SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA
Affiliated to International Society of Sports Psychology (ISSP) Registered Under the Societies Registration Act. XXI of 1860
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HISTORY OF
SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Sports Psychology Association of India

As an untraceable documentary evidence goes, in the mid-1970s, at the time of a seminar at Hyderabad, a few zealots from physical education and psychology formed themselves into a sports psychology organization. However, according to Bhattacharya (1987): “During the seventh annual conference of the IASM (Indian Association of Sports Medicine) at Varanasi in 1977, delegates interested in the psychological aspects of sports decided to form a group of their own. Thus, the Indian Association of Sports Psychology was born” with approximately 20 founding members including the author of the article himself. This version of the origin of IASP looks more credible. This newly formed society organized a national meet and published the first and the last issue of the Journal of Sports Psychology. However, persisting resource deficit and lack of organizational cohesiveness made the association defunct for some time and then disappeared from the scene. Long after, it was heard of no more.

The Revival and the First Governing Council

The revival of the organization occurred on 23rd February 1985 at the time of the first national conference of the embryonic Indian Association of Sports Scientists and Physical Educationists. Under the patronage of N.N. Mall, then the Dean of Laxmibai National College of Physical Education (now LNIPE, Deemed University), M.L. Kamlesh (Punjab Government College of Physical Education, Patiala). Avinash Sidhu (LNCPE, Gwalior), Rajinder Singh (LNCPE, Gwalior), Agyajit Singh (Punjabi University, Patiala), and others played a key-role in bringing reviving the national society, which was named as Sports Psychology Association of India with its first Executive Council as given here-in-under:

Designation Name Institutional Affiliation
President Jitendra Mohan Department of Psychology, Panjab University, Chandigarh
Secretary General M.L. Kamlesh Punjab Government College of Physical Education, Patiala
Jt Secretary Avinash Sidhu Laxmibai National College of Physical Education, Gwalior
Finance Secretary H.A. Khan Faculty of Sports Sciences, Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala
Executive Members Agyajit Singh Department of Education, Punjabi University, Patiala
Gurbux Singh Department of Physical Education, Panjab University, Chandigarh
S. Srivastan Department of Physical Education, GND University, Amritsar
N.S. Mann Department of Physical Education, Panjab University, Chandigarh
Joginder Mukherji Department of Psychology, Panjab University, Chandigarh
Rajinder Singh Laxmibai National College of Physical Education, Gwalior
G.D. Fortgalland NSNIS South Centre, Bangalore

As per provisions of the memorandum of the Association, the term of office of the EC is four years, extendable by one term by consensus.

Historic Milestones

Cadre Strength

From an initial member strength of 13, the SPAI presently has a cadre strength of approximately 700 members, though those very active is not even half of it. This shows how the developmental perspective of the Organization has expanded longitudinally and horizontally signifying a quantum jump from year to year in the domains of research, scientific interaction, and extension services. Since inception, there has been an all-out effort on the part of the SPAI to assert itself on the academic and sport environment in the country, and abroad too. Those in the forefront have shown their mettle at the international forums in policy formulations, and other developmental activities.

National Conferences

Despite a variety of constraints, SPAI, somehow, has been able to successfully get organized yearly national conferences with strong support from highly credited institutions and celebrity organizations as shown hereunder.

National Conference of Sports Psychology through the Years

Number Dates Venue/Organizing Institution
I 11-13 January,1986 LNCPE, Gwalior
II 15-17 November 1986 NSNIS, Patiala
III 09-11 December 1987 LNCPE, Gwalior
IV 31 January - 02 February 1989 Department of Physical Education, Gujrat University, Ahmedabad
V 23-25 February 1990 Department of Psychology, Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi
VI 25-27 February 1991 Sports Psychology of India, New Delhi in collaboration with Dault Ram College, Delhi University
VII 28-30 December 1992 LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
VIII 21-23 March 1993 Department of Psychology, Kumaon University, Almora
IX 06-08 May 1994 Department of Physical Education, Nagarjuna University, Guntur, A.P.
X 29-31 March 1997 Department of Physical Education Thiagarajar College, Madurai
XI 06-08 March 1998 University College of Technology, Osmania University, Hyderabad
XII 28-30 December 1999 LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
XIII 17-19 December 2000 Department of Physical Education, Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar
XIV 27-27 December 2001 Department of Psychology, Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi
XV 06-08 October 2002 Department of Psychology, Kumaon University, Almora
XVI 28-30 December 2003 Department of Physical Education, Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut
XVII 26-28 November 2004 Department of Psychology, University of Jammu, Jammu
XVIII 27-29 January 2006 Department of Psychology and Sports Board, J.N.V. University, Jodhpur
XIX 18-20 January 2007 Nizam Institute of Engineering & Technology, and Department of Psychology, Osmania University, Hyderabad.
XX Year LNIPE, Gwalior
XXI 07-09 February 2011 University Department of Physical Education & Sports Sciences, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh
XXII 25-27 January 2012 Shaheed Kanshi Ram College of Physical Education, BhagooMajra, Kharar, Punjab
XXIII 29-31 January 2013 Department of BPE, Christ College, Irinjalkuda (Trissur), Kerala
XXIV 04-06 January 2014 Department of Physical Education, Visva Bharati Sports Board, Shanti Niketan, West Bengal
XXVI 25-26 February 2015 Department of Physical Education, Baselius College, Kottavam, Kerala
XXV 2016 Department of Physical Education, BHU, Varanasi
XXVIII 28-30 December 2017 BCPA College of Physical Education, Wadala, Mumbai
XXIX 29-31 March 2019 National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal (Telangana State)
XXX 28-30 November 2019 (International) Department of Physical Education, Punjabi University, Patiala
XXXI 09-10 March 2021 online Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, New Delhi
XXXII 27-28 March 2023 Dr. Ambedkar College, Deekshabhoomi, Nagpur
XXXIII 23-24 March 2024 Kumar Guru College of Liberal Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
# A break in regular meetings on a few occasions occurred due to reasons beyond control.

Change of Guards

Change of guards has almost regularly been effected except in exceptional circumstances as shown below. This gives an edge to SPAI over all other organizations of the kind in their functioning as professional bodies. The key officials of the Organization through the years are shown in the following concise table.

Sl. No. Term of Office President Secretary General Finance Secretary
1. February, 1985 - March, 1993 Jitendra Mohan M.L. Kamlesh H.A. Khan
2. April 1993 - March 2002 M. L. Kamlesh Avinash Sidhu Usha Singh
3. April 2002 - March 2006 Anand Kumar Sanjiv Sahni Dilip Dureha
4. April 2006 - March2012 Rajinder Singh Jayashree Acharya Dilip Dureha
5. April 2012 - March 2016 N. S. Mann Dilip Dureha Dhananjoy Shaw
6. April 2016 - March 2023 Dilip Dureha Anuradha Solanki Keshav Singh Gujjar
7. April 2023 to date Anil Karvande Anil Ramachandran M. K. Singh