The Role of Motivation in Enhancing Sports Performance

The Role of Motivation in Enhancing Sports Performance

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“… the internal state which tends to direct a person’s behaviour

towards a goal.”

(Kent, 1994)

“…motivation has been seen as having two aspects: it is what drives id

to do things …and it makes us do particular things.”

(Woods, 1988)

Motivation can influence decisions, learning and performance in sport.

If a performer is not in a positive psychological state, mistakes will

be made in the performance, and they will not perform at their best

level.

There are three types of motivation:

* Intrinsic

* Extrinsic

* Self-Motivation

Intrinsic

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This type of motivation comes directly from the performer. They are

factors such as personal satisfaction or enjoyment. Biddell (1984)

suggested that performers who are intrinsically motivate are more

likely to continue participating then those who aren’t. This is

because of personal ambition and the drive to have fun. An example of

this could be an individual wishing to play squash as a form of

recreation, to develop their fitness levels, but also to see if they

can master the game.

Extrinsic

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This type of motivation comes from factors that are unrelated to the

task they are performing. They are rewards that the performer may get

for completing a task successfully. Some of these may include money or

medals. An example of this could be a player who is offered a lot of

money for playing for a football team, but the don’t actually enjoy

player, rather than playing because of passion for the game.

Self-motivation

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This is almost the same as intrinsic motivation. Cratty (1989)

suggested that there are a number of factors that motivate us to take

part in sport, which include a desire to achieve a sense of mastery, a

wish for status, friendship, the challenge which the face, or simply

the excitement of taking part.