The integration of research and practice in sport psychology

Abstract

From the consolidation of the psychology of sport as an independent scientific discipline at an international level, a great advance was developed that also favored the consolidation of the applied field and the intervention, into two distinct political-geographic areas: the Eastern countris and the Western block. In both the performances began with the elite sport, and the figure of the psychologist as a member of the sports teams. In 1979 the publication of Rainer Martens' article On Jackets and Jocks (Martens, 1979) mobilized the reflection of both researchers and applied psychologists. From its publication to the present day, this text became a reference text, especially when it came to direct interventions with athletes, and led to a reflection on the methodological difference between research and direct intervention. However, previously, in 1987, Martens himself had recommended and warned of the need to establish links between both spheres, academic and applied, to strengthen and give consistency to the psychology of sport (Garcia-Ucha and Martinez, 2014).