One of the main current concerns in the field of sport is related to the motivation of young athletes to allow them to express their potential.

Many are the professionals (coaches, assistants, managers, doctors, psychopedagogues, psychologists, etc.) who, from different perspectives, try to find the elementary guidelines to ensure sufficient motivation, with which to achieve the maximum possible gratification in sport. The problem is that there is no consensus among them.

However, you can always think in reverse, i.e. take into account what you should not do if you want to preserve the motivation of an athlete.

In order to motivate young sportsmen and women, we must avoid…

Below are 14 points to be avoided in the world of sport, especially with young athletes. The recommendations are mainly for coaches .

1. Do not tolerate ups and downs in performance

In the world of sport, as in other areas of life, athletes can have better days and worse. The important thing is that they feel support from their coaches and that they respect and understand the changes. For this it is always important to pay attention to the usual behaviour of the athlete and to select the right tools to cope with them.

2. Consider “result = be”

Many athletes feel that the environment values them as a person according to their sporting results. In these cases, they think that if a good result has been obtained it is “better” and if a bad result has been obtained it is “worse”. The point is to show that one is independent of the results one obtains since these can be influenced by multiple variables that are not only related to oneself. To do this you should avoid comments like “You’ve lost, you’re useless”.

3. Limiting participation in decision-making

The athlete should have the opportunity to decide on, for example, his/her objectives or training conditions. The fact that feels that personal opinion is taken into account provides a positive feeling that can increase motivation and responsibility as a result of the sport. Care should be taken to consult, where appropriate, the athlete’s point of view and try to reach a consensus with him.

4. Setting unrealistic outcome targets

It is important that the objectives are realistic. In fact, it is one of the bases for achieving a good goal. In order to maintain or increase motivation, it is essential that the objectives are seen as achievable and that the sportsman or woman believes that he or she can achieve them. If at first you set yourself a goal that is too ambitious and with which you feel you will not succeed, it is difficult for your motivation not to decline.

5. Enhancing negative feedback

It should be noted that positive and encouraging feedback is highly valued by the athlete. For this reason, focusing on the negative aspects can only lead to a decrease in mood. It is logical to think that what has been done wrong must be corrected, but it is important to recognize the achievements and to encourage in any situation.

6. Encouraging a pattern of chronic dissatisfaction

All persons in the athlete’s environment should be aware of the athlete’s situation to avoid continuing a pattern of dissatisfaction, if any. It is therefore important to help the athlete to see the positive parts of his/her condition and in no case to support the negative view.

7. Avoiding the principle of Fair Play

The principle of Fair Play is the so-called “fair play”, i.e. the competition based on respect for others and on being aware that not everything is valid in sport to achieve the goal.

In this sense, if an athlete feels that his coaches and other references encourage him to avoid “fair play” in order to obtain a better result, motivation tends to drop, because he considers that he is being encouraged to behave against one of the fundamental principles of sport.

8. Conduct routine training

Monotony means wear and tear on athletes . The lack of new goals and the feeling of no progress makes the motivation to do the sport decline. It is important to promote improvements and redirect the sportsperson’s career from time to time.

9. Recognize only the results, “success = winning”

In the evolution of the sportsman or woman, positive reinforcement must be made throughout the process. It is a mistake to identify success only with victory in a competition since an athlete can achieve success based on the achievement of other objectives and goals . This is why it is important to bear in mind that success is also obtained through small progresses and to be aware that it does not always depend on oneself and one’s abilities.

10. Putting competition before personal competition

In sport, the most important thing is the athlete and his or her progression. Therefore, attention must be focused on him/her and his/her personal development. We cannot only fight for a short term result, but we must also seek to change the sportsman or woman in the long term.

11. Encouraging false causal attributions

We must help athletes to be aware at all times of the causes of their sporting results. In this sense, we cannot make the athlete believe that his successes and/or failures always and exclusively depend on himself or, in the opposite case, on the environment.

The important thing is to find a balance and make him see that, in the achievement of a goal, his skills are as important as the external factors that can influence them. But always be realistic and objective at all times.

12. Encourage that any challenge can be overcome

You can’t make the athlete believe that all challenges are surmountable. You have to help them to be aware, at all times, of their capabilities but also of their limitations. Above all, it is the limitations that will condition the possible achievement of a goal. That is why it is important to be clear when we believe that, no matter how much effort is put in, the goal will not be achieved.

13. Encouraging differences within the team

Sports teams are groups of people who come together in a sport to achieve a common goal. That makes for cohesion and group identification. In order to maintain these characteristics, which undoubtedly generate positive feelings, it is important to try to enhance the similarities of the team members and not to focus on the differences.

If we continually stress what separates the team it is easier for group identification to decline and, consequently, individual and group motivation to decrease.

14. Demanding exclusivity in the practice of sport

T he sportsmen and women do not cease to be people with a personal and academic life parallel to the sports one . For this reason, and above all in young sportspeople who have not yet chosen to dedicate themselves professionally to sport, it is important not to demand complete involvement as it can exert excessive pressure and, consequently, generate wear and tear. All of this leads to a decrease in motivation because of the lack of satisfaction in practising sport.