Intimidation And Violence By Males In High School Athletics

Adolescence, Fall, 1999 by Edgar W. Shields, Jr.

ABSTRACT

This study examined verbal intimidation (VI), physical intimidation (VI), and physical violence (PV) in high school athletics, both by program and by sport. Antecedents were identified via principal component analysis; they included contextual setting, attitude, pressure, and coaching. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess relationships between antecedents and VI, PI, and PV. Coaching was the only significant predictor in 9 of 15 regression analyses of overall VI, PI, and PV, and one of two significant predictors in 4 of 6 additional analyses. Coaching was the only significant predictor of VI in basketball and football, PI in football and soccer, and PV in basketball and soccer. In addition to coaching, contextual setting was a significant predictor of PI in basketball, attitude was a significant predictor of PV in football, and pressure was a significant predictor of VI in soccer. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Intimidation and violence are common in many sports and pose a serious problem. While journalists report it, sociologists and psychologists try to explain it, and athletes brag, complain, and testify in court about it (Goldstein, 1983; Horrow, 1980; Smith, 1983), athletic-program administrators are in the unenviable position of being held accountable. Some have even suggested that violence is good as long as it does not go too far, while others have argued that the fighting and slashing in ice hockey, spearing and late hits in football, and beanballs in baseball are already too harmful (Croakley, 1986).

Violence and intimidation occur mostly in heavy-contact sports (e.g., football, ice hockey, rugby) and incidental-contact sports (e.g., basketball, soccer, lacrosse, water polo), and have become widely used strategies, especially in the former. They are seen as helping to win games, thus producing rewards for players and increasing profits for sponsors. Although injuries are expected in any sport, there is often a fine line between intimidating tactics and violence that produces serious harm (Croakley, 1986).

One of the more infamous incidents occurred in a 1978 exhibition football game. Jack Tatum, an Oakland Raiders defensive back, broke the neck of Darryl Stingley, a receiver for the New England Patriots. Although Tatum was not trying to cause permanent injury, he later wrote a book titled They Call Me Assassin, in which he describes how to intimidate and hurt opposing players (Snyder & Spreitzer, 1989). Fortunately, incidents similar to that of the Tatum-Stingley affair are rare.

Intimidation and violence are often perceived to be a "part of the game," particularly in contact and collision sports (Snyder & Spreitzer, 1989). For example, the brushback, a fastball intentionally thrown near a baseball batter's head or body, theoretically allows the pitcher to become more effective by intimidating the batter. In football, hard hits by defensive backs are thought to make pass receivers less effective ("they hear footsteps"). Although these and similar strategies may be functional forms of intimidation, they are nevertheless dangerous (Silva & Weinberg, 1984).

Although many players do not feel comfortable with the amount of violence in their sports, they have generally come to accept it. Silva (1983) and Bredemeier and Shields (1983, 1984) found that those playing contact sports accept rule-violating behavior and certain forms of violence, and as the amount of contact increases in a sport, so does this acceptance. Even players who do not like violence may reluctantly use it as a way of maintaining or improving their position on the team, as well as popularity with spectators. Athletes in contact sports learn early that they may be evaluated on not only their physical skills, but also their ability to use violence (Vaz, 1982). They may be encouraged to engage in violent behaviors by peers and teammates, and sometimes by coaches and parents (Smith, 1983).

Like Jack "the Assassin" Tatum, some players fill what has come to be known as the role of enforcer, a team member who uses violence to intimidate, provoke, or injure opponents. The widespread existence of the enforcer role clearly shows the extent to which violence has become an institutionalized part of heavy-contact sports.

The violent behavior of top-level athletes is often imitated by players at lower levels of competition. Smith (1974) found that Canadian high school athletes who identified with violent professional hockey players were more assaultive in their own games than were those who identified with less violent professionals.

Cohen (1993) has concluded that while no one sport has been singled out in the fight to preserve sportsmanlike play in high school athletics, many administrators see basketball as a key battleground. The game is perceptibly rougher than it used to be, and verbal abuse (trash-talking) is rampant. Coaches need to control the players, say the officials; coaches point to a need for officials to take action on the court; and athletic directors say parents and spectators need to develop a more balanced perspective on winning and losing. All three groups say that the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) need to act, and that television stations should stop showing unsportsmanlike behavior. A New York high school athletic director has pointed out that students have learned from the NBA and NCAA that, following a dunk, you land, turn, and "get in somebody's face" (Cohen, 1993).