All coaches are aware of the close interaction between motivation and learning. The motivation is, however, a theoretical concept that can not be directly observed and which can only be hypothesized on the basis of their behaviors. In any case, knowledge of the motivational processes is a crucial factor for any coach who wants to teach effectively.
The most important reasons recognized by young athletes are related to:
- competence (learn and improve their sports skills)
- fun (excitement, challenge and action)
- affiliation (being with friends and making new friends)
- team (being part of a group or team)
- compete (compete, succeed, win)
- fitness (feeling fit or feel stronger)
Conversely, the main causes of the decrease in motivation or drop out in sport are lack of fun, lack of success, competition stress, lack of support from parents, misunderstandings with the coach, boredom and injuries.
In summary these are the three main needs that the athlete wants to meet for half of the sport:
- fun, satisfies the need for stimulation and excitement;
- demonstrate competence, it satisfies the need to acquire skills and to feel self-determined in the activities
- being with others, it satisfies the need for affiliation with others and being in a group.
With reference to the need of stimulation it can be stated that:
- The success is built by calibrating the program to be carried out with the skills and the age of the athlete.
- The training must be maintained challenging and varied.
- Each athlete must be active, do not let the athletes time to get bored.
- While exercising, you need to provide athletes with the opportunity to do challenging exercises.
- You have to teach athletes to identify realistic goals.
- During training is useful to establish times when athletes practice without being evaluated by the coach.
With regard to the need for competence, it is up to the coach to stimulate both the child and the player evolved not only to learn specific sports techniques, but also to develop the desire to progress and curiosity about themselves and the environment in which acting.
In this regard, the coach must remember that:
- Specific goals, which are difficult and challenging are more effective than specific targets but easy to reach or defined in terms of do-your-best.
- Athletes must have a sufficient number of skills to reach their goals.
- The objectives are most effective when they are defined in terms of specific behavior than when they are defined in a vague way.
- Must defined intermediate goals to interact with the long-term goals.
As for the need of affiliation it is based on the need to belong to a group and to be accepted, thus establishing with other team members in meaningful relationships. Satisfying the need for affiliation and esteem, the athlete experiences increase the confidence in himself and more control in respect of the situations. In fact every athlete and coach knows from experience that when there are communication problems between them is difficult to follow the training program that has been set.
The key points to meet the need for affiliation and esteem of the athletes can be summarized as follows:
- Listen to the demands of athletes.
- Understanding the needs expressed, directing them in the annual program of training.
- Establish the role of each athlete, setting realistic goals for each.
- Openly acknowledge the efforts made to collaborate on team goals.
- Teach players to be fair.
- Provide technical instruction and encourage personal commitment.
- Reduce the competitive stress, providing feedback about to to perform at the best of themselves and reducing the emphasis on results.
In other words, the coach must develop in his athletes the sense of belonging to that particular group, and he must appear credible and consistent in his attitudes and behaviors.
To be credible, we must be honest with all the athletes: young and older, experienced and inexperienced. In this respect, the coach must:
- Share with athletes the technical program, highlighting their skills and areas for improvement.
- Explain the reasons of techniques and strategies: they will be better remembered .
- Do not make promises, either personally or indirectly, that he might not be able to keep.
- Answer the questions with competence, honesty and sensitivity.
- Avoiding pronouncing phrases which might affect the athlete confidence (eg, “You’ll never part of the best group). As a guide he wil ask himself:” If I were an athlete, I would like to be told this by the coach? “.
