AGGRESSION IN WOMEN’S RUGBY: CORRELATION WITH AEROBIC AND ANAEROBIC EXERCISE CAPACITY

Abstract

In the game of rugby, aggression is allowed by regulation, being educated the athlete’s ability to play and fight until the end without using the destructive act in order to reach the desired performance. In the present research, the group of participants consisted of 20 senior rugby players, professional athletes of the CS Politehnica Iași Women’s Rugby Sevens team (163.2 ± 5.9 cm, 59.7 ± 5.8 kg, 22.4 ± 1.6 kg/m2, 28.5 ± 3.1% body fat and 31.1 ± 1.5% muscle mass). The aim of this paper is to investigate the correlations between aggression and the aerobic and anaerobic exercise capacity of female rugby players. The Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) was applied to assess aggressiveness, aerobic capacity was assessed by the VAM-Eval test (49.65 ± 3.99 ml/kg/min), and the 8 x 10 + 10 m test (6.91 ± 1.89%) was used to determine anaerobic lactacid power. Statistical analysis was performed using the GraphPad Prism 6 program by applying the Pearson correlation index. Analysis of the results for the research sample reveal a single significant correlation between maximum oxygen consumption and the level of verbal aggression (r = 0.451, p = 0.045). At the same time, there is no connection between anaerobic exercise capacity and aggression parameters. The research results also indicate a direct relation established between aerobic endurance and the level of verbal aggression of female athletes, which can be used in sports selection.