Figure 7.4 The joy of schools’
rugby—celebrating a try
Source: courtesy of Inpho PhotographyOn the other hand, we must remember that for every winner in competitive sport, there
has to be a loser. Therefore, cheers can quickly turn to tears for young athletes—
especially if excessive emphasis is placed by parents and coaches on winning (Murphy,
1999). Psychologically, there are two main problems with winning as a primary goal for
sports performers of any age. Apart from being outside one’s control, it suggests that
victory can come only at someone else’s expense. But as we learned in Chapter 2, many
of the world’s top athletes are motivated not by a desire to defeat others but by the goal of
improving upon their own performance. Not surprisingly, however, research suggests that
many young people drop out of competitive sports because of the anxiety and distress
generated by a “win at all costs” mentality among their coaches (R.H.Cox, 2002). But
what do we know about the psychological consequences of participation in youth sports?
Unfortunately, the long-term effects of competitive athletic activity in young people
have attracted relatively little research attention from psychologists. Therefore, it is
difficult to evaluate the widely held assumption that school sports develop “character”,
team spirit and/or the moral virtues of sportspersonship. Nevertheless, in a recent review
of the meagre literature in this field, Shields and Bredemeier (2001) proposed that sport
does not automatically build character. Furthermore, they concluded that “the longer one
stays in sport, and the higher the competitive level reached, the more winning becomes
the dominant value” (p. 599). This conclusion is echoed by Murphy (1999) who
Exploring team cohesion in sport: a critical perspective 207