The founder : Prof. Dr Akkla Suliman Ali Alhoori
Place Of Birth : Mosul – Iraq – 1962

The association’s idea

The idea of establishing Arab Association For sport Psychology (AASP) came in 1962 came to me when I was a PhD student in College of Physical Education and Sports Science – University of Baghdad – Iraq, and I wrote then an article in Al Baath Al Readee journal titled as (Just an opinion) I invited the Iraqi Olympic committee to establish a union or an association for sport psychology, but our proposal didn’t wasn’t approved, after that I wrote many articles about the importance of psychological preparation which accompanies physical, skills and plans preparations, and after 2003 I spoke with the new president of the Olympic committee Prof.

Ahmed Alhajiaa about establishing the association and after a marathon of discussions with the unsupportive members of the Olympic committee, the president of the Olympic committee agreed in 2005 to establish (AASP) to work experimentally for 2 years and be linked to Studies and research office which was led by Dr. Saad Muhsain, and the association was opened and consisted of five members then I gave up my position as president of association to Prof. Dr. Hazim Alwan Mansoor and I became Founder and vice president.

As for the members they are : Prof .Dr. Khalida Ibrahim , Prof Dr. Mohamed Jsaam Arab and Prof. Dr. Nadim Alwattar, the association worked for two years and during these two years bloody events accrued in Iraq which was president and some members of association from its victims, then I left Baghdad immediately to live in northern of Iraq so the association was dissolved.

Then the idea of establishing an association was brought up again in many conferences like Al Zaqazeq conference in Egypt 2007 , Irbid conference in Jordan 2009, Al Jalfa conference in Algeria 2013, Al hammat conference in Tunisia 2014, Muscat conference in Amman 2017 and the last was Hafar AL Batin conference in Saudi Arabia 2019.

In 2019 I became president of sport Psychology branch in the Iraqi sport and science committee and during the third international world conference which was held on 16th and 17th – December – 2020 and 11 recommendations were a result of the conference and the last two recommendations were : firstly, establishing Arab experts council for sport Psychology and it was established on 24th – December – 2020 and still runs on my presidency, and secondly I presented the idea of establishing Arab Association For sport Psychology and I wrote its internal system and after extensive discussions with representatives from 14 Arab countries selected by me, they later formed the essence of Executive office members, and during the administrative commission’s elections while all eyes were tending on choosing me as a president by the Executive office members to be a president of the first association cycle I gave up my position voluntarily to my dear friend Prof. Dr. Nadim Alwattar and he is my colleague at the university of Mosul so I became secretary of the first association cycle, and praise be to God, during the first three months the association opened 14 branches in Arab countries 6 of them were in Africa and 8 were in Asia, and the association was recognized by 3 international associations which are : European Federation of Sport Psychology (FEPSAC), Asian South Pacific Association of Sports Psychology (ASPASP) and International Association of Sports Psychology (ISSP), and the secretary general of Arab league has been addressed to recognize the association and discussions about this subject is still in progress.