Self-Determination Theory In College Athletes

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Being able to motivate any athlete is a good requirement for becoming a good coach at any level. This should be very important because college athletes are trying to manage a lot of things in their life right now. Many of the athletes are having to manage schoolwork, practice, having their own social life, and even family stress back home. Athletes need to weigh the options of trying to make their sport a career or having their sport as a secondary option and making education. Most institutions act politically correct and say that student athletes are exactly that: students first and athletes second. Unfortunately during the season this is not always the attitude of coaches and athletes. As a coach you have to make many hard decisions like who will play and who will as a second team. Most likely these decisions will lead to tensions between you as the coach and the players, player and player, …show more content…

Since every athlete is motivated differently, and every team take on a different identity, this can certainly be quit a challenge. The self-determination theory would be a great outline for coaches to understand how to increase an athlete’s motivation and willingness to want to put forth the proper amount of effort in any particular activity. The self-determination continuum created by Ryan and Deci (2000) shows how a person can move from amotivated through extrinsic motivation and then into intrinsic motivation. The self-determination theory should help to foster a healthy development and create effective functioning in your athletes. What all coaches should realize is that no matter how you choose to motivate your athletes, you must make sure that you leave plenty of room for

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