Motivation and Behavior Expectations

Athletes are motivated to fulfill their needs, and their primary needs when participating in sports are to have fun and to feel worthy by experiencing success.

Coaches who are great motivators know that
they do not motivate athletes. Instead they create the conditions or the climate in which athletes motivate themselves.

Motivating Athletes In Practice

• Fit the difficulty of the skills to be learned or performed to the ability of the athletes.
• Keep practice stimulating by varying your drills and activities to work on skills.
• Keep everyone active rather than standing around and waiting their turns.
• Avoid constant instruction during practices and games. Give athletes time when they don’t have to pay attention to you and can get absorbed in the activity.
• Do not constantly evaluate your athletes

The basic problem about this issue of worthi-ness is that athletes learn from parents, coaches, teammates, and the media to gauge their self-worth largely by whether they win or lose. The devastating result is that athletes can maintain their sense of self-worth only by making others feel unworthy. The most important thing you can do as a coach to enhance the motivation of your athletes is to change this yardstick of success.

By placing greater emphasis on achieving personal goals, athletes gain control over an important part of their sport participation—their own success.

If an Athlete Is Coached With . . .

• If an athlete is coached with criticism, she learns to condemn
• If an athlete is coached with hostility, he learns to fight
• If an athlete is coached with ridicule, she learns to hate
• If an athlete is coached with shame, he learns to feel guilty
• If an athlete is coached with tolerance, she learns to be patient
• If an athlete is coached with encouragement, he learns to be confident
• If an athlete is coached with praise, she learns to appreciate
• If an athlete is coached with fairness, he learns justice
• If an athlete is coached with consistency, she learns to trust
• If an athlete is coached with respect, he learns to respect himself

Preventative Discipline

• The cliché “the best defense is a good offense” expresses what preventive discipline is about.

Six Steps of Preventative Discipline

• Create the Right Team Culture
• Hold Team Meetings
• Develop Team Rules
• Create Team Routines
• Conduct Exciting Practices
• Catch Them Doing Good

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