Society of Sport Psychology, ISSP; first published in 1970 and re-named in 2003)
Journal of Applied Sport Psychology (published by the Association for the
Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology, AAASP; first published in 1989)
Journal of Sport Behaviour (published by the United States Sports Academy; first
published in 1978)
Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (published by the North American Society for
the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, NASPSPA; first published in 1979)
Journal of Sports Sciences (published by Taylor & Francis Ltd; first published in
1982)
Psychology of Sport and Exercise (published by Elsevier Publishers; first published in
2000)
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport (published by American Alliance for
Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; first published in 1930)
The Sport Psychologist (published by the International Society of Sport Psychology;
first published in 1987)
The third reason for attributing a healthy status to sport and exercise psychology comes
from the formal recognition of this discipline by mainstream psychology. In particular, as
indicated in Box 1.3, professional psychological associations in the United States (in
1986), Australia (in 1991) and Britain (in 1993) have established special divisions or
sections to cater for the needs of members who are interested in the application of
psychology to sport and exercise settings. Finally, the practical value of sport psychology
is evident from the increasing number of performers and coaches around the world who
are using its services—mainly for performance enhancement (see LeUnes and Nation,
2002). But it is not just individual athletes who have emerged as enthusiastic advocates of
sport psychology. Many countries competing at the Olympic Games employ sport
psychologists as advisers (see Box 1.5 above) as do teams in baseball (Seppa, 1996),
cricket (e.g., the Australian squad; see Wilde, 1998) and rugby (e.g., the Irish national
team; see Thornley, 1997). In summary, the preceding strands of evidence suggest that
sport and exercise psychology is now firmly established as a scientifically respectable
and useful discipline. Unfortunately, this conclusion has been challenged by critics both
from within and outside the discipline. Let us now consider briefly the nature and validity
of their counter-arguments.
Within the discipline, Dishman (1983) argued that sport psychology is deeply flawed
due to a combination of shaky theoretical foundations and unreliable intervention
strategies. These sentiments were echoed by Morgan (1997) who bemoaned the absence
of scientific evidence to support many of the intervention techniques promulgated by
practitioners in this field. A similar point was made by Moran (1996) who noted that few
concentration skills training programmes in applied sport psychology have been
subjected to either conceptual or empirical evaluation. Augmenting these criticisms of
theory and research in sport psychology are accounts of practitioners’ disenchantment
with the professional side of this discipline. For example, consider Meyers’ (1997) candid
account of his experiences as an “on site” sport psychologist at the US Olympic Festival.
Working in this situation, he noted that although there was a clear demand for sport
psychological services, “there exists little respect for what we do” (p. 466).
Introducing sport and exercise psychology: discipline and profession 27