1. Damon Burton & Bernie Holliday Vandal Sport Psychology Services
COMPETITION BASICS
Damon Burton & Bernie Holliday
Vandal Sport Psychology Services
University of Idaho

2. COMPOSE QUICK ANSWERS TO THESE 2 QUESTIONS
What is your personal definition of competition?
What does COMPETITION mean to you?

3. WHAT IS COMPETITION?
Rewards are often a central component of many personal definitions of competition.
Most of us assume that sport creates winners and losers and winners get more perks or rewards than do losers.

4. REWARD-BASED DEFINITIONS
Competition – A situation in which rewards are distributed unequally on the basis of performance by the performers
Cooperation – A social process through which performance is evaluated and rewarded in terms of the collective achievements of a group of people working together to reach a particular goal

5. REWARD-DEFINITION COMPETITION QUIZ
DIRECTIONS – Which of these situations is ‘competition’ according to the Reward Definition?
Participating in a PSYCH 100 experiment and told to “perform their best.”
Same experiment but you get $10 if you perform to some level.
Playing football in the park on Sunday afternoon with friends.
Football game ends in a tie.
You’re alone in your living room trying to make 7 out of 10 putts from 10 feet .
During your daily 5 mile run on your regular course with 3 friends, nobody says anything, but each picks up the pace the last 200 meters trying to finish first.

6. COMPETITION AS A PROCESS…
Martens’ Process Model
four-stages to the competitive process
explains why people respond differently to competition
social comparison process

7. STAGE #1: OBJECTIVE COMPETITIVE SITUATION
Four objective criteria that must be present in order to conclude that competition is occurring…
A standard of comparison is identified for the team or individual
Another person is present
This person knows the standard
This person evaluates whether the standard has been obtained
What are the advantages/disadvantages of the OCS?

8. STAGE #2: SUBJECTIVE COMPETITIVE SITUATION
How an athlete perceives, accepts, and appraises the O.C.S.
S.C.S. is affected by personality traits, perceived importance of competition, perception of the comparison standard, and perceived response capabilities
As a result, athletes seek out competition, enter it reluctantly, or attempt to avoid it

9. STAGE #3: RESPONSE
After the appraisal of the O.C.S., athletes experience positive and negative adaptations, preparing them for competition…
physiologically
psychologically
behaviorally

10. STAGE #4: CONSEQUENCES
Athletes’ perception of consequence (e.g., success or failure) is more important than the actual outcome
Athletes perceive positive or negative consequences as a result of participating
These consequences impact…
short- and long-term emotions
perceptions of competence
future decisions to compete

11. PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH COMPETITION
“win-at-all-costs” mentality
promotes youth sport drop-out
reduces motivation for those that remain involved
reduces enjoyment for “unsuccessful” competitors
facilitates a short-term focus only

12. IMPORTANT COMPETITIVE QUESTIONS
Is competition a powerful motivator?
Is competition an effective quality control process?
Does competition enhance character?
Does competition teach athletes to cooperate more effectively?
Is competition good or bad?

13. IS COMPETITION A POWERFUL MOTIVATOR?
TYPICALLY: Yes, competition enhances motivation.
WHEN MOST POWERFUL: Competition provides the greatest motivation when the level of challenge is moderately difficult and matches the current capabilities of the athlete

14. IS COMPETITION A GOOD QUALITY CONTROL DEVICE?
TYPICALLY: Competition is an effective strategy to improve skill.
WHEN BAD: Competition can prompt athletes to sacrifice long-term improvement in order to achieve short-term success.
Learning curves are seldom linear, and athletes seldom are willing to accept the decline in performance learning new skills if competition is emphasized.

15. DOES COMPETITION ENHANCE CHARACTER?
TYPICALLY: Competition develops positive character traits
TRUTH: Winning can be a double-edge sword for teaching character development

16. COMPETITION IMPACTS CHARACTER MULTIPLE WAYS
If athletes wants to win too much, they may lie, cheat, or develop bad character traits.
Athletes who resist temptation, develop positive character traits that last a lifetime.

17. DOES COMPETITION HELP ATHLETES COOPERATE?
TYPICALLY: We live in a highly interdependent and cooperative society.
We have to cooperate much more often each day than compete.
Competition helps athletes develop important cooperative skills.

18. COOPERATION NECESSARY TO COMPETE
Teamwork is an important type of within-team cooperation.
Between-team cooperation includes . . .
scheduling
rules, and
mutual commitment to give their best effort.

19. ASSOCIATION MODEL OF COMPETITION
Cooperative
Noncompetitive Competitive
Noncooperative
cooperative games
frisbee
assembly lines
sport
hermit
war without rules

20. IS COMPETITION GOOD OR BAD?
Competition is neither good nor bad. It is simply a neutral process .
How competition is experienced depends on how it is organized and conducted.
Coaches, administrators and parents determine how competition is experienced.