Sports Motivation

Motivation is the underlying foundation upon which most successful people build their empires. Motivation is important in business, relationships and sports. In fact sports motivation is key to the success of any athlete.

The truth is, we can all use motivation if we are starting an exercise program or if we are attempting to complete a marathon. The level of motivation isn’t really different – just the goals have changed.

There are many different techniques for increasing sports motivation. Hopefully you’ll find a technique here that will help you increase your motivation to achieve the sports and exercise goals you’ve set for yourself.

One NBA basketball coach uses game films to help motivate and teach players what they’ve done right and done wrong. The theory is that watching game film gives his players the mental edge over other teams and that when players see themselves making a mistake they are better able to correct it.

Now use this knowledge to increase your own sports motivation. You can use a game tape of a basketball, football or baseball game. Analyze and review a segment of one game. Focus your attention on successful plays and imagine discussing these with other players and the coach. This is much more successful if you can get a video tape of yourself in your individual sport. Even if this isn’t a team sport, such as ice skating or track, you will still be able to more visually see your results, your mistakes and the positive things you did. You’ll be able to recreate the positive and correct the negative more easily.

Another technique used by top athletes is visualization. Professional athletes will often spend time each day visualizing their performance and the outcome they wish to happen. Long distance runners will visualize the route they are to take in the next race and anticipate how their bodies will feel climbing the last hill or racing through the last turns.

Visualization helps the athlete to anticipate how the course will feel, or how the game will be played. It also helps the body neurologically to anticipate how the muscles will move and how it will all feel. Visualization of winning a particular event will also help the athlete to continue striving hard for the goal, knowing that it is within reach.

The best role models and teachers for sports motivation are professional coaches, top-ranked amateur athletes and professional athletes. They didn’t get to this level of performance without having an edge over their competitors.

Other sports athletes also use motivational movies and tapes to keep their motivation to work hard elevated. Many amateurs enjoy watching movies like Rudy, where an underdog player persists and rises through the ranks to achieve their goals by means that aren’t always traditional. Hard work and dedication are difficult to maintain. Watching others achieve their goals and the struggles that they go through can also help to motivate athletes.

Top ranked athletes are also flexible. They understand that the daily structure may have to change on occasion and that if they miss their morning workout, the afternoon workout doesn’t need to suffer as well. Flexibility with schedules and mentally will go a long way toward not squashing your sports motivation.

Coaches have both positive and negative ways of motivating their players in team sports. Individual athletes can also use positive and negative approaches to their sports motivation. Most athletes have found though that a positive approach works more successfully because it engages the athlete in the process instead of alienating him against a specific target.

Resources:

Psychology Today: What Motivates Athletes

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/200910/sports-what-motivates-athletes

KeepInspiring.Me: 100 Most Inspirational Sports Quotes of All Time

http://www.keepinspiring.me/100-most-inspirational-sports-quotes-of-all-time/

The Peak Athlete: Top 5 Motivational Sports Videos

http://www.thepeakathlete.com/motivational-sports-videos

The Bleacher Report: The 50 Most Inspirational Sports Quotes in History

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1156558-the-50-most-inspirational-sports-quotes-in-history

American Program Bureau: Sports Motivation

http://www.apbspeakers.com/sports-motivation-speakers

Australian Institute of Sport: Motivation