<P> In 1923, Griffith developed and taught the first sports psychology university courses ("Psychology and Athletics") at the University of Illinois, and he came to be known as "The Father of Sports Psychology" in the United States, as a result of his pioneering achievements in that area . However, he is also known as "The prophet without disciples", since none of his students continued with sports psychology, and his work started to receive attention only from the 1960s </P> <P> Hari Charan was another researcher that had a positive influence on sport psychology . In 1938, he began to study how different factors in sport psychology can affect athlete's motor skills . He also investigated how high altitudes can have an effect on exercise and performance, aeroembolism, and decompression sickness, and studies on kinesthetic perception, learning of motor skills, and neuromuscular reaction were carried out in his laboratory . In 1964, he wrote a paper "Physical Education: An Academic Discipline", that helped further advance sport psychology, and began to give it its scholarly and scientific shape . Additionally, he published over 120 articles, was a board member of various journals, and received many awards and acclaims for his contributions . </P> <P> Given the relatively free travel of information amongst European practitioners, sport psychology flourished first in Europe, where in 1965, the First World Congress of Sport Psychology met in Rome, Italy . This meeting, attended by some 450 professionals primarily from Europe, Australia, and the Americas, gave rise to the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP). The ISSP become a prominent sport psychology organization after the Third World Congress of Sport Psychology in 1973 . Additionally, the European Federation of Sport Psychology was founded in 1968 . </P> <P> In North America, support for sport psychology grew out of physical education . The North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) grew from being an interest group to a full - fledged organization, whose mission included promoting the research and teaching of motor behavior and the psychology of sport and exercise . In Canada, the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS) was founded in 1977 to promote the study and exchange of ideas in the fields of motor behavior and sport psychology . </P>

Who was the first president of the international society for sport psychology