Читать книгу Sports Psychology For Dummies - Leif H. Smith - Страница 63

Internal motivation is the type of motivation you need for sustained long-term success in athletics. It’s characterized by the following:

 Enjoyment of the sport

 Enjoyment of practice and training for the sport

 A love of mastering technical aspects of the sport

 Enjoyment of competition

 The ability to maintain motivation despite adverse conditions

If you want to compete at higher levels — or if you want to be highly competitive at any level — you need to love the process of competing. It has to be inherently rewarding on some level, or you won’t be willing to put the time, energy, dedication, effort, and resources into it.

There are times when you may lack motivation and enjoyment. This is normal and to be expected as part of sport participation. Nobody sustains their highest motivation levels all the time.

Also, it is important to note that some athletes do love their sport, but have a harder time when it comes to competing at a high level. They simply are not motivated to compete — they enjoy the process of getting better more than competing at the highest levels. That is okay as well. If you do not enjoy competing, then simply enjoy practicing and getting better at your sport. If you are afraid of competing, however, that may be a different story and something you could work on with a good sports psychologist.

The top athletes in the world have high levels of internal motivation. They compete with themselves more than they compete with other athletes, and they want to be the best at what they do.