people. To share this moment with my family and this incredible team is something I will cherish forever. I’m really looking forward to the next 15 months with enthusiasm and joy!

Photo Credit: PhotosportNZ

18/11/2024

For those of you who would like a listen. But first a small back story. Post Tokyo Olympics Jay asked me to do this podcast, along with a couple of others. I decided to say no because I’ve really struggled understanding what value add I had in teams and athletes I worked with. It’s also very tricky to hold confidentiality and respect the privacy of those I work with during a podcast or when people ask you to deliver an interesting discussion. It finally took me four years before I said yes. Jay was awesome! But I wanted to do it to continue to honour the work of amazing psychs who have helped me a lot and continue to raise the profile of psychologists in sport and mental skills trainers who do an incredible job across NZ! I’m still learning the trade, still enjoying it, and hopefully if there are a couple of takeaways in here, then that’s awesome.

Podcast Episode · Talking Performance · 17/11/2024 · 1h 14m

19/10/2024

I’ve been very privileged over the past 3 years to present on this course. The sport psychology element focuses on knowledge of self and how these impact coaching behaviours. The second part focuses on the interaction of coach beliefs and values on players. We also get recorded half time talks of the coaches and provide psychological feedback and reflection on their half time talks.

18/08/2024

I had an incredible and humbling experience away at the Paris Olympic Games. I have learned a tonne more about the role of psychology in sport, and about leadership. So brief lessons learned (in no priority order):

- While the athletes are focus, the coaches and support staff at the games are still underrated; we would do well to prioritise their psychological needs in the next cycle.

- The NZOC culture of manaaki, care and support of people, remains a critical ingredient to environmental success. However it’s not about what is done, it seems to be about how it’s done. Preparing for an Olympics requires the adaptability of the “how” to each sport’s own culture to support their uniqueness. This was fun working out how to do this well!

- Mental preparation and attentional training of uncertainty, ownership/ personal responsibility in DTEs should remain a priority.

- I’m still uncomfortable with being called “the lead”, but I did enjoy leading the psychology team more than anything. My only note on this, at this point, is being humbled to be in that position. Having people more experienced, and willing to collaborate together was amazing. I just tried to give them my full trust, limit the excess noise, so they can do what they are best at.

- Above all, have fun and enjoy the small moments. This does not take away from performance at a pinnacle event, it just adds to personal wellbeing…which is what helps sustain high performance.

Thanks to NZOC and many others for this wonderful experience.

12/06/2024

Yussss!!!

06/06/2024

An awesome day spent with the NZ Kayak men. Kayak camp in Rotorua preparing for Paris Olympic Games! An epic group of men, which I thoroughly enjoy working with!! Great to have the CEO on the coach boat this morning too!!

27/03/2024

Strong and wise words.

Richarlison has revealed he had depression after the World Cup:

🗣 'I'd just played in a World Cup, man, at my peak. I was reaching my limit, you know? I don't know, I'm not going to talk about killing myself, but I was in a depression there, and I wanted to give up. Even I, who seemed to be mentally strong. After the World Cup it seemed like it all fell apart. I think the therapist, like it or not, saved me, saved my life. I only thought rubbish. Even on Google, I only searched for rubbish, I only wanted to see rubbish about death.

'Today I can say, look for a psychologist, if you need a psychologist, look for one because it's nice for you to open up like that, for you to be talking to the person. Today a [psychologist] came to thank me for taking this to the world of football, to the world, outside the pitch too, because it is very important and, whether we like it or not, it saves lives' ❤

28/02/2024

This is quality! Get in behind the team, the song!

‘Ain’t Just Dreaming’ out now!

Tune into at 8:55am to watch perform LIVE 🎶