The early years of FEPSAC – collaboration and confrontation in a divided continent

Seiler, Roland (19 July 2019). The early years of FEPSAC – collaboration and confrontation in a divided continent. In: 15th European Congress of Sport and Exercise Psychology. Münster. 15.-20. 7.2019.

The first 20 years in FEPSAC's history are characterised by the separation of the continent in two distinct political and socioeconomical blocks. These blocks were trying to demonstrate their superiority in economical and scientific domains, but the competition included also the field of sport. In contrast, the foundation of the European Federation of Sport Psychology FEPSAC was an example of scientific collaboration that primarily opposed the perceived predominance of the American language and concepts in sport psychology (Apitzsch & Schilling, 2003; Kunath, 2003). The early work of FEPSAC included the development of a shared scientific terminology and definition (Epuran, 1972), attempts to develop a documentation basis of scientific publications and joint European research projects (Apitzsch, 1983). In a continent with more than 30 major languages and many
different philosophical and psychological traditions, and in the absence of the electronic communication means we have today, this proved to be a challenging task. Increasingly, the field of sport also developed from a focus on competition to different purposes such as health or exercise. This presentation tries to shed some light on the pioneering work of the sport psychology enthusiasts who established the institutional and content-related basis for sport psychology. However, politics, economics, and culture framed and partly limited the early projects elaborated by the Managing Council of FEPSAC and its different working committees.

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