Media advisory: Sport psychology expert can discuss Royals' playoff run, role of positive climate in sport success

LAWRENCE — Mary Fry, associate professor of health, sport and exercise science at the University of Kansas, is available to discuss the Kansas City Royals’ playoff run and the importance of a caring and supportive team climate for maximizing athletes’ sport performance and experience.

The Royals have made the Major League Baseball playoffs for the first time in 29 years and defeated the Oakland Athletics in the Wild Card Game on Sept. 30. Fry is an expert in sport and exercise psychology. She can discuss the important role a caring and task-involving climate plays on sports teams and the benefit it brings to coaches and players such as the Royals.

Fry is director of KU’s Sport and Exercise Psychology Lab and oversees KU’s graduate program in sport and exercise psychology. She is an associate editor for the Journal of Sport Psychology in Action and is on the editorial board for the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology as well as the Journal of Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology. She has also served on the executive board for the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Fry has assisted coaches, teachers, parents, trainers and administrators in developing strategies to foster caring and supportive environments for athletes.

To schedule an interview, contact Mike Krings at 785-864-8860 or mkrings@ku.edu.