The early years of FEPSAC (1969-1989). Challenges for sport psychology in a divided continent

Despite a growing interest in the history of sport psychology, little is known about the specific challenges and the working procedures in the first 20 years of FEPSAC, when the continent of Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain. At the occasion of the 50th anniversary of FEPSAC, and based on document analysis, this article aims at shedding some light on the aims of FEPSAC's working committees, the difficulties encountered and the achievements made. More specifically, the Scientific Committee made attempts towards a common terminology and understanding of sport psychology concepts across the different European languages and the standardisation of tests for sport psychology. The Information and Documentation Committee was active in collecting and disseminating new publications. Despite considerable efforts and remarkable progresses, the long-term impact of those initiatives remained limited.