Aggression has been known to improve athletic performance as well as mentality.

  In order to be competitive in athletics, one must develop aggression during practice and games.

  Many experts agree that a heightened state of aggression can contribute to the level of a team’s success.

  Aggression can look like many things, like drawing fouls, not allowing competition to walk all over you and making opportunities for your team to win.

  Mentality is a large part of how well one performs athletically and helps a team be successful.

  One develops a sense of aggression through practice.

  Practicing aggression will hone a specific skill set to your sport as well as in life.

  For example, in football, you can be afraid to get hit and make tackles. Being a ruthless competitor can help with your athletic performance during games.

  Not everyone starts out in a sport having a natural aggression toward an opponent.

 Developing this mentality does not come easy for some, such as myself and it took me nearly two years to toughen up.

  A person’s personality will play a large role in determining how aggressive of an athlete they will be or can become.

  Some athletes agree they have had to change who they were as people to become fierce competitors in the sport they play.

  Those who do not will realize this and spend lots of time developing an aggressive and competitive mentality to further advance themselves in their sport.

   Being a student athlete myself, developing an aggressive mentality in the sport of rowing has helped me immensely.

  Rowing is psychologically taxing and requires a heightened state of aggression to power through intense workouts and not give into pain.

  I did have to change some of who I was. This is where some of the controversy stems from.

  Some feel that changing who you are for the purpose of sport is bad, and you should not have to change who you are for anything, especially a sport.

  Although some may feel developing aggressive traits can have a negative effect on your life, many agree the positives outweigh the negatives.

  I can attest to this on a personal level that me having to adapt the rigorous mental game of rowing by becoming a more determined and aggressive person has prepared me for life and to further advance myself in anything I set my sights on.

  Developing a competitive mentality can help anyone approach tasks and obstacles with a better mindset and can set one up better to succeed.