Explain the role of motivation in enhancing a sports performance.

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

‘Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova are so evenly matched, in terms of racket skills and athleticism, that the Wimbledon women’s singles final will probably be decided by their emotional response to the situation.’

The Times 1988

Motivation is ‘the drive to strive.’ And can be described as, ‘the ‘internal state which tends to direct a persons behaviour towards a goal.’ Motivation is inextricably linked with sport at every level, from grass roots to elite and is vital to both athletes and coaches. It is important to understand the role of motivation in enhancing sports performances concerning all levels of athlete, from beginners to professionals.

Motivational factors can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation comes from inside the performer, and is also called self-motivation. This is the internal drive to succeed; it is the aspiration to accomplish goals for their own personal satisfaction, sense of achievement and challenge. An example of this is Jonathan Edwards, who competed in the Manchester Commonwealth games for the personal achievement that winning a gold medal would bring, this medal would complete the challenge he set himself to win a gold at every major competition. Intrinsic motivation is very important in enhancing a sports performance, without self-drive and an ongoing desire to win, an athlete will find it hard to succeed. This is evident when considering the England footballer David Beckham; he is paid £100,000 a week to play for Manchester United. If financial rewards were his sole interest, he would feel no need to train every morning, the financial rewards are no longer relevant to him. His drive comes from his self-motivation and his desire to achieve.

Extrinsic motivators are factors from outside the performer; they provide the athlete with an extrinsic reward, such as money, sponsorship or recognition. Extrinsic factors are important in enhancing a sports performance at first, when a young athlete is training hard the financial rewards and celebrity lifestyle that many professional athletes enjoy can be used a goal, and can be used to motivate an athlete into putting the work in to enhance their athletic performance. Bidell suggested, however, that those who are intrinsically motivated are more likely to continue participating than those who are not.

Motivation can be positive ...

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Motivation can be positive and negative. Prolonged negative motivation can have the effect of diminishing a sports performance. If an athlete performs badly for a long period of time the motivation for waning to continue in that sport declines, and the athlete may eventually give up. This is often the process that an athlete will experience as they retire. It is therefore important that a coach and athlete realise the impact of negative motivation in order to continue to achieve a high sports performance. Positive motivation can have the opposite effect. A long run of good performances or wins can drive an athlete or team to more success. This kind of motivation brings essential confidence and belief in ability. For example during the Rugby 6 nations

In a similar way extrinsic motivational factors can also be positive or negative, such as the audience for or against a team, the power of their motivational influence can be identified partly in the advantages that playing at home normally brings. For example in the 2002 world cup in Japan and South Korea, South Korea's achievement in becoming the first Asian nation to reach a World Cup semi-final was helped by the strong and passionate home support. The huge, 65,000 strong crowds roared the team to victories over Spain and Italy, two of the strongest football nations in the world. This positive extrinsic motivation had an extremely important role in enhancing South Korea’s sporting performance. This extrinsic motivation can also be negative. In the case of a David Beckham in the aftermath of his sending off in the world cup 1998, many home supporters booed him every time he touched the ball and had abuse shouted at him. This kind of treatment can motivate a player to go on and prove the people wrong, therefore enhancing their sports performance, or work in the opposite way by motivating them to stop playing. This depends on the personality of the individual.

This provides an example of the idea that at the top level in sport, there is very little difference in the skill levels of the participants and the major factor to distinguish the winner is the ability to cope with psychological factors, such as motivation.

Primary/secondary motivation

Positive/negative

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Goal Setting

McClelland-Atkinson Model it is a mathematical model of achievement motivation incorporating one’s motives to succeed and motivation to avoid failure.