I realize that 5000-word blog posts riddled with motivational and psychological terminology aren’t for everyone, so I decided to write a condensed version of that post that should be more digestible and applicable for coaches. If 5000-word blog posts are your thing, click here.
In this post, I’ll explain 7 behaviors coaches can implement to improve athlete motivation, provide a baseball-centered example of each, and describe why these behaviors are important.
Behavior 1: Provide choice within specific rules and limits
This is pretty straightforward. Give your athletes some ability to choose what they want to work on in practice. When athletes have the ability to choose, they will be more motivated to complete the task. Of course, this doesn’t mean athletes can do whatever they want, that’s why it’s important to set boundaries.
For example, before a pitcher throws a bullpen, asking the question, “What would you like to work on today?” gives the athlete the authority to direct his training. He now will be more bought in to executing in his bullpen. This is better than the coach saying, “you’re going to throw 10 fastballs, 5 change-ups, and 5 curveballs.” In this example, the coach can set rules such as, “you’re only throwing 20 pitches” or “we need to work ½ of this bullpen out of the stretch.”
Behavior 2: Provide a rationale for tasks and limits
Coaches should explain why athletes are doing particular activities, especially if an athlete asks. “Because I said so and I’m the coach” is not an acceptable explanation. If you don’t have a reason for doing something with your athletes, be a better coach.
Back to our bullpen example, if the pitcher says he wants to throw 45 pitches, the coach can say something like, “we have a game in 4 days and you’re going to start. If you throw 45 pitches today, you won’t start. Let’s keep the pitch count to 20.” Even if the athlete objects, the coach has given a sound reason for his or her actions.
Behavior 3: Acknowledge the other person’s feelings and perspective
Coaches should try to empathize and relate to how an athlete may feel in a given situation. A little empathy goes a long way. It ensures that people feel they are heard and at least somewhat understood.
Let’s say there is an upcoming game against a team that bunts frequently. Even though working on bunt coverage is boring and not nearly as fun as hitting bombs and throwing hard, it’s important to cover in practice. The coach can say something like, “Hey I know we may not want to work on fielding bunts at practice, but the team we’re playing this weekend loves to bunt so I want us to be prepared.”
Behavior 4: Provide athletes with opportunities for initiative taking and independent work
Coaches should find time to provide their athletes chances to decide what to do and how to do it. This means giving up a degree of structure and control that comes with the ‘coach’ title.
In the team setting, an example of this would be to allow your players to design a portion of practice. At the end of a weekend series/tournament, the coach can say, “on Tuesday we’re going to spend 45 minutes on offense, then for the next 45 minutes, you can decide what we’ll work on. Please have an answer by Tuesday morning.” The athletes have to determine what’s important to them and what will best help the group succeed for future games. This may also provide coaches some insight as to what athletes find important!
Behavior 5: Provide non-controlling feedback
While feedback in coaching is a very broad and nuanced topic, this idea is a bit narrower. Feedback has two components, an informational component and a controlling component. The informational aspect provides information about if the task was accomplished, and the controlling aspect encourages the person to do the behavior again. When giving feedback, it’s important to target behaviors that are under the athletes’ control and convey high, but realistic, expectations.
So, in a youth baseball game, if an athlete is struggling to throw strikes, yelling “throw strikes or you’re coming out of the game” isn’t productive. The athlete knows he’s out if he doesn’t perform and, as a matter of fact, is trying to throw strikes.
Behavior 6: Avoid controlling behaviors
Controlling behaviors consist of taking blatant control, using controlling language, and providing tangible rewards.
An example of this is putting intense pressure on kids to succeed and guilting them when they fail. For instance, “How could you strike out three times today and make two errors at shortstop? The coach will probably bench you; I know I would.” This type of parent-child interaction does not serve as motivation to improve, it serves as motivation to play lacrosse.
Athletes consistently show greater levels of enjoyment in sport when there is less pressure and fewer negative interactions from coaches and parents.
Rewards are a bit more nuanced, but when athletes participate to receive a reward, it undermines the activity itself. An example of this from a parent could be, “If you go to baseball practice, I’ll let you play Fortnite later.” When the reward system goes away, so does motivation to participate.
Behavior 7: Prevent ego-involvement
This is the act of athletes comparing themselves to others rather than themselves. Athletes can become consumed with outcomes rather than being empowered to improve their own selves. I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, I understand that comparing yourself to others can be overwhelming if you feel you can never measure up. On the other hand, it is important to have normative ranges, so you understand where you’re at in respect to peers. Emphasizing the individual gains rather than the top percentile of a peer group may be beneficial here.
On the coaching side, an example of this is to compare everyone on your team to the best player. “Hey, see how Johnny fields that ground ball. Why can’t you field it like him?”
Another example is velocity leaderboards. Empathize with the athletes who aren’t in position to be where they would like to be relative to their peers.
Why does it matter?
Coaches that are able to implement some, if not all, of these behaviors should improve the psychological wellbeing of their athletes. In particular, athletes will have increased feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy is the desire to have choice and not be controlled by someone else. Competence is the ability and capacity to control outcomes. Relatedness is the need to feel connected, involved, and have satisfying interpersonal relationships.
Executing the seven behaviors outlined in this blog may be easier said than done. Start with one, then another, then another. Think about how you speak to your athletes, how you design a practice, and what you can do to improve. In the end, small improvements over time will yield big results.
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