Motivation of Young Athletes Part 2

Reprinted from Coaching Youth Sports newsletter by Richard K. Stratton, PhD.

Dr. Richard K. Stratton, PhD. (Florida State University) has been the motor learning and sport psychology specialist at Virginia Tech for the past 20 years. Between his Masters and Doctoral studies he taught physical education and coached four sports at Appling County (GA) Middle School. His primary interests are the developmental aspects of information processing and motivation and stress in youth sport participants.

Motivation of Young Athletes Part 2

Continuing to Participate or Dropping Out

Once children have decided to participate in organized youth sports, the next issue in terms of motivation is what keeps them in sport or, conversely, why do many children drop out after only participating for a couple of years? As one might expect, the primary reasons for continuing to participate in sport are fundamentally the same as the reasons they first started sport, that is, to have FUN, to learn SKILLS, to develop FITNESS, and because they enjoy COMPETITION. It is interesting to note that in sports that are particularly physically strenuous, such as swimming, fun drops down the list in terms of the order of importance as a motivating factor. It's not that they don't enjoy the competition, it's just that practices tend to be hard. Although many children continue to participate in youth sports for many years and even move up to higher levels of competition, 25% of all children drop out within the first 3 years. There is a wide variety of reasons why this happens. In a recent study of almost 700 youth sport drop outs, the top ranked reasons the kids gave for quitting were: I lost interest, the coach played favorites, I was not having any fun, and I developed other non-sport interests. Of these, only the development of non-sport interests was related to the age of the child, meaning that as they got older they were more likely to drop out because they became interested in activities outside of sport. Because children rarely drop out for just one specific reason, we also did a cluster analysis of the reasons for dropping out . In this analysis we found that the primary combination of factors contributing to dropping out was related to the team environment. Specifically, the children felt that their coaches were not doing a good job (see the Coaches' article in this issue for further details), there was too much pressure to win, and the members of the team did not get along well with each other. Fortunately, these are problems that can be resolved. Dropping out of youth sports can be a very emotional situation for children and their parents. It doesn't have to be if it is kept in perspective. Children (and adults, for that matter) drop out of a wide variety of activities all the time. Often it is nothing more than someone trying to find an activity that they can enjoy and find worthwhile doing. Sport is not for everyone.

Maintaining a Positive Team Environment

In our feature article in this issue we indicated that athletes who had dropped out said that a combination of factors related to the team environment caused them to drop out. What are these factors? The cluster analysis identified eight:

The coach didn't understand kids

They didn't get to play enough

The coach was a poor teacher

There was too much pressure to win

They didn't like their teammates

Poor sportsmanship

The coach played favorites

The coach put too much pressure on me

It is important that coaches recognize that the title COACH does not guarantee automatic respect and devotion from their athletes. The children on your team expect a lot from you. Four of the eight factors on the list are coaching behaviors. Even the other factors are influenced by the coach. Most coaches do a great job working with their young athletes. Hopefully you are one of those. The purpose of this article is not to be critical of coaches but rather to reinforce the importance of each coach thinking carefully about what you say and do as you coach your athletes. Good youth sport coaches are individuals who understand that they are coaching children, not college or professional athletes. These coaches spend much of their time teaching skills the young athletes need to be successful. Having fun is much more important to your athletes than winning. Sure, winning is part of the sport experience, but not the primary focus. Look at the list of concerns expressed by the athletes. What can you do to change these so that your athletes have a positive experience? Do you pay attention to how your athletes act toward each other? Encourage your athletes to help each other, not criticize a teammate's performance. Sportsmanship is taught by example. Are you a good role model as you interact with your own athletes, other teams and coaches, and the officials? Can you go home after a practice or game, look at yourself in a mirror, and say I did the best I could for the children on my team? If you can, you should be proud of yourself. If you can't, you must try harder the next time. Do everything you can to make the athletes on your team thrilled to call you COACH!