Therefore coaches must be aware of the negative affects goal setting can create. Setting unrealistic goals, for example, “You must beat your time by 4 seconds in tomorrows 100m race”, this not only has an effect on motivation but can also have an effect on the performer’s anxieties. To successfully negotiate goal setting, there are many points that a coach must consider for his/her and the performer’s responsibilities. He or she must develop goal achievement strategies. There is simply no point in setting goals is the performer isn’t given any strategies to achieve their goals.
In past experience I believe this has a lot to do with the coaches sporting knowledge. An example of this would be running, the performer may have to cover so many miles per week or train for longer than 20 minutes, 3 times a week. It is important to log the goals. By committing them to paper there is no chance of their goals being forgotten or misinterpreted. This possibly is seen as an unofficial contract between performer and coach. Providing goal support in order to achieve certain goals, the performer will need to make certain allegiances in terms of time and perhaps even money-wise.
Another way to improve intrinsic motivation is to give feedback. Two of the main functions of feedback are to motivate and instruct. “Motivational feedback allows performance to learn specifically what they have been doing incorrectly and to have a benchmark for improving performance” (R. Weinberg & D. Gould 1995). For example a netball player who believes she is improving her defending skills and playing well, realises at the end of the game that she constituted too many of the fowls given in the match.
Here the coach has two options to give feedback. He or she could give motivating “You managed to intercept the ball very well today, well done! ” Information about the success of a performance or even part of the performance can enhance her motivation. However the feedback could be some what informational. “Ok, today went well, but let’s try and work on your aggression within the game so all of your interceptions are done successfully”.
This type of feedback “provides information about (a) the specific behaviours that should be performed, (b) the levels of proficiency that should be achieved and (c) the performer’s current level of proficiency in the desired skills and activities” (R. Weinberg & D. Gould 1995) I believe that in order to engender a feeling of enthusiasm and motivation, the coach must understand their performer’s motives for involvement, and work around them to suit the traits of the individual. They must play an essential role in the motivational environment and ultimately use their behaviour adjustments to change negative participant motives.
In addition the coach would also benefit from recognising the non- motivational factors that influence a sports performance and behaviour and learn to assess whether motivational factors may be readily changed.
References
Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology- (Weinberg, R. S & Gould. D. 1992) A-Z Physical Education Handbook- (James. R, Thompson. G. & Wiggins. N 2000) Advanced Physical Education-(Morton. D, Baugniet. N, Jones. G, Walters. D 2000) Sport and P. E-(Wesson. K, Wiggins. N, Hartigan. S 2000)