In 1965, the farsighted Italian sport psychologist Ferruccio Antonelli mounted a conference in Rome. This event attracted an attendance of 450 people from all around the world, who were interested in the application of psychology to sport and physical activity.

The conference was entitled the First World Congress of Sport Psychology. During the conference Antonelli and his close colleagues held a business meeting, proposed thecreation of global body in the field, and the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) was born. In his Editorial for the inaugural issue of the International Journal of Sport Psychology, five years later, Antonelli (1970) stated: “I shall never forget that first meeting…

The encouraging approval of the Pope who granted us an audience…the wealth of the contributions,…the warm expression of friendship and esteem…regardless of all differences of politics, nation or race” (p. 3).