Coaches must avoid carrot and stick motivation with very few exceptions. Contrary to popular belief, carrot and stick motivation will drive more behaviors coaches don’t want than behaviors coaches do want. The reason for this is that carrot and stick motivation promotes short-term tactical thinking over long term strategic thinking. However, that’s not the worst […]
When an athlete is struggling with motivation, a coach’s first instinct is to step in and offer an external motivator to kick-start the athlete’s motivation. A coach will either default to a carrot or stick depending on their coaching style. More often than not this is the wrong answer. Although this may feel like the […]
Anxiety in sports has been a hot topic ever since tennis star Naomi Osaka pulled out of the French Open due to anxiety issues. Osaka cited the media’s disregard for the mental health of athletes during press conferences as a major cause for anxiety in sports. Osaka also tweeted that she suffers from social anxiety, and […]