With the NFL Bounty-Gate in the news, it prompted me to think about sports aggression and the differences between healthy, competitive hitting versus violent and illegal physical play. The New Orleans Saints organization is paying a big price (especially head coach Sean Payton) for the bounties that were set by previous defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, yet some are arguing that the hits would have been just the same regardless whether they were done to receive bounty money or not. After all, this is the NFL and aggression comes part and parcel with football, right? Actually, sport psychologists identify two types of sports aggression, presenting an entirely different view of what may have happened in New Orleans.
For sports parents, this is a great opportunity to teach kids about how violence and aggression play into sports, including the differences between healthy and unhealthy aggression. The two types of aggression commonly seen in sports, instrumental and hostile, are broken down in more detail below:
Instrumental Aggression
This type of legal aggression occurs in sports when an athlete is in pursuit of winning and playing within the competitive spirit of the game. The aggression, in actuality, is needed and used in order to make plays, stop the opponent, and ultimately win games. This type of aggression is not designed to hurt players, or purposely knock opponents out of the game to make it easier to win. One way to think of this instrumental aggression is to think of the aggression as helpful, and not intentionally harmful.
Some examples of instrumental aggression 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.
Hostile Aggression
This type of aggression differs from instrumental aggression in that the sole intention of hostile aggression is to hurt another player. In these instances, the aggression is not directed at scoring points or tackling a player, but instead purposely designed to physically hurt another player. When you see a cheap shot in sports, most likely it’s an example of hostile aggression. In New Orleans, the aggression could be called hostile aggression as bounties are designed exclusively to “knock guys out.”
Helping Your Child Understand Sports Aggression
So how does your child stack up? If she plays hard and within the rules of the game, then she is likely displaying instrumental aggression. On the other hand, if your kid engages in aggression that clearly is designed to hurt another player, it’s likely he is using hostile aggression. Of course, there are fine lines between these types of aggression, and the distinctions get even more blurred when you factor in the intimidation factor that plays in to many sports (like when a pitcher hits a batter intentionally to gain back the plate, opposed to simply “pitching inside”). Still, most types of hostile aggression are easy to identify and usually result in penalties and suspensions when they occur.
In all likelihood, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell probably factored in the type of aggression displayed when he made his final decision with the New Orleans Saints. In his mind, he saw the aggression as purposeful and designed to hurt players (and possibly end careers) — and how that type of aggression steers away from the competitive spirit of football.
Talk to your kids about the different types of aggression in sports, and reinforce instrumental aggression while calling out harmful and unhealthy hostile aggression.
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aggression, bounties, Goodell, hostile, instrumental, New Orleans, NFL, psychology, Roger, Saints, sports, suspensions
