MOTIVATION

This can come from within. A desire to perform well and succeed. For this to work there must be:

• A desire to overcome the problem or task
• Development of skills and habits to overcome that problem
• Rehearsal of successful habits until they are perfect
• A feeling of pride and enjoyment in performing the skill
• Repeated goal setting in order to progress and maintain motivation

Goals must be all of the following in order to be attainable:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Agreed
• Realistic
• Time related
• 
  
• But also
• Exciting
• Recorded

Motivation can also come from a source outside of the performer. These are things which can encourage the athlete to perform and fall into two groups:

Tangible rewards: Physical rewards such as medals and money. These should be used sparingly with young athletes to avoid a situation where winning a prize is more important than competing well

Intangible rewards: Praise, recognition and achievements. These should be used on a regular basis to encourage the athlete to repeat the behaviour which earned the praise.

Sarah - International Athlete

After failing to perform well in a few races she started to predict that she would fail again. she would feel her energy levels dropping during close races causing her to perform below her personal best. This spread to her training sessions. she felt she was never performing well enough and often felt like giving up

Her programme concentrated on changing her entrenched negative thinking patterns and bias in her perception. Healthy habits and effective goals eventually turned things round for her and times improved. Her confidence increased and her desire to win returned.