Peter Farrell (Tennis Ireland Coach Development)

Motivation is “the driving force that directs actions towards the achievement of a certain goal”. Some athletes are highly self-motivated and will always be there come hail, rain or snow. But what can you do to help motivate those who might be wavering a little? Here are my ten keys to motivation.

1. SUCCESS
Each individual should feel that he or she has been successful at some point in the session. Not necessarily the best, the quickest, the winner – but maybe the one who was first to training, or remembered to bring a piece of equipment they were asked to provide.

2. GOAL SETTING
Athletes need to have a clear idea of what they are expected to achieve. Goals need to be individualised. They can be tricky to set, because people are not motivated by goals which they perceive to be either too easy or too difficult.

3. RECOGNITION
Having achieved their goals in a session, some athletes will feel cheated if this fact is not publicly recognised by the coach and therefore the group.

4. ‘NOVELTY VALUE’
Drills and exercises must be regularly modified, developed and replaced in order to keep interest levels high. Nobody enjoys taking part in exactly the same activities week after week.

5. ATTENTION
Some coaches tend to spend most of their time with the stronger athletes in a group, because they find it frustrating to work with weaker athletes. Other coaches might put most effort into the weaker athletes, thinking that the stronger ones can get on with it themselves. Divide your time equally, or the group you neglect will lose the drive to learn.

6. MOVEMENT
Most sports involve movement, and our lessons should reflect this fact. Long discussions – or periods of inactivity while waiting in line – will impact negatively on motivation levels.

7. ‘POSITIVITY’
Rather than a comment such as “no, that’s not the way to do it”, try “that was a great effort, now heres how you could improve it a little more”…

8. GROUPING
It will generally be difficult to motivate a younger child in a group of older children, or an older child in a group of younger children. Likewise for a weaker athlete in a group of stronger athletes, or a stronger athlete in a group of weaker athletes.

9. FUN
No matter how hard the players work during a session, they need to enjoy themselves too.

10. IMPROVEMENT
Perhaps the best motivation of all is when athletes can see and feel that they are constantly improving.

ticle written by Peter Farrell, Coach Development Officer, Tennis Ireland