SPORT SCIENCE Garrett Lucash, RFS, RM
Part II
Understanding Athlete Motivation as a Continuum After serving as the PSA Sport Science Committee Chair for over a decade, the time has arrived to “pass the torch”. Effective July 1, I serve as the past chair of the PSA Sport Science Committee. I have enjoyed this role immensely, and I have learned so much from researching out authors and topics for sport science education. Garrett Lucash has been approved by the PSA Executive Committee and appointed by PSA President, Alex Chang, as the incoming chair. Garrett is thorough, analytical, and inquisitive, and I wholeheartedly endorse him in the role. Please join me in welcoming Garrett to “Team PSA”! ~HEIDI THIBERT
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e left off talking about the important role the coach plays in fulfilling athletes’ basic psychological needs as well as the quality of athletes’ motivation. To recap, the three basic psychological needs of all human beings are a need for relatedness, autonomy, and competence. Athletes need to feel a sense of connectedness with others in the sport, perceive themselves as capable or having the ability to participate in their sport, and perceive a sense of choice in their participation.1 Members of an athlete’s social context directly impact whether athletes’ needs are satisfied or thwarted. These members include parents, teammates/friends, and coaches.2 With these three needs in mind, you have the power to directly facilitate or restrict athletes’ needs through your coaching behaviors. In fact, researchers have identified specific coaching behaviors that are need-supportive or need-thwarting to aid in the training of future coaches. According to the Self-Determination Theory 2 (SDT), coaches can facilitate need-satisfaction and promote self-determined motivation with autonomy-supportive behaviors.3 Mageau and Vallerand 4 outlined seven such behaviors: • Provide choice within specific limits • Provide rationales for rules and instructions • Distinguish and acknowledging athlete’s feelings • Allow for independent work • Provide informational and non-controlling feedback • Avoid overt control through criticisms and tangible rewards • Prevent ego-involvement (facilitate self-improvement focus rather than athlete-to-athlete comparison) Need-thwarting and more controlled forms of motivation are a product of coaches’ controlling behaviors.3 Researchers have also identified five controlling behaviors that negatively affect athletes’ overall well-being. 5
This featured article is a continuation of the first segment, Understanding Athlete Motivation as a Continuum: Part I published in the July/ August issue.
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Emphasis on tangible rewards Controlling competency feedback Excessive personal control Intimidation behaviors: verbal abuse and physical punishment • Use of conditional regard to shape desired athlete behavior (withholding attention or feedback) • Promotion of ego-involvement (favoritism, comparison of athlete abilities against one another) As you become more aware of how you coach, you may be able to pick out which of these behaviors you more frequently engage in. You may realize that you engage in a combination of autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviors throughout a coaching session. You also may notice that you shift your coaching behaviors to accommodate different athletes. For example, some athletes require more explanations for completing specific exercises while others thrive under a more directive approach and offer little input in how training sessions are completed. By being more flexible in your coaching style to match the needs of your skater, you are well on your way to becoming a more autonomy-supportive coach! Coach Reflection Take some time to reflect upon how you are currently engaging in autonomy-supportive and/or controlling behaviors in your coaching practice. Next, evaluate whether you are using mostly autonomy-supportive behaviors or more controlling behaviors. Of the autonomy-supportive behaviors that you do not engage in, consider how you could incorporate these strategies with specific athletes. Then, plan how you will incorporate at least one behavior into your coaching practice this week. Finally, reflect on how your athletes responded to the incorporation of this new strategy after each session. At the end of the week, write out how you implemented this change throughout your sessions and its effect on athlete motivation.
