Introduction
Motivation is one of the components that every team, athlete, employee, institution, and organization needs to keep running and win. Focusing on sports, team leaders, coaches, and owners of the club or teams carry motivation within them to achieve successful goals. High-level motivation can benefit a sports performance more than you can ever imagine. It raises the team’s spirit, keeps the team or athlete going, and tells you you can achieve whatever you believe in.
Literature Review
Motivation is considered the lifeblood of sports since it’s the reason why athletes and sports teams keep going. This is due to the great spirit put into them and makes them believe they can do whatever it is to win. Any Sport without a motivating factor is like a team without goals and ambitions to achieve. Motivation is important since it gives athletes the morale to keep going and believe in themselves to achieve their goals. Mihai et al. (2021) conducted a study on sports motivation of students from the technical university of CLUJ-NAPOCA. The Quantitative research method used was by providing questionnaires in the survey. The study showed that male students are more motivated than female students, and intrinsic motivation is the main form of motivation compared to other types of motivation. The study concluded that physical education and sports are appraised by some students as external motivation, others compensatory or recovery activity. In contrast, it means fun and meeting new people, and enjoying their company, which is an intrinsic motivation for others.
There are different types of motivations which are extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is doing something for external rewards you get from it, while intrinsic motivation is doing something you want to and feel good about. Osorhean et al. (2019) conducted a study of motivation management in sports organizations. The data collection method was the use of questionnaires applied in the 2018-2019 season. The study showed that athletes who do not practice performance sports in the national league are mainly motivated extrinsically by the need for status acknowledgment.
The motivation of athletes can drive success in sports. Motivation is considered one of the main objectives in sports and athletics. Daniela et al. (2021) conducted a comparative study regarding motivation in the sports organization. The method survey used was by filling in questionnaires by basketball players of the two teams. The results were analyzed based on the two types of motivation: extrinsic and intrinsic. The results depicted that for each category of motivation level, both teams had a result of one hence eradicating the risk of leaving the sport. Moreover, concerning external regulation, athletes have a higher score hence leading to higher extrinsic motivation based on external factors. In conclusion, this difference can be justified due to athletes’ age transition since the study adorns a motivational image of junior teams engaged in the domestic national championship.
Different teams and clubs have different ways of motivating their athletes to achieve goals. However, on rare occasions, though athletes have their way of motivating themselves for a certain reward. Yancheva et al. (2021) studied Sambo competitors’ sports motivation and satisfaction. The sample survey method was used by providing questionnaires to collect data. The results of the study depicted that the contestants in the current study were higher on self-determined types of intrinsic motivation than non-self-determined types. In conclusion, results of this study can be used in creating different training programs.
Nowadays, athletes are highly motivated as they feel they are playing and competing to be the best athlete or player. Shehaan et al. (2018) studied the relationship between motivation and mental health in sports. The correlation analysis method was used to determine the relationship between motivation and mental health. The study showed an interrelation between motivation and mental health and therefore concluded that it is important to consider mental health due to motivation.
Extrinsic motivation can come into sight in the sports of athletes in different ways. An athlete’s psych and motive can come from parents, peers, and coaches because all they want is the best for their athlete in their given sport. The literature review shows how extrinsic motivation it can impacts athletes’ performances positively. The literature review on the subject matter; allow those who teach and coach to understand how extrinsic motivation can impact their performances.
Discussion
This study will incorporate secondary research. Secondary research is a method that involves using data that already exists. We will summarize secondary data to increase the overall effectiveness of the research. We will borrow research materials already published in similar reports. This method is more cost-effective than primary research because it uses existing data.
Results
This is a graph showing the correlation between performance and arousal; arousal, in this case, represents the motivation rate.
This illustrates that there is a linear correlation between performance and arousal. A low arousal rate leads to low performance, and a high arousal rate leads to high performance. This generally shows that a high frequency of extrinsic motivation will lead to great performance. In a real-life example, the introduction of league trophies and personal accolades has improved athletes’ performance to win these trophies. For instance, there are league cups and player of the season awards.
A good example is the history of Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi; there have been Ballon d’Or champions for many seasons. The two have been competing for best player position season, and through self-motivation, they have won the Ballon d’Or more than thrice. This is a good example of a positive impact of extrinsic motivation on athletic performance.
The graphs below show how too much motivation can lead to low performance.
The graphs indicate that a high extrinsic motivation level leads to high performance, but too much extrinsic motivation can lead to low performance of the athlete. There is always that pressure of becoming victors in all sports by winning the league trophies and personal accolades. Athletes receive external and internal pressure. Internal pressure is pressure from the team and its management, while external pressure is from the audience or fans. This pressure from both internal and external sources can lead to low performance.
With the continuation of the above results, we observe that apart from pressure, also athletes experience strong anxiety levels due to high motivation, which leads to low performance. This is majorly experienced in cup finals, where players fail to perform due to anxiety that might arise due to fear of losing. Pressure can come from fans, coaches, and co-athletes, and if it’s controlled, it can lead to match losses. Anxiety in hand is built within the athletes, many athletes get into the competition not knowing what’s going to happen, and that level of anxiety leads to match losses.
Conclusion
This study’s main reason and aim is to study the positive effects of extrinsic motivation on athletic performance. According to the results, we find out that a high level of motivation leads to great performance. This is enough to say that intrinsic motivation is not always enough; athletes also need to have long-term goals to achieve greatness. Good coaching and team encouragement can make the team achieve great goals and performance. However, high motivation can also lead to pressure and anxiety, leading to low performance.
During this study, I also encountered some negative effects of excess extrinsic motivation. Excess motivation causes anxiety and too much pressure on the athletes, which affects how they perform, and normally it results in low performance. We can then conduct a future research study on the negative effects of extrinsic motivation. We can conduct another future research study on how intrinsic motivation impacts athlete performance.
This research study truly answers how extrinsic motivation impacts athletic performance positively. Moreover, based on other insights related to the literature, we can recommend another study to examine how coaches or team leaders are impacted by intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation.
Reference
OLĂNESCU, M. (2021). Study of Sports Motivation of Students from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Educatio Artis Gymnasticae, 66(3), 93–106. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbeag.66(3).27
MARIA-DANIELA, M.-O., ROLLAND, T., & GEORGE, S. (2019). Motivational Management in Sports Organizations. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Educatio Artis Gymnasticae, 64(2), 17–26. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbeag.64(2).11
DANIELA, M.-O. M., IRINA, G., & OVIDIU, R. P. (2021). Comparative Study Regarding Motivation in Sports Organizations. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Educatio Artis Gymnasticae, 66(1), 61–70. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbeag.66(1).06
- Domuschieva-Rogleva, & M. Yancheva. (2021). Sambo Competitors’ Sports Motivation and Satisfaction. Trakia Journal of Sciences, 19(Suppl. 1), 754–758. https://doi.org/10.15547/tjs.2021.s.01.117
Rachel B. Sheehan, Matthew P. Herring, & Mark J. Campbell. (2018). Associations Between Motivation and Mental Health in Sport: A Test of the Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00707
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