Promote Healthy Motivation Mindset
Emphasizes Task Goals
Task goals assume an incremental view in which your skill level is able to be trained and developed through hard work and effort, unlike outcome goals which assume an entity view in which your abilities are fixed and unchangeable through effort; a task-goal orientation seeks to improve an athlete's performance relative to their previous best, whereas an ego-task orientation focuses on social comparison.
Recognizing Signs of Arousal and state anxiety
It is important to identify signs of arousal and state anxiety in order to help sports participants manage stress at an optimal level for performance. To accurately assess their anxiety level, it is important to recognize signs and symptoms such as negative self-talk or increased muscle tension.
Concentration
Athletes who excel in performance have cited having a strong presence of mind, a narrowing of focus, and a sharpened kinesthetic awareness. Concentration involves focusing on relevant cues in the environment, maintaining attentional focus over time, having an awareness of the situation and performance errors, and shifting attentional focus when necessary. By giving athletes the tools to sharpen their attention and focus, they will better be able to concentrate during clutch performances and other high-stake environments.
Monitors and Assesses Attributions
It is not uncommon to unknowingly convey subtle but meaningful messages to individuals through attributions that accompany feedback. Adults have a very strong influence on a child's interpretation of their performance success and future motivation by the feedback they provide. The key is to emphasize task goals by focusing on individual improvement and success should be attributed to ability and high effort, NOT luck or easiness of the task.
Teaching Self-Regulation Skills
Athletes can become overly invested in their sport, which usually comes at the expense of family and personal time. Learning self-regulatory skills such as relaxation and positive self-talk can be beneficial in minimizing excessive stress and teaching young participants the importance of living a balanced, well-rounded life.
Imagery
Imagery helps athletes recreate experiences in their minds whether through simulation or memory. This is an important skill for athletes to develop because it can serve many purposes such as improving concentration, enhancing motivation, and controlling emotional responses. Having sport psychological services to support a year-round holistic approach to developing this skill can help athletes set realistic expectations and stir their motivation.
Determines Appropriateness of Competitive Goals
It is important to help individuals determine when it is appropriate to compete and when to focus on individual improvement. Stress a task orientation rather than an outcome orientation. This needs constant, repeated efforts to promote good judgment about appropriate competition.
Tailoring Coaching Strategies for Individuals
It is important that coaches recognize which individuals need their arousal and state anxiety enhanced, reduced, or maintained. Each athlete is unique in the time and amount of arousal they need to perform at their optimal state. Understimulating or overstressing an athlete can impede their ability to perform and may also be hurting their mental health.
Self-Confidence
The coaching staff can be instrumental in helping athletes develop self-confidence. Proper education for developing this skill will help arouse positive emotions, facilitate concentration, increase effort, and affect game strategies, psychological momentum, and performance.
Focuses on Approach Goals: Enhances Feelings of Competence and Control
Approach goals focus on achieving competence, as opposed to avoidance goals which focus on avoiding incompetence. Enhancing perceived competence and feelings of control is critical for achievement motivation, especially in children. Practices and competitions should be fun, focused on achievement, and matching participant skills and abilities. Use appropriate feedback and reinforcement by helping create individualized challenges and goals
Managing Post Competition Emotions
The end of a game or competition does not necessarily end the stress and anxiety an individual may be feeling. It is important to be aware that these emotions may carry over into or intensify postgame and can lead to destructive behaviors. In order to prevent this, there should be a supportive atmosphere following the event, group activities for the whole team to reflect on the game, and coaches should prevent participants from gloating over success or being taking a loss too hard.
Goal-setting
Setting specific, realistic long and short-term goals have proven to be beneficial in enhancing performance. Goals have been proven to affect behavior either indirectly or directly. They can help bring attention to important elements of a skill or task and can increase motivation and persistence through SMART goals. Meeting and exceeding goals gives participants self-confidence, increases overall satisfaction, and helps cope with sport anxiety,