Introduction

This resource has been produced with the objective of aiding sports professionals with authority when analysing a principle of human behavior such as motivation for a given athlete, in order to develop their performance by implementing cognitive and somatic techniques which are supported by theorists in this subject area of motivation. In this blog will be a classification of motivation, how it implicates performance & examples of athletes demotivated for sport, furthermore the effects motivation plays in respect to a coach: analysing how the two interlink and directly affect each other.  

Motivational theories

One of the many principles of human behaviour is motivation. Motivation could be described as the level of arousal or activation in order to complete a task. Motivation is a behaviour which varies in different situations in order to achieve a goal(Brown et al,1984).

There are two different types of motivation intrinsic and extrinsic, intrinsic motivation is driven primarily by a love of a particular sport and a need to achieve physical excellence though the particular sport,

 whereas extrinsic is driven by tangible rewards such as monetary rewards or spot bonuses which are given for a positive performance sometimes this causes the athlete to under-perform as the love for the sport deteriorate. As with any other traits the human body possess there are many theories behind motivation: this creates coaching points in order to perfect an athlete’s level of arousal in order to support peak performance and well-being. Motivation is responsible for weather or not a task is carried out effectively or at all Dowda et al,(2000).

Throughout time Motivational theories have been developed to explain human behaviour, these seem to be common sense when read supporting why there are still a range of different applicable theories today,this could be because there are multiple situations an athlete encounters through sport. However, by looking at the key ideas behind each theory, you can gain a better understanding of motivation as a whole. As a coach looking through this resource it should be easy to position which characteristics your chosen athlete is exhibiting, its essential that traits are identified correctly so that potential corrective measures can be implemented in order to better performance. 

Instinct Theory of Motivation

According to instinct theories, people are motivated to behave in certain ways because they are evolutionarily programmed to do so. For example retaliation in humans if hit were programmed to hit back in defence, especially for men as testosterone plays a part with channelled aggression. 

Incentive Theory of Motivation

The incentive theory suggests that people are motivated to do things because of external rewards. For example, you would be motivated to go to work for financial gain or do overtime for the monetary reward of being paid bonuses. Behavioural learning concepts such as association and reinforcement play an important role in this theory of motivation, which is developed through role models and important others from a young age throughout life Bandura,(1985) supports this with observational learning theory.

Drive Theory of Motivation

(Hull, 1943;Spence, 1956) According to the drive theory of motivation, people are motivated to take certain actions in order to reduce the internal tension that is caused by unmet needs. For example, you might be motivated to have a drink to reduce the internal state of thirst. This theory is useful in explaining behaviour that have a strong biological component, such as hunger or thirst.

The problem with the drive theory of motivation is that these behaviours are not always motivated purely by physiological needs. For example, people often eat even when they are not really hungry and can do so purely out of boredom, or even for comfort. The graph shows a direct correlation between the level of arousal and performance however this is not necessarily correct as an increase in arousal doesn't always lead to an increase in performance.

Arousal Theory of Motivation

The arousal theory of motivation suggests that people take certain actions to either decrease or increase levels of arousal. When arousal levels get too low, for example, a person might watch a scary film or go for a jog, anything that gets the pulse raised for enjoyment. When arousal levels get too high, on the other hand, a person would probably look for ways to relax such as meditating,reading a book or having a nice hot bath.

According to this theory, we are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal, although this level can vary based on the individual or the situation, but as can be seen from the above picture a medial amount of arousal aids peak performance.

Humanistic Theory of Motivation

Humanistic theories of motivation are based on the idea that people also have strong cognitive reasons to perform various actions. This is famously illustrated in Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs (Maslow,1954), which presents different motivations at different levels. First, people are motivated to fulfil basic biological needs for food and shelter, as well as those of safety, love and esteem. Once the lower level needs have been met, the primary motivator becomes the need for self-actualization, or the desire to fulfil one's individual potential.

The key with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is that in order to achieve the next level of motivation its key the below level criteria must be satisfied otherwise the above benefits are unable to be realised, as the below level takes priority.

A spa day could be a good example of incentive rewards as it offers reward based on performance then the relaxation of the reward will help maintain motivation levels and prepare the athlete for the future training and competitions as associations with these rewards flourishes.
 Basic instinct theory applied to the above picture would be when the individual steps on the hot coals to pull the lead foot backwards and exhibit signs of pain be it through facial expression or body language.

Motivation in respect to an athlete & a coach

Athlete’s response can be varied depending upon sport type such as team sports like rugby or individual sports such as boxing. Focusing on team sports motivation and cohesion is important in order to achieve a positive performance, there are two types of cohesion task & social. Task cohesion as stated in the name is adherence to a task or goal oriented objective such as winning.(Malina,2008; Pate et al,2000; Warburton et al,2006) understanding adherence to sport from the

Perspective of health is timely and important. But necessary in order to achieve a positive group dynamic which has shared norms ready for that all important performance. Johanson and Vahlne

(2011) this is allow synergy to occur, Martin et al.(2011) suggests the potential productivity of the individuals is smaller than that of the combined productivity of the team, as a team more can be achieved.

Now obviously not all teams benefit from this synergy as members in the team may lack motivation in their roll to the team I.e. a defender in a football team whom day dreams and thinks more about themselves than the team and lacks activation within the game situation. This is known as social loafing which can be described as a performer’s reduction in effort and activation as group size increases allowing individuals to disappear in the team. The Ringelmann effect helps explain potential decreases in performance. As can be seen from the below graph the Ringelmann effect diagrammatically shows the potential force per athlete and how the gradient between expected performance & actual performance are worlds apart as the number of participants increases the negative correlation for actual performance shows the scale of social-loafing this raises other issues such as group formation and structure and the four key stages forming, storming, norming and performing. During these stages it’s essential to allow the group to develop socially and organically as a naturalistic feel within a team gives confidence and set boundaries with in the team.

Many athletes suffer from poor attribution when analysing performance usually blaming external factors such as opposition bias, “it was a strong team”, when really the cause for failure is as a result of faulty processes within the team allowing a less skilful but more cohesive team to come out successful. (Weiner, 2006) locus of control suggests there are two variables internal and external and these are what we use when attributing success which is usually attributed to internal qualities whereas failure or incorrect technique due to external factors. Now from a coaching stance this is easy to evaluate when speaking with the athlete about a previous performance its useful if the past performance has been recorded so that analysis can be performed with the athlete and coach in unison. Weiner (2006) also looks at stability of an athlete’s performances weather or not the cause changes naturally over time or not at all, Weiner’s model focuses on elements such as what’s in an athlete's control along with that of a in a coaches control this includes elements where skill are in question in comparison to luck. As most understand luck is un-quantified and as such immeasurable but used to attribute success against all the odds.

A coaches task is to ensure that the athlete has mastered the key skills required for a particular sport and that they are able to implement that skill autonomously through vicarious experience and practice, practice & more practice this ensures development of an athlete’s experience levels along with kinaesthetic feel for the sport, boosting confidence in themselves and developing motivation levels which can be applied in a game situation.

As mentioned earlier not all sport involves groups and teams i.e. Snooker, Boxing, Judo, Darts, and Body-building etc. Intrinsic motivation in regards to these types of sport could be argued that are greater as the level of activation required throughout the sport along with the level of determination have to be self-sustained in order to achieve elite level performance. Coaches support structure should be tailored to suit the athlete to allow them to keep progressing positively and avoid injury. A worry with motivation and trying to boost it is the lead to aggression rather than assertion, there are two types of aggression hostile and instrumental, (Russell, 2008) suggests that hostile aggression takes place unexpectedly caused intrinsically through the athlete. Whereas (Anderson, 2000) instrumental aggression is purely the desire to cause serious injury to another athlete purely for an outcome goal such as winning or financial gain. Frustration hypothesis helps explain why aggression prevails in sport as an athlete strives to cause harm whilst there goals are constantly being blocked, the act allows catharsis and arousal levels to decline resulting in motivation being put back solely into the game.

The trailer above shows some of the issues which athletes face when entering a new team as an individual and the development which they undergo in order to fit in (norm) to produce a successful performance, the trailer also shows what happens when this fails resulting in poor performance due to a lack of cohesion and driven task cohesion. Coaches in the segment trailer use a range of techniques to inspire the athletes individually and tailor communication techniques i.e. language and tone of voice, one to ones and break down to the athlete of their individual importance to the team, plus what can be achieved as “Fast girls” in the Olympics. The main reason this video was chosen is sole because I believe it help shows the majority of issues discussed around motivation, cohesion, arousal & aggression.   

Strategies which could be implemented to control motivation

A strategy which every coach should look at implementing should be goal setting, as this will motivate an athlete providing a coach follows simple steps when setting goals. The SMART principle is a great tool to use when creating goals for an athlete; the mnemonic stands for specific, measurable, achievable, recordable and time. Specificity of the goal must be carefully considered, will it directly or indirectly increase performance or is it result based. Measurable is obvious the goal must be quantifiable in order to state exactly when it has been attained, Achievability of the goal is vital as a coach setting goals which are beyond the athletes ability will only demotivate the athlete linked back to(Maslow,1954). Recordable is simply the best available measure which will best suit the goal set i.e. an athlete is set a time goal which is achieved in a competition the official results provide the proof of achievement. Time is important all goals should have a specific period by which they must be achieved. When using these measures it’s important that the athletes training programmes are consulted correctly to see any emerging patterns, a good coach will consult the athlete before a draft of a set out plan is set in action, a great coach will consult the athlete after as well to make sure the athlete agrees to the goals achievability. During the process of achieving a goal small intermediate goals should be set in order to gage progress towards the greater goal and aid motivation levels along the way. These short term goals can be more informal that the end goal as regards to record taking. Some coaches create a progress file along with actual data of each session such as heart rate which can be used for a whole range of physiological such as an indicator towards Vo2 Max, blood pressure, arousal etc.

Another strategy which could be employed is finding a suitable role model, i.e. an aspiring male pro boxer whose role model is Kell brook purely because there from a similar geographical area and are the same weight and would be in the same class if the athlete turned pro. It’s essential that the role model exhibits socially acceptable traits and doesn’t display a negative image of success, the sport and professionalism. Another factor to consider is how long the role model has been in the sport for and if possible an analysis of how they got to where they are today. Kell Brook would have been an unsuitable role model if he was for example a heavyweight like Richard Towers, two fantastic boxers but two totally different routes to success from the same gym this emphasises that each athlete is an individual and that becoming elite is a path which is achievable through hard work and dedication with guidance of how to maintain excellence, motivation whilst generating an image or an identity for yourself in sport and the world.

Boxing is just one example which has been discussed but this source is transferable to other sports.

A simplistic approach could just to make session fun; no matter what you have to do you should be able to make it fun. After all if we enjoy what we are doing it is a whole lot easier to keep doing it. For an athlete it’s important that at times blood sweat and tears is what progresses an athlete to that next level and its weather or not there willing to try new innovative techniques in order to dominate in sport. The fun element is particularly important when working with children as the fun element encapsulates there mind and the focus of exercise and training isn’t the focus but fun, interaction, amenity and more popular today body image.   

Conclusion

This resource I hope has been useful in giving a fundamental insight into motivation and the surrounding theory in order analyse an athlete’s personal attributes and provided some approaches on how they can be reformed in direction of boosting or perfecting performance. A range of motivational theories have been discussed however there are still loads out there which do affect performance and may be more tailored for a certain athlete as each person may respond differently.

Good coaching is essential don’t just trying to implement these steps over night, it takes time how to utilise a technique correctly so on both the coaches and the athletes role’s repeat practice is required and in some instances training for coaches is advisory in order to ensure application or techniques is just academic but practical.