Sport: Right channel for aggression

Sport is a pastime used to determine and assert the superiority of one participant over the other in physical and mental strength, speed and skill. In the words of George Orwell, sport is war minus the shooting. But there’s a big difference in aggression in day-to-day life and in sport. Sport is played in a controlled environment with very strict rules of behaviour, and punishment is certain in case a participant is physically aggressive towards an opponent. 

Advertisement

Different sports have different levels of tolerance. For instance, verbal abuse is normal and tolerated in cricket; in golf, though, it’s considered very immoral for a golfer to even whisper when his opponent is about the strike the ball.

But aggression is inherent in sport, and it’s most evident in contact sports such as boxing. But there’s a catch: success in professional sport depends on following the strategies prepared on the basis of an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. MS Dhoni is the not the most skilful batsman India produced, but he became a great captain and a cool run-chaser because he was able to remain cool in the heat of the battle.

Sportspersons are taught to channelize their aggression. The greatest players do it effortlessly -- Rafael Nadal is among the shyest, quietest athletes in modern sport. But on the court, chasing and hitting the ball, he’s like a tiger. Roger Federer, probably the greatest tennis player of all time, is a creative genius in aggressive stroke-making. He is extremely pleasant off the field.

‘Hostile aggression’ is bad aggression, for it makes sportspersons attempt to harm or injure their competitors. This mostly happens in boxing, wrestling, rugby or football. In cricket, a fast bowler would really like to hurt a batsman, break a bone or two — he’s upset only if the injury he’s caused is life-threatening.

What is termed ‘instrumental aggression’ is good aggression. Sportspersons use it to get the adrenaline flowing. For instance, James Anderson, the England fast bowler, is extremely quiet and soft-spoken; on the field, he needs to work himself up into a passion. He sledges the batsmen, abuses them, gets angry; perhaps he's then able to dislike them and bowl nasty, unplayable balls at them. Shane Warne says that sometimes, on a difficult day on the field when nothing is going a bowler's way, it can be useful to pick up a quarrel with a batsman, get angry and mentally worked into a state of aggression.

It’s also likely that if you're a very aggressive person, you'll become a very aggressive sportsperson: Mike Tyson, for example. His first coach was able to channelize his aggression and anger as an underprivileged black child.

If you're a very smart person, you'll become a very smart sportsperson: Javed Miandad or Dhoni, for instance. But you'll be extremely stupid if you became a violent sportsperson: in sport, unlike in life, violence is guaranteed to attract strong punishment.