George gets heavily into basketball and the debating team during adolescence in order to deal with some of his unruly hormonal impulses. freud would say he's employing a defense mechanism called

Sigmund Freud would say he's employing a defense mechanism called displacement.  It is an oblivious barrier component whereby the mind substitutes either another point or another question for objectives felt in their unique shape to be unsafe or inadmissible. The dislodging works in the psyche unknowingly, its transference of feelings, thoughts, or wishes being regularly used to alleviate uneasiness even with forceful or sexual motivations.

Yes