Aggression in competitive and non-competitive combat sports athletes

Background. The problem of aggression in sports - despite its ambiguous interpretation - is a subject of interest to sports theorists and psychologists as well as trainers. The concept of aggression can be variously-defined. Aggression in sport can be identified with self-assertion, but can also be linked to hostility. In Thirer's classification of aggression it is defined as: destructive aggression (combined with anger or hate); or non-destructive aggression (identified with assertiveness [Makarowski 2013]. It is often attributed to combat sports fighters. Objective. Demonstrating the differences in aggressiveness between competitive and non-competitive athletes training in fighting combat sports (kickboxing and MMA) was the objective of the paper. Material & methods. There were 65 competitive and 55 non-competitive athletes. Buss-Durkee Inventory (BDI) [Lange, Dehghani, de Beurs 1995] was used. Results. Verbal aggression was the most visible symptom in both groups. There were no statistically significant differences between professional fighters and amateur ones, although the level of aggression in professional fighters was a little lower. Conclusion. Regularly practicing combat sports over many years and complying with the rules can have an impact on reducing excessive levels of aggression in sportspeople.