To have a complete analysis of motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation should be understood (Lamont & Kennelly, 2012). The model suggests that the strategies such as feedback and rewards are external sources of motivation, but they can have an impact on internal motivation. The idea is to satisfy the needs of the athletes.
Intrinsic Motivation
The internal factors behind motivation include the performance of an action for satisfaction or enjoyment (Peters & Schnitzer, 2015). Coaches have an important role to play in developing internal motivation in the athletes by helping them to improve on their skills. When one is internally motivated, Indreica & Truţa (2014) suggested that he/she becomes less distracted and works to make fewer mistakes in their performance.
Extrinsic Motivation
Materials awards or emotional behaviors of others can cause a high level of motivation to perform better. Athletes getting their motivation from outside sources have a greater focus on the outcome of their performance (Gillet et al., 2013). The athlete can control the tendency to engage in performance even when there are no rewards or the desire to develop more skills and perform well to excel (Kouli et al., 2010).
Lamont, M., & Kennelly, M. (2012). A Qualitative Exploration of Participant Motives Among Committed Amateur Triathletes. Leisure Sciences, 34(3), 236-255. doi:10.1080/01490400.2012.669685
Peters, M., & Schnitzer, M. (2015). Athletes’ Expectations, Experiences, and Legacies of the Winter Youth Olympic Games Innsbruck 2012. Journal Of Convention & Event Tourism, 16(2), 116-144. doi:10.1080/15470148.2015.1018656
Indreica, E., & Truţa, C. (2014). Intrinsic motivation and emotion management in shaping athlete’s conduct. Romanian Journal Of Experimental Applied Psychology, 5(2), 10-18.
Gillet, N., Vallerand, R., Lafrenière, M., & Bureau, J. (2013). The mediating role of positive and negative effect in the situational motivation-performance relationship. Motivation & Emotion, 37(3), 465-479. doi:10.1007/s11031-012-9314-5
Kouli, O., Bebetsos, E., Kamperis, I., & Papaioannou, A. (2010). The relationship between emotions and confidence among Greek athletes from different competitive sports. Kinesiology, 42(2), 194-200.
The results will reveal the important role of the coach in competitive sports. The coach does not only provide training for the athletes, but also plays an important role as a source of motivation to the athletes based on their behavior. They are the source of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for the athletes. It is also expected that the result will support the thesis that low motivation is a function of low performance, while high level of motivation translate to high level of performance. Hence, the results are expected to point to a positive impact of motivation on the performance of long distance runners.