FEPSAC newsletter (January 2017)

Welcome to this issue of the FEPSAC Newsletter – Fédération Européenne de Psychologie des Sport et des Activités Corporelles (European Federation of Sport Psychology). 1. European master in sport & exercise psychology – new intake The University of Thessaly in Trikala, Greece, welcomed new students in the European Master in Sport and Exercise Psychology. Students from all over the world interested in Sport Psychology applied for that programme. Eventually, seven students (from USA, Italy, Slovenia, Netherlands, Estonia and Canada) were accepted and arrived in September for this two-year master programme. Amongst them five students will go to Jvväskylä, Finland, during the second semester and, subject to successful completion of the programme, they will be awarded a double master degree. The welcome period to the programme included a short trip to the great rocks of Meteora, a welcome dinner at the old town of Trikala and a journey to the ancient regions of Delfi and Olympia. In the first semester, the programme includes subjects such as Psychological foundations of sport and physical activity, Psychological skills in physical activity and sports, Psychology in physical education and youth sports, and Research Method and Statistics. The staff at the University of Thessaly are very happy to welcome the new students and wish them all the very best and a warm stay in Greece! Note that the deadline for the next round of applications for this master programme is the 31st of May 2017. More information is available at http://postgrad.pe.uth.gr/pse/index.php/en/ 2. Review of the 12th ENYSSP conference held in Warsaw, Poland. By Malgorzata Slawinska (Research department at ENYSSP; Head of organising committee). The 12th ENYSSP conference “Professional development: Where can you take sport and exercise psychology?” was held at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS) in Warsaw, Poland (21–22 November 2016). The European Network of Young Specialists in Sport Psychology was born in 2003, on the occasion of the 11th European Congress of Sport Psychology held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The aims of ENYSSP are to provide and facilitate support in education, research, professional practice and service delivery to young people with official qualification or an interest in the field of Sport and Exercise Psychology. During the 12th ENYSSP conference, three world class sport psychologists delivered a keynote lecture. Prof. Martin Hagger spoke about changing physical activity behaviour, Prof. Maurizo Bertollo discussed the multimodal psychological approach and Prof. Jan Blecharz shared his experience as a researcher and an applied practitioner in mental preparation for major sport competitions. The 12th ENYSSP conference offered 13 applied workshops conducted in 4 parallel sessions, an oral presentation session and a poster session, which provided an excellent opportunity for learning and further development. The topics ranged from ACT approach to sport psychology consultancy, sport injury, motivational context, relaxation techniques and decision-making to Kinesiotrapping. For the full list of topics please visit http://www.enyssp.com. There was a total of three scientific prizes awarded to best workshop, best poster presentation, and best oral communication. The prizes sponsored by Human Kinetics, Routledge and Palgrave publishers. Congratulations to all the prize winners from conference. The conference saw an excellent number of attendance; 28 nations were represented including most European countries as well as Canada, Taiwan, Russia, UAE, Thailand, Armenia, India and Australia. ENYSSP would like to thank their partners, SWPS, Human Kinetics, Routledge and Palgrave publishers, Polish Olympic committee (PKOL), Polish psychological association (PTP) and Warsaw tourism organisation. Stay tuned for more information on the next ENYSSP workshop 2017 to be held in Bratislava! 3. FEPSAC internship report. By Nathalie Novembrini (Italy). Few months ago a friend suggested me to look on the FEPSAC website to see if there were interesting internship opportunities. He is currently doing a PhD and knew I was considering to follow his path; it would have been a good chance to collect more elements before making a final decision on my future career. Based on both my interests and my friend's suggestions, I finally opted for a sport psychology internship at the University of Copenhagen. I thought it was a great opportunity to become more familiar with quantitative methods and to have a general idea of what doing research is. Honestly, one of the reasons why I chose Copenhagen is that I have always dreamed of visiting Scandinavian countries and this internship allows me to do it while carrying out research in sport psychology. It sounded perfect to me! I contacted the professor in charge of the internship, Dr. Anne-Marie Elbe, who kindly explained to me how it worked and entrusted me to my supervisor, Dr. Johan Michael Wikman, with whom I discussed in more detail the projects I would be working on. I was also lucky enough to find accommodation at a local family, which gave me a taste of Danish everyday life. Coming from Italy, I must say the first impact with Danish habits was quite bewildering, but after a few days I got used to different rhythms of life and everything went well. Something that was of great help was the fact that everyone in Denmark speaks English. It is really encouraging to know that if you need anything you can easily make yourself understood. As for the internship, I carried out different activities: Literature review, hypothesis creation, data clearing and analysis with SPSS. Studying statistics turned out to be more stimulating than I had thought and I was amazed at how my supervisor took into account my interests before giving me any task. Moreover, he was always available to provide me, patiently, with feedback when needed. The FEPSAC internship was a really exciting experience, both from an academic and a personal point of view. On the one hand, it gave me the chance to make up my mind whether to apply for a PhD or not, and to come into contact with well-known professors from different academic fields. On the other hand, I had the opportunity to experience a completely different way of life and meet wonderful people. 4. FEPSAC and social media – keep in touch with FEPSAC Facebook (https://en-gb.facebook.com/people/Fepsac-SportPsy/100010095409342). Twitter (https://twitter.com/FEPSAC_MC). On behalf of the MC, we would like to thank all those who contributed to the making of this Newsletter. We look forward to receiving more contributions for forthcoming Issues so do not hesitate to send them by email to office@fepsac.com. Xavier Sanchez (University of Cumbria, Lancaster, UK). Julian Fritsch (University of Thessaly, Greece, and University of Copenhagen, Denmark)