Honorary Membership and Honorary Presidency

Prof. Jürgen Nitsch, born on September 23, 1940 in Königsberg, was appointed Honorary President of the asp in 2015. After studying psychology and earning his doctorate (Dr. Phil. at the TU Berlin, Jürgen Nitsch took over the duties of Professor of Psychology at the German Sport University in Cologne in 1971. In 1975 he became head (and professor) of the Psychological Institute of the DSHS. From 1991 to 1995 he was Dean of the Department of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences at the DSHS. In autumn 2003 Jürgen Nitsch retired.

Prof. Nitsch was on the board of asp from 1977 to 1989, from 1985 to 1989 as 1st chairman. Jürgen Nitsch was also active internationally, he was a member of the Managing Council of the ISSP (1985-1993) and organizer of various international conferences, such as the FEPSAC 1972 and 1991 in Cologne. From 1978 to 2006 he was editor of the book series "Betreff: Psychologie & Sport". Jürgen Nitsch supervised 33 doctorates and habilitations as first reviewer.

In 2015, Prof. Nitsch was elected by the asp general meeting in Freiburg i. Brsg. elected Honorary President of the asp.

Here you will find the eulogy by Prof. Bernd Strauß (President of the asp) for Prof. J. Nitsch from 2015 as a pdf. (German language)

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Paul Kunath was born in Reichenbach in 1926 and, after studying psychology, general pedagogy and didactics at the University of Leipzig and earning his doctorate in 1958 - initially as a lecturer - began developing sports psychology at the German University for Physical Culture in Leipzig. Just 10 years later he was appointed full professor of sports psychology. This represented an appreciation of his development and integration achievements, which were expressed above all in the founding of an independent institute for sports psychology and the anchoring of sports psychology. Paul Kunath sought scientific dialogue with other national and international scientific representatives. He was instrumental in founding international sports psychology associations. In preparation for the first international congress for sports psychology in Rome in 1965, Paul Kunath was invited as a sports psychology expert and, together with M. Olson and J. Recla, compiled a bibliography on the psychology of sports containing around 1650 sources. He was also significantly involved in the founding of FEPSAC in 1968/69 and, as a member of the Executive Committee, assumed the management functions of the Documentation Commission. With these initiatives he laid the foundation for the international integration of German sports psychology. In 1983 (until 1991) he was elected President of the European Federation for Sport Psychology and was able to open the VII European Congress for Sport Psychology in Bad Blankenburg. Paul Kunath has about 200 publications and has supervised over 160 doctoral students and 35 post-doctoral students. The asp made him an honorary member of the asp in 2001. Paul Kunath passed away in March 2022.

text source: Laudation von Henning Allmer, MV der asp in Magglingen, 2001

Kurt Kohl, born in Frankfurt am Main in 1918, died there in 2002, completed two courses, first a teaching degree in physical education until 1939, then - after a six-year break due to military service and being a prisoner of war - a degree in psychology, both at the University of Frankfurt. In 1955 he received his doctorate there in psychology. His university career took him from Frankfurt (1955-64) via Gießen (1964-66), Aachen (1966-68) and Berlin (1968-73) to Bielefeld. In 1973 he accepted a full professorship for "physical education and its didactics" at the University of Education in Westphalia-Lippe. In 1980 he and his team moved to Bielefeld University as part of the PH integration. Even after his retirement in 1984, he remained an active scientist for many years. He died in Frankfurt am Main in October 2002.
His dissertation "On the Problem of Sensumotorik" published in 1956 is still regarded as the basic book of sports psychology. The German Sports Teachers Association awarded him the Golden Badge of Honour, and at the suggestion of the Conference of Ministers of Education, he was honored with a certificate for special services to physical education and sports. Kurt Kohl was one of the founding fathers of the Working Group for Sports Psychology, which recognized him for his services with honorary membership in 1997.

Text and image source: dvs Mitteilungen 03_2002, Nachrichten aus der asp 4/2002 und Pressemitteilung der Universität Bielefeld 

Prof. Dr. BerndStrauß studierte von 1979 bis 1987 Psychologie an der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel und war

danach wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Institut für Sport und Sportwissenschaft. 1987 erlangte er seinen Diplomabschluss und 1992 seine Doktorwürde (Thema: Konfundierungen beim Komplex Problemlösen"), 1998 schloss Strauß bei Herbert Haag seine Habilitation (Thema: Die Beeinflussung sportlicher Leistungen durch Sportzuschauer") ab.

1998 trat Strauß eine Professur für Sportpsychologie an der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität (WWU) in Münster an. Von 2001 bis 2006 sowie von 2008 bis 2010 hatte er das Amt des Dekans des Fachbereichs ,Psychologie und Sportwissenschaft" inne. 2009 wurde er an der WWU zudem Beauftragter für Spitzensport.

Im Frühjahr und Sommer 2011 weilte Strauß als Gastprofessor an der Universität Wien und im Februar 2015 an der Swinburne University im australischen Melbourne.

Von 2003 bis 2009 war Strauß der Vorsitzende der Deutschen Vereinigung für Sportwissenschaft (dvs) und wurde 2012 mit der Goldenen Ehrennadel der DVS ausgezeichnet. Im September 2019 wurde Strauß zum Ehrenmitglied der dvs ernannt.

Im Mai 2013 wurde er zum Präsidenten der Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Sportpsychologie in Deutschland gewählt und 2015 sowie 2017 wiedergewählt. Er blieb bis 2021 im Amt. Insgesamt arbeitete Bernd Strauß 14 Jahre in verschiedenen Positionen und Ämtern in den Präsidien der asp. Unvergessen die asp-Tagungen in den Jahren 2002, 2006und 2016 sowie die FEPSAC-Tagung im Jahr 2019, die unter seiner Leitung stattfanden.

Von 2001 bis 2004 amtierte Strauß als geschäftsführender Herausgeber der Zeitschrift für Sportpsychologie.

Schwerpunkte seiner Forschungstätigkeit sind die Themengebiete Expertise im Sport, Sozialpsychologische Aspekte des Sports" sowie Forschungsmethoden. Darüber hinaus beschäftigte er sich unter anderem mit Zusammenhängen zwischen Sport und Medien, Sportberichterstattung sowie mit dem Thema Sportzuschauer.

Persönlich habe ich Bernd Strauß in der Arbeit in mehreren Vorständen und Präsidien der asp kennengelernt. In diesem Zusammenhang habe ich sein sehr strukturiertes und durch Voraussicht geprägtes Vorgehen schätzen gelernt. Vielen Dank dafür und auch für deine freundschaftliche Verbundenheit.

Oliver Stoll

The organizers of the first virtual and 52nd asp conference in May 2020 in Salzburg (Sabine Würth, Günter Amesberger, Thomas Finkenzeller and everyone who took part) were awarded the honorary prize of the asp for their extraordinary achievements and professional organization as TEAM SALZBURG , the Hermann Rieder Badge of Honour. In just three months, an event was held in digital format (the first in sports science), with several hundred sports psychologists actively participating.

On May 22, 2020, Prof. Klaus Willimczik was awarded the asp Herrmann Rieder Badge of Honor during the virtual asp annual conference 2020 in Salzburg. asp Vice-President Claudia Voelcker-Rehage, on behalf of asp President Bernd Strauß, honored Willimczik's special services to sports psychology.

From 1980 until his retirement in 2005, Klaus Willimcizik headed the “Sport and Exercise” department at Bielefeld University. After studying philosophy, history, geography and physical education in Mainz, Hamburg and Berlin with completion of the first state examination and doctorate (in Mainz) as well as habilitation with the Venia Legendi for "Theory of physical education" (in Frankfurt) took place in 1971 at the age of 31 years the (first) appointment as full professor for sports science at the TH Darmstadt.

The laudatory speech by Prof. Strauß, read by Prof.in Voelcker-Rehage, can be found here as a PDF for download.

Dokument (German)

Prof. Dr. Meinhart Volkamer

On May 30, 2019, Prof. Meinhart Volkamer was awarded the asp Herrmann Rieder Badge of Honor at the asp annual conference 2019 in Halle (Saale) as part of the "50 Years of asp" ceremony. asp President Bernd Strauss honored Volkamer's special achievements in the founding years of asp. Volkamer was one of the seven founding members of the asp alongside Rieder, Gabler, Hahn, Feige, Jonas and Röthig.

From 1969 until his retirement in 2001, Volkamer was a professor in the Department of Education and Cultural Studies at the University of Osnabrück. He passed the first and second state exams in sports and German and is also a qualified psychologist; he did his doctorate in this subject. At the beginning of his professional career he was a psychologist with a pedagogical mindset, but later became a pedagogue with a psychological mindset

source: Volkamer, M. (2003). Sportpädagogisches Kaleidoskop. Cwalina.

Prof. Dr. Hubert Ilg

On May 30, 2019, Prof. Hubert Ilg was awarded the asp Herrmann Rieder Badge of Honor at the asp annual conference 2019 in Halle (Saale) as part of the "50 Years of asp" ceremony. asp President Bernd Strauß honored Ilg's special services to sports psychology in East and West Germany and in the context of reunification.

After completing his studies at the University of Greifswald, Ilg worked as a university lecturer (professorship for sports psychology) at the Institute for Sports Science at the University of Greifswald after completing his doctorate (1966) and his habilitation (1975). In 2001 he retired. From 1981 Hubert Ilg held the position of head of the sports psychology working group in the central sports committee. After reunification, Ilg was a member of the board of asp from 1995 to 2001.

Prof. Dr. Gerd Konzag

On May 30, 2019, Prof. Gerd Konzag was awarded the asp Herrmann Rieder Badge of Honor at the asp annual conference 2019 in Halle (Saale) as part of the "50 Years asp" ceremony. asp President Bernd Strauß honored Konzag's special services to sports psychology in East and West Germany and in the context of reunification.

After completing his studies in Berlin, Konzag worked from 1954, first as a university lecturer and later as a professor of sports psychology at the Martin Luther University in Halle (Saale). From 1993 to 1995 Gerd Konzag was the second chairman of the working group for sports psychology.

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Beckmann

On May 30, 2019, Prof. Jürgen Beckmann was awarded the asp Golden Badge of Honor at the asp Annual Conference 2019 in Halle (Saale) following his Senior Lecture "From scientifically reflected to scientifically founded sport psychological practice". asp President Bernd Strauss honored Beckmann's special services to asp and sports psychology in Germany.

After studying social sciences with a focus on psychology at the Ruhr University Bochum (1981), he received his doctorate (1984) and habilitation (1988) in psychology at the University of Mannheim (Venia Legendi for psychology; additionally 1992 Dr. habil. LMU). From 1984 he was a project manager at the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich. In 1990 he received a Heisenberg grant from the DFG and worked at Florida Atlantic University in 1993.

After being appointed to the professorship for sports psychology at the University of Potsdam (1997), he took over the chair for sports psychology at the TUM in 2006. From 1997 to 2013 he was Dean of the Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences at TUM. Visiting professorships took him to the University of Oslo and Southwest Jiao Tong University, China. In 2018 he was appointed Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland (School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences).

He is the author of more than 180 publications, which have been cited more than 5500 times. From 2005 to 2009 he was President of the asp and Managing Editor of Psychology and Sport (Journal for Sport Psychology) from 1998 to 2000. He is currently on the Editorial Board and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of various journals.

Prof. Dr. Anne-Marie Elbe

On May 30, 2019, Prof. Anne-Marie Elbe was awarded the golden badge of honor of the asp at the asp annual conference 2019 in Halle (Saale) after her senior lecture "50 years of asp from a European perspective". asp President Bernd Strauss honored Elbe's special achievements in sports psychology in Germany and in particular in Europe. Among others, Anne-Marie Elbe was FEPSAC President at the time of the award.

Anne-Marie Elbe has been a professor of sports psychology at the University of Leipzig since 2018. Previously she was Professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as at Northumbria University, Newcastle in the UK and at the University of Potsdam.

Her publications and research interests focus on motivational and volitional aspects of sport performance, talent development in sport, doping prevention, and the integrative role of sport.

She is Past President of FEPSAC (European Federation of Sport Psychology), member of the Scientific Board of ECSS (European College of Sport Science), Associate Editor for the journal Science and Medicine in Football and member of the Editorial Board of Psychology of Sport and Exercise.

Prof. Dr. Willi Essing

On May 30, 2019, Prof. Willi Essing was awarded the asp's golden badge of honor at the asp annual conference 2019 in Halle (Saale) as part of the "50 years of asp" ceremony. asp President Bernd Strauß thus honored Essing's special merits in the founding years of asp.

In 1968, Willi Essing belonged to the small group of Germans who took part in the 2nd World Congress of the International Society for Sport Psychology (ISSP) in Washington, DC - which provided a decisive impetus for the founding of the asp as an institutional representation of sport psychology in Germany.

Prof. Dr. From 1973 until his retirement in 1998, Willi Essing was a professor of sports psychology at the Institute for Sports Science (formerly the Institute for Physical Exercise) at the University of Münster.

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Gabler

On May 11, 2018, Prof. Hartmut Gabler, who held the Chair of Sports Psychology at the University of Tübingen until his retirement, was awarded the asp’s Golden Badge of Honor at the 2018 asp annual conference in Cologne. asp President Bernd Strauss honored Gabler's special achievements in sports psychology in Germany. Among other things, Hartmut Gabler was one of the founding members of the asp at the founding meeting in Münster in 1969.

In 1959, Hartmut Gabler began studying English, French and physical education at the University of Tübingen. From 1961 to 1963 he then studied at the Cologne Sports University, graduating as a certified sports teacher. He then began studying psychology in Cologne in 1963, which he continued in Tübingen in 1965. After graduating as a psychologist from the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen in 1968, he began his long professional career at the University of Tübingen. After earning his doctorate phil. in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Education 1971 Hartmut Gabler became Executive Director of the Institute for Sports Science in 1972.

In 1976 Gabler habilitated in sports science and in 1977 he took over the professorship for sports science with a focus on sports psychology at the University of Tübingen. He held this position until his retirement in 2005. In the meantime, he was Dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences twice for two years and Vice-Rector of the university from 1997 to 1999. Shortly before his retirement (1999-2002) he once again took over the management of the Institute for Sports Science.

During his career, which had a decisive influence on the development of sports psychology in Germany, Gabler's main areas of work were in the areas of performance motivation in high-performance sports, the motivational foundations of extreme sports, motivation to act fairly, aggressive actions by athletes and spectators, life courses and biographies of high-performance and extreme athletes and in the field of psychological training.

In addition to the scientific findings and the contribution to theory formation, Hartmut Gabler was also active in the practice of sports psychology. He dealt with psychological aspects in various sports, e.g. in swimming and football, then he increasingly focused his interest on tennis. Here, together with the German Tennis Association, he developed teaching and learning material for teacher and trainer training and helped to develop training concepts.

Prof. Dr. Roland Seiler

On May 11, 2018, a senior lecture by Prof. Roland Seiler, University of Bern (CH), took place at the German Sport University Cologne. Following this, Roland Seiler was awarded the asp's Golden Badge of Honor by asp President Bernd Strauss. Bernd Strauß honored Roland Seiler's international and national services to sports psychology.

Roland Seiler earned the gymnastics and sports teacher diploma II at the University of Bern and received his doctorate in psychology and sports medicine from the German Sports University in Cologne in 1989. After his habilitation in 1994 at the DSHS in Cologne, he held a professorship at the Norwegian Sport University in Oslo, declined the call to Gießen and in 1996 took over the management of the department of sport psychology and social sciences at the Federal Office for Sport in Magglingen. In 2005 he accepted a professorship with a focus on sports psychology at the Institute for Sports Science at the University of Bern and is now Vice Director of the institute.

Prof. Seiler was head of the organizing committee for the 1991 FEPSAC Congress in Cologne, where he was elected to the FEPSAC Board of Directors, which he chaired from 2003 to 2007. He also chaired the 2001 asp conference in Magglingen and the 2015 FEPSAC congress in Bern.

His research focuses on the cognitive organization of sporting actions, most recently within groups and teams. In addition, special attention is paid to the development and assurance of quality in applied sports psychology, including the design and management of a postgraduate course in sports psychology.

Prof. Dr. Dorothee Alfermann

On June 21, 2016, the farewell symposium of Prof. Dr. Dorothee Alfermann, who will be leaving the university after the 2016 summer semester. Numerous guests attended the symposium. asp President Bernd Strauss gave the laudatory speech. In addition, Prof. Dr. Anne-Marie Elbe (President FEPSAC) and Prof. Dr. dr hc. multi. Ursula Lehr (University of Heidelberg, former federal minister), who gave a lecture on issues related to career development in old age. Bernd Strauss emphasized the outstanding achievements of the Ema Geron prizewinner in the development of sports psychology and awarded Prof. Alfermann the asp's Golden Badge of Honour.

Dorothee Alfermann is the first recipient of the Golden Badge of Honor of the asp. In June 2016, the asp executive committee decided to introduce this new form of honoring for the asp. Prerequisite for this honor is the Executive Committee resolution of the asp. The Golden Badge of Honor of the asp is another instrument of the asp, in addition to the tried and tested instruments of honorary presidency and honorary membership, which are awarded by resolution of the general meeting.

Here you will find the eulogy by asp President Prof. Bernd Strauß as a pdf for download.

Dokument (German)

Prof. Dr. Dieter Hackfort

On November 19, 2016, a ceremony was held at the Bundeswehr University in Munich to mark the 25th anniversary of the Department of Sports Science and in honor of the founder, Prof. Dr. Dieter Hackfort, who celebrated his 65th birthday the following day. In this context, asp President Prof. Bernd Strauß awarded the asp's Golden Badge of Honor to the jubilee.
Prof. Hackfort is the founding professor of the Department of Sports Science (DfS, formerly ISWS=Institute for Sports Science and Sports) in 1991 at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich. He received his training at the German Sport University and at the University of Cologne, where he studied sports science, psychology and education. Doctorate in 1983 (with distinction) and habilitation in 1985. His professional career has taken him from Cologne (assistant at the Psychological Institute of the German Sport University) to Tampa, Florida (visiting professorship at the Center for Behavioral Medicine and Health Psychology at the University of South Florida), Heidelberg (professorship for Sports Science) and Munich (Professorship for Sports Psychology and Sports Education) in 2003 to Doha, Qatar, where he was involved as Dean in the founding of Aspire - Academy for Sports Excellence and the Department for Quality Management, Education and Social Affairs (QESA) as Director and established the Sport Science Program at Qatar University as Founding Director. After refusing an appointment at the German Sport University in Cologne, he returned to the Bundeswehr University in Munich in 2010.
His research focuses on the development of a mental test and training system (MTTS), performance management in stressful situations, transitions into high-performance sport during and after a sporting career, as well as the diagnosis and optimization of mental fitness.

Here you will find the laudation by asp President Prof. Bernd Strauß as a pdf for download.

Dokument (German)