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The role of motivation in sport
The role of motivation in sport
The role of motivation in sport
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The Importance of Motivation and Ability in a Successful Competitive Performance
In this essay I will investigate whether motivation is more important
than ability in team games, racket sports and individual activities.
By looking at sources on the Internet, in text books and sports
papers; as well as adding graphic examples, I should hopefully be able
to answer this question.
Before I begin however, I must build up a series of definitions in
order to help explain the question. The Edexcel Advanced PE book
describes motivation as the 'Drive to Strive', while Kent describes it
as 'the internal state which tends to direct a person's behaviour
towards a goal'. The English Dictionary describes ability as 'A
natural or acquired skill or talent' or 'someone's natural aptitude or
acquired proficiency.' Therefore this question asks if, under
competitive pressure, a side or person with a lower level of skill or
talent than their opponent can win if their mental drive is higher.
There are many examples that argue this case. Firstly there are the
team games. In this instance it would seem that ability is more
important than motivation, with the best football teams finishing at
the top of their leagues, while the ones with less ability coming
last. Similarly in the Athens Olympics, the British coxless fours had
the best ability and won. However there are still many instances when
motivation has beaten ability. Again in Athens, the American 4 x 100m
relay team were beaten by the better motivation of the British team.
While in football, this year's FA Cup witnessed Burnley beating
Liverpool. Their motivation outdoing the ability of the Premiership
side.
Meanwhile in racquet sports upsets of ability are even more common.
This could be that in a team, there is more chance that someone will
be highly motivated and this, in turn, can motivate the rest of the
team. However, in racquet sports the person has to bring the
motivation from within and if the crowd is against them this can be
very difficult.
To commence with the first, motivation is regarded, by indulgence in serious studies and experimental research of countless years by academicians and scholars, as an internal process that makes a person move toward a goal which is not directly measurable
Smith, R. E., Smoll, F. L., & Cumming, S. P. (2009). Motivational climate and changes in young athletes’ achievement goal orientations. Motivation and Emotion, 33(2), 173-183.
The example of an athlete is adapted to clarify this belief. If one wants to be a star athlete, then it is important for one to train properly and work hard before the event. Supposing that one does not prepare for the event, then the expectation sh...
Looking at the side of winning being the only reason to play sport, it is very easy to get wrapped up in all the glamour of victory. Wanting to be the best places an unwavering drive in the depths of one's soul and it is not satisfied until a first place trophy is sitting on his or her shelf or a gold medal is hanging around thier neck. “Don’t let anyone tell you, 'Winning isn’t everythi...
Confidence can be defined as the positive feeling that you can achieve a certain goal. Confidence is not hoping for something to happen it is the something that u expect to happen. Self confidence is when a person believes he/she can achieve a certain goal on his/herself. A self confident athlete will show enthusiasm and be positive even if things do not go according to plan. For example, a confident team captain will not bring negative thoughts into the team players head when they are losing.
The age of overwhelming strength and stamina governing sports is over, and the age of the mentally tough athlete has arrived. Athletes are no longer the superficial jocks and robots programmed to accomplish one goal, victory. Modern athletes ranging from the high school to professional levels are faced with many pressures and temptations, normally outside the realm of their sport. These pressures can inhibit an athlete’s performance substantially; therefore, the pressures need to be dealt with by psychologists. The effectiveness of sports psychology is demonstrated through the fields many theories, applications, and variety of techniques and procedures.
Why are mental skills so important to performance and why are they often neglected by coaches and athletes? Yogi Berra has been quoted as saying, "sport is 90% mental and 50% physical." You can question his mathematical savvy, but if you're an athlete, coach or fan, you can't question his wisdom. (Hacker, 2000) Many athletes understand that while developing oneself to their physical potential is a critical element in performance potential, it is often a deficit in our psychological game rather than errors in our physical performance that keep us from performing at optimum levels in practice, games or matches. Spud McKenzie, the Budweiser poster puppy, suggested that it is important to say when, but also emphasized the critical element of knowing “when to say when”. It is often the successful athlete has recognized what needed to be done and the unsuccessful athlete was unable to do so. As a consequence, it is not the physical talents or abilities that separate athletes and teams, or successful versus less successful performance, rather, the psychological dimension that most frequently explains a given sport outcome or individual performance. For this reason games are played. Prior to each contest, judgment could be made with regard to which team or individual is the “more highly skilled”. If games were decided on who is the most physically gifted and/or talented individuals or teams, it would prove to be an exercise in futility to compete. As a result, whether you are an athlete or a coach, mastering the mental game of sport will allow you to achieve a level of success as a competitor than you could otherwise not achieve by focusing exclusively on the physical side of sport.
It is amazing to watch how most athletes perform at their peak and continue to produce and set record-breaking performances. What drives them to these high levels of motivation and productivity? They may come from various influences and source of motivation and these similar sources can also energize certain individuals affect behavior and arouse their drive.
You need both mental strength and physical strength in order to do well in sports. In the debate over the importance of physical prowess and mental agility in sports. Sanneh and Heinrich have similar views with Sanneh supporting the idea that you need to think when you play football in “What could be better than a Touchdown” and Heinrich suggesting that you need your muscles and mind to run in “why we run.”Both article’s states to think and mental strength is important as well as physical prowess.
medals. An example of this could be a player who is offered a lot of
athletes are physically talented and train hard. But what separates the good athletes from the best is simply their mental strength (Gregoire 1). Someone could be the most talented at...
Sports psychology continues to evolve in order to ensure that comprehensive and evidence-based psychological services are available for athletes and teams. Giving athletes an understanding of their psychological functioning, and building the ability to implement a range of psychological strategies in competition enables athletes to both execute their skills and thrive under pressure as they strive to reach their performance potential.
Motivate the motivation, simple words that can mean some much to an athlete, but what is motivation really? In the games and sports, psychological and physiological factors play an important role in determining the performance level (Grange & Kerr, 2010; Schilling & Hyashi, 2001). Motivation also plays an important role in determining the performance level an athlete, but plays a role in the psychological and physiological factors as well. Motivation is more than a behavior or idea, it is an impact on how we interact with others, how we process defeat, feel, and how we play. Motivation will not only help an athlete get the starting position or gain an award but more importantly, help an athlete reach their potential. Motivation like most things
The Achievement Motivation theory provides a final content theory of motivation. The theory has been advocated by David C. McClelland and his associate’s .It was in the late 1940s that David C. McClelland and his friends began to study three needs that motivate human behaviour-power, affiliation and achievement. McClelland believes that each person has a need for all the three but that people differ in the degree to which the various needs motivate their behaviour.
Sport and exercise psychology is a mandatory aspect of the sport science discipline. This discipline contributes to the various professional practices associated with physical activities such as - teaching of physical education, recreation and health promotion, and kinesiology related professions - because it plays a mental role for the participants. Sport and exercise psychologists view physical activity in several different ways: physical activity as a tool for health, physical activity as a tool for human potential, and physical activity as a tool for social change. This aspect of psychology may be the most important aspect of physical activity, because of the contributions of exercise and sport psychology to health, human potential, and social change.