Explain the Role of Motivation in Enhancing Sports Performance

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Explain the Role of Motivation in Enhancing Sports Performance

Motivation is one of the main psychological factors affecting sports performance. There are many different types of motivation and different levels that have different affects on how we perform. It also comes with many definitions. One basic definition of motivation is "the drive to strive". Sage (1974) defined motivation as "the internal mechanisms and external stimuli which arouse and direct behaviour. This definition is much more refined than the first as it makes reference to both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as well as arousal.

One type of motivation is intrinsic motivation, this is the internal emotions and feelings that drive us during performance. These include things like enjoyment, accomplishment and pride. Another intrinsic motivator is physical feeling, how the body feels while exercising.

Marterns describes intrinsic motivation by providing the following examples, "inner striving to be contempt and self-determining, a sense of mastery over a task, a sense of achievement." When a person reaches these states of mind they will be fully motivated and will performance at their highest potential.

Csiksentmihalyi developed the notion of the "intrinsic flow experience" which is total concentration, loss of self-consciencness and