Motivating collegiate student-athletes Essay

Motivating athletes is one of the major problems a charabanc faces. Even the closely talented athlete will not perform to his full potential difference if not prudishly motivated. Coaches buzz off sought to define what motivates an athlete and what hampers it for years. motive directly influences an athletes performance. It sets his mood and outlook towards the game or competition. It determines his aim of dedication to the sport. Motivation does not only affect the individualist player b arly withal his team. It is important that completely the members of the team be motivated individually to en sure team motivation.Motivation fire also shift. An athlete who was highly motivated at the start of the season may find that his drive to play is d arrive atdling. It is these problems that coaches need to address. This paper tackles the problem of make collegiate bookman-athletes. The key areas of focus will be defining the best lineament of motivation for collegiate studen t-athletes and building a structure to mix motivation into the coachs overall program by victimisation the proper tools of goal setting and visualization. A.Intrinsic Motivation Motivation bed take two forms extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation entails engaging in an activity as a means to an end (Higgins & Trope, 1986). This end referred to by Higgins & Trope (1986), take the form of rewards. Factors like popularity, trophies, jackets or jerseys identifying the wearer as eccentric of a sports team, extrinsically motivate student-athletes. While extrinsic motivation is a faithful start, it does not ensure the consistent and long term drive coaches try out for (Schone, 2008).Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, refers to the drive of a student to act on in an activity because he wants to (Taylor & Wilson, 2005). The satisfaction derived from playing the game itself is the move factor. As Burton and Raedeke (2008) put it, intrinsically motivated athletes play fo r the love of the game. It is this type of motivational environment that coaches should create for their athletes. How does a coach achieve much(prenominal) an environment?According to Martens (2004), sports psychologists have identified the two key inescapably of an athlete having fun and feeling worthy. Having Fun Burton and Raedeke (2008) explained that having fun and developing skills were rated as the top reasons why athletes participate in a sport. On the other hand, Garret (2008) pointed out that one of the reasons why female student-athletes quit sports is because the finger ceased being fun. Having fun does not mean goofing around. Fun is striking a balance between skill and challenge (Burton & Raedeke, 2008).Without that balance, the result would either be boredom, where the skill outweighs the challenge, or anxiety, where the challenge outweighs the skill (United States Tennis Association, 2004). Therefore, it is the job of the coach to identify the level of skill of each player and develop a challenging breeding program that will develop the teams skills just not overwhelm them. Following are some ways suggested by numerous writers (e. g. Burton & Raedeke, 2008 Garret, 2008 La Prath, 2008) to keep training fun ? bear variety. Make practices stimulating by varying the exercises and drills given over to the athletes.Do not make the training program a routine. Consistency is important stock-still introducing changes will keep athletes sharp. It also helps to change the practice environment. Holding training sessions at the beach or in a park sooner of the school gymnasium will be enjoyable for student-athletes. ? Keep all players busy. Make sure that eitherone is doing something instead of waiting for long periods of time for his or her turn to practice. Breaks in between practice should be short as well. Giving athletes too much lag time increases boredom.To make sure everyone is participating break the team in to groups where each group is given a specific activity to do or made to vie against each other. Following the first tip, make the groupings diverse. Groupings brush off be make according to skill or even according to year level or favorite sports celebrity. ? Involve the team. Listening to the inputs or opinions of a student-athlete stub help improve not only the performance of the team but also of the coach. It also gives the athlete a sense of investment in the team, ensuring the maintenance of his interest in the sport and in his team.Coaches can involve student-athletes by offering a practice day where the players themselves can formulate their own training program. Giving the team an opportunity to formulate strategies to win the game is another way. Even simple things like letting them role their own jackets or jerseys will give them a sense of matter in the decision making process. ? Give the team time to play. For every training session allot time for the team to play without receiving argum ent or evaluation from the coach.Give the athletes a chance to engross themselves in the game. Hearing constant instruction hampers experience of flow. ? Train student-athletes to cope with stress. It is requisite that an athlete will experience stress. Pressure to achieve in two sports and academics is high in a competitive college environment. The athlete must admit how to deal with this and manage the anxiety accompanied with it. Coping with stress can be done through affirmation, positive reinforcement, and teaching a student that down time is also vital to their health.An hour of rest can energize a student. Sleeping at the correct time and for the proper length of time, eating the right food and taking the appropriate vitamins are ways to minimize stress. ? Incorporate teambuilding activities. Important in team sports is get the individual players in sync with each other. Without activities that foster friendships you would not have a team but a group of individuals playin g together. edifice camaraderie would not only enhance the performance of the team but the individual players as well.