True-Sport-Report

must-play rules, using smaller playing fields, or
marking “buddies” to guard in a basketball game.
These little prods and gifts to children allow them
to enjoy the game, master skills, and develop a task
orientation to sport.
In the long run, these investments in building a
desire for intrinsic rewards are more likely to lead to
ethical and appropriate behavior on and off the field.
For example, Chantal et al. 192 looked at anabolic
steroids users in sport. They found that athletes
who use anabolic steroids were less self-determined
in their motivation (i.e., they felt more pressure
to obtain external rewards or avoid punishment)
and displayed weaker sportsmanlike orientations.
In addition, they were perceived as more likely
to engage in reactive aggression (i.e., intent to
injure one’s opponent versus merely hinder his
performance).
The Price of Winning at Any Cost
Increased pressure to win comes from all parties—
coaches, parents, institutional leadership, communities,
and peers. Yet a 2004 Harris Interactive Survey 169
of 18-year-olds involved in organized sport found
that 63 percent of respondents said they would
rather be on an a team that loses most of its games
but allows them to play most of the time rather than
on a winning team where they sit on the bench.
As early as 1969, Webb 193 noted that as athletes
age, their attitude toward their sport tends to professionalize—that
is, they pay less attention to equity
and fairness in sport and place a greater focus on
winning. It is not surprising, then, that athletes
become increasingly motivated by competition and
victory 190 and become more accepting of irregular
and aggressive behaviors in competitive sport. 194,195
Greer and Stewart 196 have observed that children cite
If you make every game
a life-and-death thing,
you’re going to have .
problems. You’ll be .
dead a lot.
Dean Smith, Coach.
University of North Carolina .
Men’s Basketball
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