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Although, information about the history of sport psychology after 1965 can be located, few details exist about the development of the field before that time. Literature describing the development of sport psychology has discussed a series of essays published by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913 titled Essais de Psychologie Sportive (Cratty, 1989) and the first sport psychology congress, the Congress of Psychology and Physiology of Sports held in 1913 (Silva, 2002). Although the Congress of Psychology and Physiology of Sports has been briefly discussed, little has been presented in the sport psychology literature about the organization and events of the congress. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to describe the work and influence of Pierre de Coubertin on the development of the field of sport psychology. First, Pierre de Coubertin's writings related to the psychological aspects of sport are presented. Next, Olympic Congresses organized by Pierre de Coubertin are discussed. Specifically, the Congress in Le Havre in 1897 and the International Congress of the Psychology and Physiology of Sport in Lausanne in 1913 are described. Finally, speculation as to how Pierre de Coubertin's work related to sport psychology may have influenced the development of the field in the 1920s through the 1940s is presented.
The history of sport psychology is currently an area of interest (Vealey, 2006). Although, much is known about the history of sport psychology after 1965, little detail about the development of the field before that time is available. A notable exception, however, is the work of Gould and Pick ( 1995) who detailed the work of Coleman Griffith from the early 192Os until the mid 1960s. Generally, historical analysis of the early years of sport psychology described research and writings of psychologists and physical educators involved in the study of sport (Cratty, 1989; Suva, 2002; Wiggins, 1984). Norman Tripplet, a student of G Stanley Hall, examined the relationship of competition to bicycle racing in the late 180Os (Tripplet, 1898). Although the work of Tripplet is oftentimes cited in the literature, work by Scripture (1894, 1895) and Fitz ( 1895) rarely receives attention. For example, Scripture while the supervisor of the Yale Psychology Laboratory studied the reaction time of fencers and runners. Similarly, Fitz a professor at Harvard, studied the...