Summary

This chapter addresses the questions of what motivates athletes and how coaches may help athletes become optimally motivated. The two most important needs of athletes are the need to have fun and the need to feel worthy. Extrinsic and intrinsic rewards are described, and the roles they play in motivation are discussed. Ideas for addressing athletes’ need to have fun are proposed. The flow experience is defined as how athletes feel when experiencing optimal arousal. Coaching guidelines are suggested for helping athletes experience flow and for using other sources of fun.

An athlete’s need to feel worthy is addressed. Two types of athletes are identified: those motivated to achieve success and those motivated to avoid failure. The self-fulfilling prophecy and its effects on athlete motivation are explained. Emphasis on performance, unrealistic goals, and extrinsic rewards are identified as factors in how some athletes learn to fear failure. Strategies for enhancing athletes’ motivation are detailed.

The arousal–performance relationship is explained, stressing that overarousal leads to anxiety, especially in failure-oriented athletes. Causes of athlete anxiety are identified as being related to athletes’ uncertainty about whether they can meet the demands of others and themselves, uncertainty of winning, and insecurity about social status and importance to the team. Pep talks are discussed as not adequately addressing the needs of individual athletes. Coaches are encouraged to reduce uncertainty for athletes by helping them focus on realistic personal goals. Sources of stress for coaches are identified, and steps for addressing coaching stress are proposed.

Lecture Outline

1. Introduction
   1. Coaches’ questions
      1. Why are some athletes motivated and others unmotivated?
      2. How do we motivate our athletes to be the best that they can be?
   2. The two most important needs of athletes
      1. To have fun, which includes the need for stimulation and excitement
      2. To feel worthy, which includes the need to feel competent and successful
2. Extrinsic and intrinsic rewards
   1. Extrinsic rewards are external and may become less valued over time.
      1. They include recognition from others.
      2. They may be skillfully used to build intrinsic motivation.
   2. Intrinsic rewards are internally satisfying.
      1. They include having fun and feeling competent and successful.
      2. They are self-fueling and the best motivators for the long term.
3. Need to have fun
   1. Optimal arousal
      1. When arousal is too low, we become bored and seek stimulation.
      2. Arousal that is too high causes fear and anxiety.
      3. People have more fun when their arousal level is optimal (see figure 7.1, p. 123).
   2. The flow experience
      1. The flow experience is how we feel when experiencing optimal arousal.
      2. Flow occurs when we are totally immersed in the activity, we lose sense of time, we feel everything is going right, and we are not bored or anxious.
      3. The flow experience is intrinsically rewarding.
      4. Ways to help athletes experience flow include matching the difficulty of required skills to the ability of the athlete, keeping practices stimulating, keeping everyone active, avoiding constant instruction, and refraining from constantly evaluating athletes.
   3. Other sources of fun
      1. Provide opportunities for social interaction in practices.
      2. Prevent an overly competitive environment in practices.
      3. Lack of fun is among the reasons athletes quit sports.
4. Need to feel worthy
   1. Our basic need to feel competent
      1. Participation in sport is potentially threatening because athletes equate their achievement with their self-worth.
      2. Success reinforces a sense of competency, and lack of success may cause athletes to protect their dignity by avoiding failure.
      3. Two types of athletes are those motivated to achieve success and those motivated to avoid failure.
   2. How winners think
      1. Success-oriented athletes use failure to increase their motivation to try harder.
      2. Success-oriented athletes take credit for success and accept responsibility for failure.
   3. How losers think
      1. Failure-oriented athletes attribute failures to lack of ability.
      2. Failure-oriented athletes attribute success to luck or to weak opponents.
      3. Failure-oriented athletes feel powerless to change their plight.
   4. How Larry Loser protects his self-worth
      1. The token effort game
      2. Excuses, excuses
      3. Rejecting success
   5. Self-fulfilling prophecy
      1. Assigning reasons for athlete success and failure (attributions) and communicating expectations to athletes
      2. Steps in creating a self-fulfilling prophecy (see figure 7.3, p. 128)
5. How athletes learn to fear failure
   1. Emphasis on performance, not learning: Mistakes are misinterpreted as failure.
   2. Unrealistic goals: Athletes set goals too high and conclude that they are failures if they don’t meet them.
   3. Extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation: Athletes play for extrinsic rewards rather than to attain personal goals.
6. Enhancing athletes’ motivation
   1. Success is not winning: Athletes see success in terms of achieving their own goals rather than surpassing the performance of others.
   2. Setting realistic personal goals: Achieving personal and team goals is more important than winning.
   3. Consequences of setting personal goals: Athletes become responsible for their own progress.
   4. Recognizing athletes’ limitations: This helps maintain realistic goals.
   5. Realistic personal goals: This helps athletes experience more success and feel competent, and it enhances motivation.
7. From motivation to anxiety
   1. Arousal–performance relationship
      1. Optimal arousal levels vary for different sports (see figure 7.5, p. 135).
      2. Overarousal causes anxiety, especially in failure-oriented athletes.
   2. Causes of anxiety
      1. Athletes’ uncertainty about whether they can meet the demands of others and themselves, especially in important situations
      2. Uncertainty of winning and insecurity about social status and importance to the team
      3. The pep talk, which does not address the needs of individual athletes
      4. Reducing uncertainty for athletes by helping them focus on realistic personal goals
8. Coaching yourself: managing your stress (pp. 138-139)
   1. Potential sources of stress
   2. Four general steps for addressing coaching stress
      1. Identify sources of stress and determine those that you can change.
      2. Change your perception of stressors that you can’t change.
      3. Find strength in your coaching philosophy.
      4. Seek professional help if you are unable to work through the first three steps.

Activities

1. Conduct a class discussion on the questions presented at the beginning of the chapter:
• Why are some athletes motivated and others unmotivated?
• How do we motivate our athletes to be the best that they can be?

Ask students if they can provide reasons that some athletes are highly motivated and some are not. Have any of them been involved in a sport where they were not very motivated? What was different about their experience in that sport than in another sport where they were motivated? Solicit ideas from students for motivating young athletes. Perhaps they can draw on their experience with coaches that motivated them compared to those who did not.

2. The two most important needs of athletes were identified as the need to have fun and the need to feel worthy. In a class discussion, ask students how they can tell if athletes are meeting these needs in a sport program? Can they recall how any of their coaches made practices fun, stimulating, and exciting or ways that coaches helped athletes feel competent and successful? Solicit ideas from students for strategies to meet athletes’ needs for fun and gaining a feeling of self-worth.
3. Use the Coaching Yourself: Managing Your Stress (pp. 138-139) section of the textbook to guide a class discussion on stress management for coaches. Ask students to talk about the potential sources of stress listed in this section. Can they identify other sources of stress in coaching? Which of these sources do they consider the most troublesome? Review the four general steps for addressing coaching stress. Ask students to comment on the effectiveness of these steps and give examples of how they might use them to reduce stress.
4. Split your class into groups of four or five students. Tell each group to discuss ideas for enhancing athletes’ motivation. In their groups, they will develop and record strategies to present to the class. As each group presents its ideas, have classmates ask questions. These questions should be focused on the rationale for motivational strategies. Why does the group think they will work? Also, encourage groups to give practical examples of how they will apply their ideas to practice and competition.
5. In recent years, experts have produced instructional sport psychology videos for coaches and athletes. View a sport psychology video with your class. Discuss the ideas and techniques presented, paying particular attention to those that appear to be directed at enhancing athlete motivation. Goal setting, relaxation techniques, imagery, and cognitive restructuring are among the tactics often depicted in these videos. Solicit your students’ opinions of the effectiveness of these techniques and ask them for examples of how coaches might incorporate them in practice and competition.

Topics

1. Review the discussion of the flow experience in the textbook. Think about a situation in which you experienced flow in a competitive sport or other physical activity setting. Write an essay on the experience. Describe the situation and how you felt physically and psychologically. What were you thinking about? Identify factors that you think helped you achieve a flow experience. What recommendations would you give to an athlete who wants to increase his or her likelihood of experiencing flow in sport?
2. Write an essay on extrinsic and intrinsic rewards in sport. Define and distinguish between these two types of rewards and give examples of each. Also, describe the relationship that exists between them. Discuss how a coach should use her or his understanding of extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to motivate athletes to continue their participation and to do their best.
3. Write a report that explains the nature of the arousal–performance relationship in sport. Why does this relationship differ from sport to sport? Why is overarousal a problem, especially in failure-oriented athletes? Discuss causes of anxiety in athletes. What can coaches do to help alleviate anxiety in their athletes?
4. Write an opinion paper outlining your feelings about the effectiveness of pep talks by coaches. Discuss how your motivation and performance may have been affected by coaches’ pep talks. It has been said that pep talks do not address the needs of individual athletes. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Are there times when pep talks might be effective and times when they are not? Is there reason to believe that athletes react differently to pep talks?

Speakers

1. Identify a coach who you think is an effective motivator and invite him or her to talk to your class about strategies used to motivate athletes. The coach may have stories about how she or he was able to enhance an individual athlete’s or the team’s motivation. Does the coach use different strategies for different athletes? The coach may talk about the importance of motivation in her or his team’s performance and how she or he helps athletes deal with anxiety.
2. Ask a sport psychology expert to speak to your class about motivation. This may be a college or university professor who teaches sport psychology or a sport psychology consultant who works with athletes. Inform this speaker about the topics and ideas that students have been reading about in the text and discussing in class. The speaker may wish to talk about different motivation theories, important research, and specific strategies used in working with athletes. Prepare students for this session by instructing them to have questions ready, especially questions that relate to why different motivational strategies may or may not be effective.
3. Put together a panel of current or former athletes, or both, and conduct a session where they answer your students’ questions about motivation. Prepare students for this session by guiding them in formulating a series of questions for the panelists. Instruct them to use issues, concepts, and ideas presented in the textbook to construct their questions. As a follow-up to the athlete panel session, you may want to discuss how important points made by the panelists related to ideas presented in the textbook.