There are many motivational factors. We are motivated by teachers, coaches and the performer themselves need to be aware of the factors which motivate an individual first to parcipitate and second to strive for improvement.
So now to answer the question, Is motivation more important than ability?
In a successful performer it needs to have two key areas to achieve a successful competitive performance. This includes:-
Motivation - limits performance, in that you are more likely to perform well if you are highly motivated, while your performance may be poor if you have no enthusiasm for it. Ability - Is the underlying factors, which are largely predetermined genetically - via skill development techniques.When considering whether, motivation is more important than ability or vice versa, you have to look at the types of personalities of the performer, and if the intended sport is an intense sport.Motivation can be given either through intrinsic or extrinsic methods. Intrinsic motivation is the internal drives to participate or perform well. This can be emotional feeling about the sport e.g. Fun, Enjoyment in participating and satisfaction from playing a particular game. Extrinsic motivation - these factors are powerful when learning new skills and whether you a performer what to prefect it.
- External rewards come as medals, badges and prizes.
As a sports leader a pupils personalities can either help or hinder there motivation and their ability via learning of new skills. Many theories have been produced on this and the main one is the "Nach Or Naf". "Nach" personality types are characterised by:-
- High task persistence
- Ability to complete a task quickly
- Welcoming Feedback about the results.
"Naf" personality types are characterised by:-
- Give up easily
- Take their time to complete personal tasks
- Not wanting to receive feedback about their previous performance.
Achievement motivation is related to a performer's reaction to competition. There are two types of motives - need to achieve (Nach) & need to avoid failure (Naf). Both types of behaviour are to occur in a situation.
Ego oriented personality types believe that ability is important but task oriented people regard effort as more important.
Performance may be said to equal learning plus motivation. An activity must be interesting and appealing to most Athletes, but each Athlete will have a different level of motivation and reason for learning the activity.
Sometimes when you can be the best of you're ability and you can still can loose everything… E.g. Gareth Southgate missing an important penalty for England.
Sometimes when playing sport, a games situation occurs when players need motivation by coaches and managers E.g. Half time at a football match. At these moment players need to be become more of a "Nach" rather than a "Naf" player. A Successful manager or coach is a person who is able to turn these "Naf" to "Nach".
E.g. Sir Alex Ferguson.
Different Types of sports can also affect how you are motivated or your ability is more important. E.g.
Footballers tend to be more ability based, as they require a lot of skill demand and repetition, as they are contently changes paced, speed and the ability they have to control the ball. However sportsman such as weight lifters have a high demand of motivation for one single lift, however their lifting is mainly technique based rather than ability.
Ability - Our abilities are largely determined genetically, they tend to be with are characteristics. This is a bad news for people that don't have natural ability to do because no matter how hard you will try you never would seem to reach your goal. These people don't not have the innate qualities, however in past research has revelled that some abilities can be enhanced to a certain extent, especially in early childhood .
In some sports ability is used to complete a successful performance eg. In football or any sports which use a high amount of ability. However some sports require an amount of ability as well as some amounts of motivation to complete a successful competitive performance. Ability can be affected by motivation there is documented research that says there is. Ability can lead on to the inverted "U" theory, which states the higher your arousal level is the better you perform however if you go out of the zone, you can become over aroused and your performance. My verdict is that Ability is slightly more important to be succesful in competitive sport although motivation also plays are large role in that success.
