Win at All Costs: Is Organized Sports All “Fun and Games”?
On the weekends, I referee in a recreational basketball league in the West Island of Montreal. The league’s focus is concentrated on skill development, sportsmanship and love of the game. In no way is this league set up to be competitive- or so I thought. Just recently, in an intense game involving nine year olds, a parent assaulted a referee because his son was not awarded free throws, on what the father thought was a foul. From most accounts, this play was termed “clean”, meaning that it was a fair play and the referee was correct in not calling a foul. Out of frustration the father began to choke my co-worker and was eventually pulled off by a flurry of individuals coming to the referee’s aid.
This incident led me to delve deeper into the kind of atmosphere that coaches and parents submerse their children into when registering in organized sports. These tales of insane coaches, parents and players who define themselves based on the outcome of a sporting event, are unfortunately a reality. Coaches, through their own actions, demonstrate appropriate behavior and sportsmanship for both parents and players. To identify a team’s “locker room” atmosphere, the “Perceived Motivational Climate in Sports Questionnaire (PMCSQ)” was generated, followed by the PMCSQ-2, years later.
Two polar opposite motivational climates emerge from responses to this questionnaire, a task oriented climate and an ego involved climate. A “Task-oriented” climate is mainly focused on skill development and intrinsic motivation whereas an “ego-involved” climate focuses on the extrinsic goals of performance and winning above all else. Three subscales are associated with a task-oriented team atmosphere. These three are cooperative learning, effort/skill improvement and assigning important roles to each player on the team (Newton, Duda, Yin, 2000). Contrarily, three different subscales are associated with an ego-involved team atmosphere, including intra-team rivalry, unequal recognition and punishment for mistakes (Newton et al., 2000).
Based on an aggregate score on the PMCSQ-2, one can identify if the team’s attitude is performance or skill improvement driven. Newton et al. (2000), identifies that the “correlation between higher order factors (Task-involved vs. Ego involved) and their respective subscales was significant and positive. However the internal consistency of the scales and subscales was “acceptable” but not great, suggesting room for improvement. Higher levels of sport enjoyment was associated with a task-oriented motivational climate. The most influential of these subscales related to sports enjoyment is having a defined role for each player on the team (Newton et al., 2000).
On the other hand, a clubhouse atmosphere centered around an ego-involved motivational climate can have a significant negative impact on its players. These individuals experience pressure and tension from coaches and teammates leading to “feelings as though they must prove continuously their athletic worth.” (Newton et al. 2000). In these environments, poor performances and errors are rebuked by the coach which could have detrimental effects on all players, especially weaker and/or more emotionally sensitive individuals.
Although sports are “just a game”, often times, it is treated as much more than that. It does not take long to recognize the importance in the PMCSQ-2. In administering these tests, coaches may be aided in realizing the negative climate that they themselves have created and its consequence of team performance and morale. A leadership-style change can then take place, leading to the self-actualization of his/her players. My basketball league could use this test as a means to grasp if they are truly getting their desired message of sportsmanship and inclusivity across to all those involved.
Newton, M., Duda, J.L., & Yin, Z., (2000). Examination of the Psychometric Properties of the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sports Questionnair-2 in sample of female athletes. Journal of Sports Sciences, 18(4), 275–290. Doi: 10.1080/026404100365018
