The Role Of Autonomy In Sports

The next similarity is having the passion for the game. We all have passions in our lives, although many of us might not be clear with that passion yet, many athletes have found their passions When athletes have the passion for the game it can move athletes through tough times and stay hungry for the next game. Passion gives athletes a reason to work hard and be the best player they can be. With a passion, athletes have specific targets to shoot for. According to Dr. Stankovich “Many years ago it dawned on me how important it is in life to have a passion and purpose — to be dedicated to the nth degree, and to have specific targets to shoot for in the big picture of life. I have learned that without true passion (also loosely known as intrinsic motivation), it is extremely difficult to truly reach your full potential in life.” Although it is debatable wither passion can be taught, passion can be looked for.

Motivation in sports is why people do what they do. It is also the direction and intensity of one’s effort and determination to achieve. The more motivated one is, the more likely one is to succeed.

Many social factors directly or indirectly shape opinions and influence an individual’s decision to participate in physical activity. These factors change throughout an individual’s life. For example, some children start playing sport because it is fun; others may join a sporting group because their older brother or sister plays that sport. A new sporting complex may open nearby and provide a chance to try a new sport. Coaching clinics might inspire some people to give a sport a go. Teachers can provide both positive and negative sporting experiences.

Motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. For an athlete, motivation can be the difference between waking up at 5:00 a.m. to go for a mile run versus sleeping in. It could be the difference between putting in an extra set of reps in the weight room versus going to the mall with friends. It could be putting in extra time at practice versus going on a date. Motivation is necessary to augment ability. It’s extremely important because one will face tests from fatigue, pain, boredom and outside desires that will challenge the athlete’s focus on becoming the best they can be. Motivation is the center of success, it can be thought of as a tree with the other factors being branches that stem from motivation. It will effect the mental aspects of game preparation, the physical aspects of nutrition, conditioning and sleep. Finally, it will affect the coaching side in terms of training. Some athletes can get through high school and college off size and athleticism.

loco Parentis: in the place of a parent, mentions to the legal accountability of a person.

Research proved that athletes found their coaches training as well as instruction behavior and their style of coaching did have an impact on individual performance. This was important research for me in understanding how those I coach perceive my leadership and whether or not I am effective as their leader. My teams’ outstanding performance or lack of performance can be a direct link to my type of leadership skills in addition to my training. The primary role of any coach or athletic leader is to help their athletes and improve on their individual performance. “Several sport studies exploring the coach-athlete relationship claim that effective coaching includes basic ingredients such as empathic understanding, honesty, support, liking, acceptance, friendliness, cooperation, caring and respect” (Moen, Hoigaard, & Peters, 2014, p. 76). The challenge for me is finding the balance between being supportive and meeting the individual needs of team members while also enhancing their ability and understanding of the sport. Understanding how to lead and coach various personalities within the team is essential to the team’s

This portfolio is a compilation of my works while pursuing a Master's degree in Coaching and Athletic Administration. These selected works illustrate my professional development gained from this educational experience. Seeking out professional development opportunities is critical for athletic coaches and administrators because every sports program, regardless of the age or skill level, should have a qualified coach lead it. In fact, many would argue there are a moral and a legal obligation to have qualified coaches at all levels. There is a legal obligation because unqualified coaches are more likely to teach improper skills and techniques, which puts athletes at risk for injuries. Further, there is a moral obligation, as qualified coaches are more apt to understand and address the psychological and physiological developmental needs for each athlete. When a coach knows these psychological and

The abuse of power to exploit and dominate women within sporting bodies is not a new concept to society and may seem complex however, to gain insight on this topic one may observe the role of masculinity in sports. Sport has been a masculine domain where men are able to assert their dominance, strength, and bravery. Directly addressed by the three I’s: inferiority, injury, and immorality in Authors Eileen McDonagh’s and Laura Pappano’s article Playing With the Boys: Why Separate Is Not Equal In Sports women have been marked as physically inferior to men (McDonagh and Pappano, 2008, pp.181-187). Additionally, society feared that if women were allowed to compete in masculine sports it would promote damage to their vital organs, homosexual affiliations,

There are over 450,000 athletes competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) level across 24 different sports in the United States (NCAA, 2012). What psychological qualities separate the successful student athlete from the non-successful student athlete (i.e., a student athlete who completes their eligibility and graduates, or gets drafted into the professional level)? We know sport psychology and mental performance training can assist athletes in achieving peak performance by teaching confidence, goal setting, imagery, mental toughness, how to deal with pressure, relaxation, positive self-talk and more (Shemake, 2014). This study aims to identify if certain student athletes posses some of these characteristics without

Sport is a creation of social reality and no other foundation except possibly religion, commands the ethnic fascination that sport does. Sport also offers competitiveness and organized conflict in controlled surroundings that are not found in other parts of social life. There is an everlasting connection between social class, ethnicity, and sports. Baseball in the United States is a good example of this because they continue to recruit players from the blue-collar part of the population leaving out black males; this attracted a good amount of scholarly attention and speculation. Black players were banned from major league sports until 1940. “Sport is an arena of patterned behaviors, social structures, and interinstitutional relationships that holds unique opportunities to study and understand the complexities of social life.” The treatment of African Americans in sport has been problematic for years; they had to overcome many different obstacles due to discrimination from coaches, managers, players, and even the fans.

Some is that the athlete just loves the sport and wants to excel at the highest level they can as long as they're getting better day by day. That's known as a "Intrinsic Motivation". Another Type of motivation is, the "Achievement Motivation", which is when the athlete is too much of a competitor and hates to lose. The athlete has motivation to never will lose and will do anything to be the best at what sport they are playing. The bad part about motivation is when the athlete is super motivated, that it can be very stressful and sad if the athlete doesn't succeed, when all they do is train for their moment. Motivation can actually make a person sad if they work extremely hard and see no improvement in themselves and all the hard work they have been doing. Some people have stronger motivation than others, which is a proven fact. Many athletes have motivation, but many don't do anything with it. Some athletes work harder than everyone else to do good in the classroom, so that they can be a scholar athlete. Many athletes loose more and more motivation when the competition gets harder. The better athletes, that do make it to the pros, are the ones that when the competition got harder they still worked as hard as they could because they knew that some day they would get where they wanted with good hard work ethics and strong

Before the 1980’s athletes rarely ever discussed their beliefs or prayed during sport participation. Some sport psychologists feel that this may be because in the past other players and the media ridiculed a religious athlete. Throughout the years researchers, sport psychologists and coaches have noticed the importance of spirituality in sport. Because there are often confusions about the definitions of spirituality it is important to note up to date definitions. Religion is defined as the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. Some example religions are Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. Spirituality involves much more than what a humanistic perspective sees, it is a personal meaning that comes from what a person values. Prayer is an extension of one’s religion. Prayer is defined as an earnest hope or wish. It can also be defined as a request for help or expression of thanks to God or an object of worship. The use of prayer during sporting events is a recent topic for research. A

When considering enjoyment, known factors that affect the participation for youth sport participants are motivational climate and coaching behaviors. . The very first coach that a child encounter plays a very important role in the child’s sports life. In fact, the first coach a child encounters can be the determinant if the child will return to participating in the sport or not. Coaches need to motivate the children to play and continue athletic involvement. However, there are numerous external factors that are involved in the child’s sports life such as: peers, academics, parents, anxiety, and of course the relationship between the coach and the athlete.

In earlier days sports psychology was mostly concerned with developing assessment methods that would identify those people with the potential to become serious superior athletes. Today the focus is on psychological training, exercises that strengthen the mental skills that will help athletic performances on the path to excellence. These skills include mental imagery and focus training. If an athlete is serious about becoming the best he or she can possibly be, the most essential ingredient is commitment to practice the right things. It takes incredible commitment to reach the top: a commitment to rest and train the body so it can perform under the most demanding conditions and a commitment to train the mind to

On the campus of Westminster students are encouraged to express their individuality however they want either by playing sports, joining clubs, joining Greek life and countless other options. Students have equal opportunity to become he person they want. It is pivotal that students figure out their individuality during their tenure at Westminster College. The development of oneself is important in the college person because you learn who you really are for the rest of your life. Since it is so important that students can freely express themselves it is also important that students are protected in doing so. Respect and is a very important behavior that needs to be exhibited in every situation that happens on campus. On the athletic fields, in the class room and yes even at parties every person needs to be held accountable to respect others.