The Two Types Of Aggression In Sports

Aggression is a word that most everyone is aware of its full meaning. However, most people do not realize that in order for something to actually be aggression, it must have two factors. The two factors are that the behavior must be aimed at another human being with the goal of inflicting physical harm and there must be a reasonable expectation that the attempt to inflict bodily harm will be successful (Cox, 2012, pg. 326). When you think about aggression within sports, you can think about who will be committing the aggression. Most people automatically think of the athlete, because most of the focus is on an athlete. However, aggression and violence can come from the fans, the coaches and even the referee’s. Aggression can happen from fan

They are known as hostile aggression and instrumental aggression. When talking about hostile aggression, this is when a person has a goal of harming another human. This is in response to provocation, high emotional arousal and it is usually spontaneous. An example of this would be when playing basketball, one team is on a fast break and the other team intentionally fouls the player that’s taking a lay-up shot as he or she is in the air. This would be a clear example of the player trying to hurt the other athlete, especially because the athlete is already in the process of laying the ball in the basket. Instrumental aggression is the intent to harm other individual is present, but the goal is to realize some external goal such as money, victory, or prestige (Cox, 2012, pg. 327). When talking about examples of this type of aggression, they would “include a hockey player checking another player in order to get to a loose puck, a basketball player using his body to position for a rebound, or a baseball pitcher pitching inside to gain better control of the plate” (Stankovich, 2012, pg. 1). Regardless of which type of aggression an athlete commits, it is wrong for them to do so. According to Cox, apologies are offered more times for instrumental athletic aggression than for hostile aggression. Assertiveness is often confused with aggression. Assertiveness is when the athlete wants to make their presence felt, involving the use of

Although I do not believe you can completely take our aggression within sport, I do believe that you can minimize or reduce it significantly. One factor when reducing aggression is realizing that there is an attitude problem somewhere within the athlete, coach, or spectator. If the attitude is allowed to go on for weeks or even years without being confronted, it will be very difficult to address and change. The biggest challenge is making sure that the professionals handle themselves correctly because of how many kids look up to them on a daily basis. If you have a professional or collegiate athlete acting in a manner that is not acceptable, younger athletes that look up to them will start acting the same exact way. There are a ton of ways to reduce aggression and violence within sports, but within this paper I will only mention a few. One way is to penalize the athletes that participate in aggressive acts. An example of this is when a coach suspends his own player because of wrongful actions, even if the league he or she is in does not require them to do so. This then sets an example for all of the other players as well as spectators. Sometimes, you have coaches that ask their athletes to participate in violent acts. Here, the coach should get severely penalized as well. Whether that be suspension or a fine, something needs to be done so that the coaches understand the