Motivation : Peaks and Troughs

I asked the question “Can a kid be too motivated?” on Twitter recently and the general consensus was that no, it’s impossible to be ‘too motivated’.

But I think that a player can go too far and a coach can create an environment where players are not in control of their actions.

I have seen coaches screaming at players to ‘get stuck in’ and shortly after they foul, and have on occasion hurt an opponent. Are those kids peaking and momentarily too motivated? I think they are.

You also have coaches who take kids as young as seven or eight and turn them into emotional firecrackers who burn themselves out within a few minutes on the pitch, they are  surely ‘too motivated’. 

Let’s also remember that in terms of kids sport the athletes are not yet emotionally mature so it can be, and often, is a roller-coaster of emotions with peaks and troughs and yet some coaches are creating even taller peaks and deeper troughs.

This cannot be good for anyone and we, the coaches need to understand how to maintain a sensible level of motivation, we need to be the brake as well as the accelerator but too many forget about being the brake. Or worse they see no need for a brake!

Michael Owen recently talked about his career and how, even after all the successes he has had, he feels as if he was robbed of much more. He was talking about the decision to continue playing when he was advised to rest by his manager when he was at Liverpool.

In playing on he showed that he was motivated to succeed and that he wanted it badly.

But in playing on he tore a hamstring, an injury that he never fully recovered from and the source of his regret.

So was he ‘too motivated’? Of course he was, but he should also have been managed better. His coach and the medical staff should have acted as that brake and explained that he would get more in the long term out of less in the immediate.

And so it is with kids, they want to run and run but sometimes they need to be calmed and given a breather with the coach acting as a brake on that natural enthusiasm.

So let’s not forget that as coaches we get more in the long term by asking less of our kids now.