The #1 Reason Why Motivation is So Important in Youth Sports
Motivation is the holy grail in youth sports. The reason why seems obvious, and it is, but not for the obvious reason. It’s obvious that young athletes who are motivated perform better than those who aren’t. However, what’s not so obvious is how much control a coach, parent, or athlete has on that motivation.
In the short term a coach, parent, or athlete has no control over natural talent, height, speed or strength. Yes, over multiple years there are ways to influence those attributes. But in the short term (a season, game, or practice) these attributes are what they are. On the other hand, motivation can change in an instant. Motivation can change a young athlete from average, to good, to great and back to average again within a few minutes.
This is the #1 reason why motivation is so important in youth sports. It’s practically the only performance attribute that a coach, parent, or athlete has influence over in any given moment. Those who know how to sustain it over time using intrinsic motivation get the best and most consistent outcomes. Those who try to game it with extrinsic carrot and stick tactics typically get inconsistent outcomes.
Simply stated, those who do the best optimizing the things they can control are better off. What’s more, motivation is not only one of the few things that can be controlled in youth sports, it’s also the thing that has the biggest impact in each moment.