Sport psychology today is a vibrant and thriving field with well-developed theory and increased opportunities for applied consulting. However, when the field is historicized, it is often done so with an emphasis on its North American roots (c.f., Williams & Straub, 2001). While the development of sport psychology in other parts of the world, particularly Eastern Europe, is acknowledged, less is known about the contributions of individuals in those countries. One such person, who was one of the earliest contributing figures to the field, is the Russian practitioner and scholar Avksenty Tcezarevich Puni (1898 – 1986). To date, English-speaking audiences have been unaware of the profound influence of Puni’s work because his papers were published in Russian. Though some of Puni’s work was translated into various languages of the European socialist countries, only glimpses of his work exist in English in the form of a few published abstracts of papers Puni presented at international conferences.  

                      In this paper, we offer the first of two essays designed to acquaint English-speaking readers with the work of this patriarch of Russian sport psychology. The second essay (Stambulova, Wrisberg, & Ryba, 2004) entitled “A Tale of Two Traditions in Applied Sport Psychology: The Heyday of Soviet Sport and a Wake-Up Call for North America,” is currently in preparation. Both papers represent our attempt to disrupt the established linear flow of the North American narrative by juxtaposing Russian and English historical texts, original Puni’s writings (including documents from his personal archives), and oral history.[i] This first essay begins with a short biographical sketch of Puni, followed by an English translation of one of his most influential early works. It concludes with a brief discussion of some of the parallel events transpiring in North American sport psychology during Puni’s era.