Win At Any Cost: Examining Personality Correlates of Achievement in Adolescent Athletes

Achievement in sports is often attributed to being highly competitive or doing “whatever it takes” to win as opposed to being agreeable. The current consensus is that these traits, manifested as hypercompetitiveness, Machiavellianism, and agreeableness, tend to be highly related within adult populations and athletes. Machiavellianism, the “whatever it takes' ' attribute and hypercompetitiveness have been found to be positively correlated with one another while both are negatively correlated with agreeableness. Previous studies have failed to examine the same phenomenon in individual-sport adolescent athlete populations, in addition to how these trends may influence athletic achievement. In this study, a random sampling of an adolescent athlete population was given a battery of personality scales: The Hypercompetitive Attitude Scale, the MACH-IV, and an IPIP Agreeableness Measure. The participants’ highest national rankings in their sport were also examined. Previous findings in adult populations were replicated in this study, as Machiavellianism and hypercompetitiveness were found to have a strong negative correlation with agreeableness(r= -0.678, p= 0.000039, and r= -0.690, p= 0.000025, respectively). Machiavellianism displayed a moderate, positive correlation with hypercompetitiveness(r= 0.496, p= 0.005312). However, the differences in Machiavellianism and hypercompetitiveness between those who had achieved a rank of at least top 15 in the country and other participants were not found to be statistically significant. These results show that athletic achievement in adolescents was not significantly affected by the personality traits of Machiavellianism and hypercompetitiveness. Additional research is needed to discover what personality traits constitute a champion.

Epinikion, Kudos, and Criticism

This chapter considers the genre of professional epinikion (choral poems composed on commission to celebrate athletic victories), inquiring into the socio-cultural motivations for the development of this strange hybrid genre c.550 bce and relating it to a broader set of practices commemorating athletic victory in ancient Greece (including victor statues). Epinikion in performance and victor statues alike served as sites for negotiation between pre-eminent individual victors and their broader communities—both the Panhellenic elite and their civic communities. Both poetry and material monuments aimed to distil and preserve the special talismanic power (kudos) the victor acquired by victory at the ‘crown games’, anchoring it and sharing it out with the victor’s family and city. At the same time, literary evidence suggests that this elitist valorization of epinikian praise, victory statues, crowns, and kudos was not uncontested in archaic and classical Greece: poets espousing civic values explicitly challenged the worth of athletic achievement as a common good.

Psycho-traumatic factors in extreme situations in sports

Purpose: to analyze the influence of traumatic factors in extreme situations in sports. Research methods: analysis, generalization and systematization of scientific data methodical literature on a particular problem. Results: The article considers the influence of traumatic factors in extreme situations in sports. It is shown that in many modern sports athletes are forced to perform sports activities in extreme conditions. Sports activities are characterized by high psychological stress and are characterized by increased risk. In sports, depending on the sport, the conditions of training and competition are quite different. Thus, the conditions of sports activities include factors that affect athletes. In the presence of extreme situations, the effect of these factors is enhanced. In addition, in sports there are often very responsible and sometimes dangerous to health and life extreme situations that force athletes to act at the limit of personal capabilities. Athletic achievement is largely determined by the ability of athletes to overcome various extreme situations in sports, which are a system of limitations: physical, mental, social, moral, internal and external, arising before the athlete. Conclusions: the analysis of scientific research on the effects of extreme situations on the activities of the athlete shows that the most important condition for maintaining self-control in these situations is preparedness for them, the presence of sports experience and high skill in their sport. This means that this requires a high level of psychological stability, extreme experience, which is achieved by appropriate psychological training and coaching in conditions as close as possible to possible extreme situations.

Measuring and comparing the level of athletic achievement for activities (fencing, weightlifting, table tennis) for the disabled challenge the impact of accidents and between the boy's disability challenge

The importance of the study stems from the inclusion of the handicapped in the sports community and the achievement of international accomplishments, and this requires knowing the preference between obstetric and handicap after accidents, which is the problem of scientific research from here highlights the importance of scientific research. As for the research objectives, the study of the percentages of achievements for a five-year period (2015-2020) for the players involved in International forums and tournaments from the Iraqi National Paralympic Committee, which represents the research sample and its human field. After the research procedures, the results were presented, analyzed and discussed, the following conclusions were reached that congenital handicap has a preference in achieving ratios of international and international achievements. Psychological, physical and social stability of childhood disability in good condition. The recommendations are the process of selecting players for childhood disability in activities (fencing, table tennis, weightlifting (Bing Press)). Rehabilitation of players from disability due to accidents, psychological rehabilitation before starting physical preparation

Student-Athlete Development and Winning Success

The success of an athletic program is often defined by wins and losses. According to the sporting success framework (De Bosscher et al., 2006) as well as the athlete development literacy (ADL) model (Livengood et al., 2015), athlete development contributes to athletic achievement. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between athlete development personnel resources and winning success at NCAA Division I institutions. A total of 150 universities were included in this study. Utilizing the ADL model (Livengood et al. 2015) of personal and player development literacies, athletic department personnel selected for this study included: academic advisors, athletic trainers, doctors, learning specialists, nutritionists, mental health professionals, physical therapists, sport psychologists, as well as strength and conditioning coaches. Winning success was measured using the final 2017-18 Learfield IMG Directors’ Cup standings (Directors’ Cup, 2019). The results suggest that athletic trainers, learning specialists, and sport psychologists significantly contribute to winning success. As such, athletic departments should appropriately invest in athlete development specialists.

Athletics and Citizenship

A defining feature of archaic Greece was the explosion of athletic competitions at many levels up to the great Panhellenic games. Panhellenic victories brought prestige to the cities, who offered their victors considerable honours and material rewards. This chapter seeks to identify diverse connections, in different cities, between athletic training and competition and the regulation of membership in these developing communities. It suggests that in some places (Sparta, Cretan cities) athletic performance was used as part of complex socialization procedures and as a qualification for community membership via small-scale commensality associations. At Athens, athletic prowess was encouraged but not imposed, and citizenship was probably opened, through pseudo-kinship subgroups, to athletes along with other skilled immigrants; comparable practices may be suspected in other athletically ambitious cities (Corinth, Argos, and Aegina). In wealthy cities in Sicily and South Italy, desperate for Panhellenic success, athletic achievement inspired the positive recruitment of new citizens.

The Will and the Ways in School

The school environment is a key place in which to address development of numerous positive traits and characteristics. Hope is a one construct that addresses goal-setting and progress and is linked to many other positive behaviors and characteristics including resilience, optimism, school and athletic achievement, and well-being in general. Grounding today’s children in skills and mindsets that assist them in determining how to get the things they what they want in life may help them to stay on healthy tracks academically throughout their scholastic career. Past and current research has shown that hope is easily instilled and that it can be increased through simple interventions in a variety of different populations. School personnel such as teachers, counselors, and administrators can all play a role in the development of this trait and can help to direct parents in using the hope model with children as well.

Jocks versus jockettes: An analysis of the visual portrayal of male and female cover models on sports magazines

There are known gender-based disparities in sports news coverage. However, few have examined how these disparities manifest in sports news visuals such as sports magazine covers. Therefore, this study examined pertinent dynamics among all covers published to date for both Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine. The study examined sexualization, camera angle, and nonverbal communication cues and their interplay with gender. Women appearing on the covers were likelier than men to be portrayed in a sexualized manner, in terms of skin exposure and suggestive poses. Men were likelier to be portrayed in active poses, and the cover lines emphasized gender over athletic achievement for women. The results also indicate that women were more likely to be portrayed smiling, as well as being portrayed in more positive camera angle shots. The author discusses the ramifications of gendered portrayal regarding sports magazines.