Confidence in sport Sue Young

CONFIDENCE IN SPORT Confidence in sport is a ‘belief in your ability to master a situation’ According to Vealey confidence is based on: 1 Personality Your level of competitiveness and achievement motivation 2 Experience Your amount of past success on the task and your belief in your ability to succeed in future 3 Situation Playing at home or away for example

TRAIT V STATE CONFIDENCE Trait confidence is innate confidence shown in most situations State confidence is situation specific, e.g. taking a penalty The interaction between these two is important. A naturally confident hockey player who has taken many penalty flicks before will be confident of scoring from the spot in future games.

CONFIDENCE: SELF EFFICACY THEORY According to Bandura four factors affect confidence in any situation: 1 Performance accomplishments What you have done before 2 Vicarious experience Seeing others do it 3 Verbal persuasion Encouragement 4 Emotional arousal Your level of anxiety If all four factors are positive then a highly satisfactory performance will result

Give accurate demonstrations PROMOTING CONFIDENCE Taking into account the four influences on self efficacy, how could a coach develop confidence in his or hers players? Set attainable yet challenging goals Show similar aged role models successfully doing the task Attribute success internally Promoting Confidence Control arousal with relaxation techniques Use positive reinforcement and encouragement Give accurate demonstrations Allow early success

ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION Achievement motivation is the desire with which competitive situations are approached or avoided The degree of competitiveness can be a personality trait, and/or it can be developed through sporting experiences and change with the situation

ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION (cont…) Atkinson suggested two personality types: NACH NAF The need to achieve The need to avoid failure Welcome competition Avoid competition They take risks Take the easy option Welcome feedback Give up easily Like a challenge Do not take responsibility for their actions Try harder after failure

THE DEGREE OF ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION IS INFLUENCED BY THE TASK AND SITUATION Have I done it before? How easy? How will I feel if I succeed? What’s the incentive? Task How hard? COMPETITIVENESS How motivated am I? Am I in a familiar environment? Place the influences on achievement motivation listed above in rank order according to how important they are in promoting competitiveness and confidence.