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Introduction
Over the decades sports have been consistently evolving. Athletes are getting bigger, stronger, faster, and more aggressive than ever. In addition, the salaries of athletes have been continually increasing as well. With the rise in potential income to athletes, it has become increasingly important to obtain a competitive edge over an opponent. For athletes and coaches at all levels of competition this edge is not only physiological, but also psychological. Sport psychologists have been becoming increasingly important in the realm of sports; helping athletes in their focus and controlling emotions; such as anxiety. …show more content…
As a result, many theories have evolved. These theories range from the achievement goal theory (AGT), to the self determination theory (SDT). AGT states that an individual will poses either an ego goal orientation or a task goal orientation. Researchers have examined different aspects of athletes’ motivational orientations in hopes to predict a successful performance. Based off this research, it has been shown that when athletes have a high task goal orientation they are more likely to give a successful performance. However, it has been shown that athletes at the elite level of competition possess both a high task orientation and ego orientation. This is important to coaches when considering how to motivate players. One motivational tactic that has been heard on the sidelines at sporting events is the coach telling his players to be aggressive. Moreover, athletes routinely site aggressive play as the factor in a win or loss. In this regard, the focus of this proposed study is to investigate what role aggression has on an athletes’ motivational orientation and whether aggression has a positive correlation with