Motivation is one of the most important aspects of a competitive performance.

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Motivation is one of the most important aspects of a competitive performance. Motivation is being inspired to do something; this can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside environment; this can be money, medals, prizes or fame. You are motivated to do it because you get a material reward. Intrinsic motivation comes from within the performer. The performer gets personal enjoyment from the sport, even if they have no ability, if they enjoy it and have fun then they will be motivated to carry on with the sport, it doesn't matter if they have natural ability or not. Motivation whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic has different effects on an athlete including whether or not they continue with their sport.

An athletes motivation usually predicts their attendance to that particular sport for example an intrinsically motivated boxer (Lennox Lewis) trains very hard and his fights must be painful, so what motivates him to continually push his body physically? Because he gains personal enjoyment, whereas a boxer who fights for extrinsic reasons would be someone who continues their sport to become better at it solely to win medals. Elite performers who are millionaires still contribute to their sports but not for the money so they must be intrinsically motivated. Ian Thorpe is a good example of this, Even though he knew he wasn't going to win the backstroke at the commonwealth games he still participated because he wanted to prove to himself that he could do it …

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"If I put everything INTO it, I can't lose. I mightn't win in terms of gold medals, but I will win my own personal battle. And that's what it's all about."

Another example of an intrinsically motivated sports person is Tim Henman, although he is a good tennis player he gets a lot of unwanted media attention however he carries on playing tennis because he enjoys it he- is intrinsically motivated. Although most sports people proceed with their sport for intrinsic reasons, they must be extrinsically motivated because they must have started out for the money but when they make ...

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