Claire Thornton MSc.
Claire's practice is underpinned by her studies:
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PhD (student SETU Waterford)
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MSc. Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology (SETU Waterford)
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BSc. Health and Leisure Studies (MTU Kerry)
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Claire believes in building strong relationships with her clients, connecting with them on a personal level to explore their potential.
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Claire has previously worked as a fitness professional and helped individuals reach their goals from a physical perspective. The experience she gained within this role complements her ability to understand the demands facing individuals in both sport and life.
Claire has also worked with Bodywhys - the National Eating Disorder Association of Ireland - where she delivered talks in schools and youth services in the west of Ireland discussing eating disorders and body image and also contributed to youth development activities and projects within the organisation.
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Claire's PhD studies are exploring parental engagement patterns in youth sport in Ireland. ​​Parental support, praise and understanding are associated with heightened intrinsic motivation and parental enjoyment of their child's engagement in sport. Parents play a key role; such as interpreting the sport experience and providing emotional, financial, and logistical support. Yet the behaviour of parents is not always deemed ‘appropriate’ and can lead to increased levels of burnout, lack of enjoyment and dropout from sport by the child.
The research aims to understand current parental engagement patterns in Irish sport, with a view to informing policy and practice of youth sport federations and governing bodies to better empower parents to support their child. The findings from this research is hoped to inform a national strategy for parental engagement in Irish youth sport.​
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Claire has worked in various sports including Gaelic football, hurling, golf, and swimming. She has supported athletes in all levels of sport and is actively supporting a number of high-performance teams and individual athletes.
