Introduction

Motivation is the drive within us to achieve our aims. In sports it may be the aim to
be successful or to beat an opponent. Motivation is also needed to overcome
challeneges and continue training.

Motivation in sports is why people do what they do. It is also the direction and
intensity of one’s effort and determination to achieve. The more motivated one is, the
more likely one is to succeed. Sports,which involve emotion, competition,
cooperation, achievement, and play provide a rich area for psychological study.
People involved in sports attempt to master very difficult skills, often subjecting
themselves to intense physical stress as well as social pressure. research has
expanded into numerous areas such as imagery training, hypnosis, relaxation
training, motivation, socialization, conflict and competition, counseling, and coaching.
Specific sports and recreational specialties studied include baseball, basketball,
soccer, volleyball, tennis, golf, fencing, dance, and many others.

Motivation is an internal energy force that determines all aspects of our behavior.
It also impacts on how we think, feel and interact with others. In sport, high
motivation is widely accepted as an essential prerequisite in getting athletes to fulfill
their potential. However, it is a force that is often difficult to exploit fully. Some
coaches appear to have a ‘magic touch’, being able to get a great deal more out of a
team than the sum of its individual parts. Others find motivation to be an elusive
concept they are forever struggling to master. What is it that makes individuals like
churn out outstanding performances year in, year out? Elite athletes have developed
an ability to channel their energies extremely effectively. Indeed, motivation is
essentially about the direction of effort over a prolonged period of time. 
Definitions of motivation

Motivation can be classified in many ways and as like other determinants of

mental toughness such as personality it can affected by many things.Motivation can
include our inner drive to perform, but it is also affect by the external sporting factors
such as winning medals.

A simple definition of motivation would be the direction and intensity of our

sporting behaviour.Direction meaning the sports we choose and the commitments
that come with this, such as training and competition schedule.Intensity meaning the
amount of hard work that goes into each and every one of the planned sessions.

Therefore an athlete that goes to every training session, works to their full potential
every time and gives their best in competitions is highly motivated. In contrast an
athlete that frequently skips sessions or is not focussed on the task in hand can be
considered less motivated.
The theories of motivation in sports

Athletes participate in sports for various reasons, from a hunger for physical activity
and competition to the joy of belonging to a team. Coaches can improve the team's
performance by finding the right motivation for each situation and player. Specific
motivational theories exist that apply psychological concepts to sports for increased
drive and performance.

Theory of Vitality

The theory of vitality dictates that vitality influences the future capacity for
performance. An athlete has a baseline vitality with which to work and won't stray far
from that point. Actions or effects affect that vitality and either thwart or satisfy the
player's needs. For example, if a player is extrinsically motivated and praise isn't
forthcoming, the player's vitality sinks and he loses motivation. Similarly, if a player
loves a game and keeps winning at it, her intrinsic enjoyment is satisfied, her vitality
rises and she is motivated to continue.

Sandwich Theory

The sandwich theory motivates athletes to correct or improve without destroying their
sense of enjoyment, pride or inclusion as an equal team member. You can use this
theory on yourself by noticing your positive contributions to your team, too. When
crafting criticism, sandwich the need between positive reinforcement. Doing so
motivates athletes to put forth the necessary effort for improvement because their
larger extrinsic or intrinsic needs are being met.
Types of motivation

There are two different types or forms of motivation that we can use intrinsic
motivation and extrinsic motivation. Below is a detailed explanation of both forms of
motivation and how they relate to sports.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from within us not from external sources
for emotions.Someone who is intrinsically motivated doesn’t require much external
motivation from fans, money and expectations of others. They are focused on their
own inner goals that they want to achieve and their personal reasons for being in the
sporting situation they are in at that moment.

A sporting example of Intrinsic motivation is a Anderson Silva (MMA), before he

enters the octagon he is calm and composed and is deep in thought about his
motives, reasons for being there and his hard work and dedication to get this far in
his career, that is intrinsic motivation because he is getting motivated by his own
sources from within and not from other rewards such as money and fame.

One of the main intrinsically motivated motives are personal pride the thought of
being able to better yourself and beat the challenges that you set yourself.

People who are intrinsically motivated still want to receive rewards but these rewards
are not what keeps the athlete motivated to persevere through the hard times that
comes with being an athlete. Intrinsic motivation is a long term reason to get involved
in sports because it will take a long time for this form of motivation to die down.

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from outside of us not from internal
sources for example personal pride.

Someone who is extrinsically motivated doesn’t require much internal motivation from
personal pride, achieving goals and enjoyment they are only focused on the rewards
that come with being an athlete such as money and fame.
A sporting example of extrinsic motivation is Wayne Rooney, Wayne is one of the
planets best known footballers and with this status comes a lot of money and fame.
Wayne is sponsored by many internationally recognised brands such as Nike,
Lucozade, Coca-Cola Zero and PowerAde. He also plays for one of the biggest clubs
in world football Manchester United which brings him a lot of media coverage and
fame within the public. Recently Wayne was caught in a debate with Manchester
United over his weekly wages which saw a massive increase to his previous wage
which shows that he is motivated by the money which is extrinsic motivation.

One of the main extrinsically motivated motives is fame, being in the eye of millions
of people will leave great fame upon your shoulders and is one of the main reasons
people want to be professional athletes.
Effect of motivation in sport

Positive and negative forms of motivation are at opposite ends of a continuum for
motivation. Motivation will either be positive or negative, but this is often specific to
the athlete’s view of positive and negative, though some things are universal.

Positive motivation is a reward for good performance. This does not have to be an
extrinsic motivator, but can also be an intrinsic motivator, such as the good feeling
that comes with achieving a goal or doing a personal best. Other examples of
positive motivation includes, if a coach says the player will get a bonus $500 if he
wins. Athletes who utilise positive motivation are more likely to take risks, be creative
and perform under pressure.

Negative motivation, on the other hand, is punishment for poor performance. Once
again this can be intrinsic or extrinsic in source. For example and athlete who beats
themselves up for poor performance is negative and intrinsic, while if a coach says
the player will be made to do a 30 minute anaerobic training session if they lose, this
is a negative extrinsic motivator.

Positive motivation works better than negative, especially when it has been used
through training, with praise given for good performances. If a coach or athlete is
overly negative after a poor performance the result can be a decrease in motivation.
Athletes who use negative motivators, such as being dropped off the starting team,
often result in more conservative performances.
Improvement

Keeping a team motivated is hard. An unexpected defeat, run of patchy form

or just a lack of focus are things that every sports team suffer from and overcoming it
falls into the lap of the coach.Motivating your team to be the best they can be is one
of the most difficult tasks you're faced with. Here are a number of things you can take
into your next coaching to help them keep their head in the game.

Firstly,create the right environment.Motivation starts on the training pitch. When a

player arrives for one of your training sessions, they should feel a surge of impetus
hit them from the off. You can rouse that emotion in your players by creating a
positive environment in and around your training facilities.Take a look around, does
the environment inspire confidence in players that they can turn up, give their all and
contribute to a club that's heading in the right direction? You can make small
improvements to this by investing in new equipment or sprucing up your clubhouse or
changing rooms.Give your club a lift with some fresh aesthetics and breed that
positivity from the second your squad arrives.Similarly, do you as a coach promote
that positivity when interacting with your team? Positivity in coaching is a much more
effective method of success than being an authoritarian, hierarchical coach that
doesn't connect with their team.Let players know you're more than just the coach, but
a friend who shares their passion for sport. Bringing yourself closer to your team, and
your team closer together, making them more motivated to fight for one another out
on the pitch.The working environment is key to making your team a happy and
motivated one. Make sure everything you do is geared towards creating that
environment.

Secondly,communication goes two-ways.We touched on the importance of

communicating comfortably with individuals in social scenarios. Communicating well
with your team in sporting scenarios is just as important to improving motivation and
it needs to be considered a two-way street.As a coach the onus is generally on you
to present solutions to your team that they are then expected to implement. But
communication should always be a two way street, and listening to your players can
help you gauge their thoughts on how best to improve and move forward.Tap into the
minds of your players and find out their thoughts on personal and team development,
helping you appeal to those objectives when motivating them in future.
 Next is make it fun,Central to creating a good, positive team environment is fun.
Fun is one of the most vital aspects of taking part in sport, and yet one of the hardest
to achieve. Youth teams are known to value the enjoyment of sport above winning;
and even adults can be hard to motivate in a community sports framework.Your
players turn up every Sunday due to their passion for the sport and dedication to your
club, so don't suck these elements out of your team.Challenging your players and
breeding that drive and endeavour to succeed is itself part of the fun of taking part in
sport. Use the pointers in this article to create that engaged, motivated environment
and players will get much more enjoyment out of playing for you and with one
another.

Last but not least,Use competitive aspects.We all undergo similar emotions when
playing sport, and one of the most pressing is the will to win. Competition is a central
topic to motivating yourself to succeed, and your team are no different.There's
nothing wrong with inflaming that innate competition in sportsmen and women. It
fuels that necessity for fun and helps to motivate your team to constantly improve
and become better than their peers.A word of warning though it's all about balance.
Using competitive influences in your coaching is great, but pushing it too hard can
have adverse effects on morale. Don't place too much emphasis on winners and
losers and don't fall back into that trap of rewarding winners and punishing losers.
Otherwise you'll end up with a divide in your group.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is no cut and dry answer to the question of what factors
motivates today’s athletes, rather there are multifaceted combinations of some or all
of the motives we have discussed in this paper depending on the person. There are
many answers to this question, each probably as unique as the individuals
themselves. From money, championships and attention; or maybe just for the
challenge. There are many different explanations as to why athletes compete. Many
factors contribute to the reasons why they play their respective sports, and as to what
drives them to do so. Gender also plays a role in the drive and perception of what
motivates athletes in their particular sport. More research is needed to fully
understand why and what perceived factors play a role in athletic motivation.
References

1. Phillips, J. K., Klein, G., & Sieck, W. R. (2004). Expertise in judgment and
decision making: A case for training intuitive decision skills. Blackwell
handbook of judgment and decision making, 297, 315.
2. Kilpatrick, Hebert, and Bartholomew, (2005) College Students Motivation for
Physical Activity: Differentiating Men’s and Women’s Motives for Sport
Participation and Exercise, Journal of American College Health, volume 54,
number2
3. Locke, E.A. & Latham, G.P. (1991). A Theory of Goal Setting & Task
Performance. The Academy of Management Review, 16.
4. Gillison, Standage, Skevington, (2006), Relationships among adolescents’
weight perceptions, exercise goals, exercise motivation, quality of life and
leisure-time exercise behavior: a self-determination theory approach, Oxford
Journals, Vol. 21, no. 6
5. Wilson, K., & Brookfield, D. (2009). Effect of goal setting on motivation and
adherence in a six‐week exercise program. International Journal of Sport and
Exercise Psychology, 7(1), 89-100.