Republic of the Philippines

EASTERN VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Graduate School
Tacloban City

Subject: PHY. ED 210_ SPORTS PSCHOLOGY

Student: Maike A. Ponferrada
Professor: Dr. Marlon E. Lora
Schedule: 3:30-6:30 (Every Saturday)
Date of Submission: November 11, 2020 (November 7, 2020)

1. What motivate an athlete to train and compete?

Motivation is the mental process that initiates, sustains or guides an athlete’s behavior
(training, approach to competition, managing adversity, performance). Motivation serves as an
energizer for an individual to perform enthusiastically and planted courage to even win the battle
or cross the finish line. I’m not an athlete but I’m a former LNU dance company member
wherein what motivates me to attend the dance class are; The type of genre in dance being
performed or learned during the class as my forte, the mood of my day, if I’m not bombarded
with school works and my colleagues who really affects my motivation.
However, according to Patrick Cohn from Peak Performance Sports, there are two types
of motivation in sports: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation refers
to athletic behavior that is driven by internal or personally meaningful rewards (opportunities to
explore, learn, and actualize potential). Intrinsically motivated athletes participate in sport for
reasons such as: the enjoyment of playing their sport, the challenge of competition and reaching
new personal levels, skill improvement, exploration of potential, etc. Intrinsically motivated
athletes typically concentrate on skill improvement and their growth as athletes.
Furthermore, extrinsic motivation refers to athletic behavior that is geared toward earning
external rewards or to avoid punishment. Extrinsically motivated athletes participate in sport for
motives such as external rewards (trophies, scholarships, media attention, accolades) or to avoid
negative consequences (being benched, falling out of favor with coach, disapproval of parent).
Extrinsically motivated athletes tend to focus on the outcomes of athletic contests.

2. What level of arousal does an athlete going into competition? More, less?
Arousal is thought of as something that occurs as a result of psychological or
physiological influences. It is one of the factors that highly give an encouragement to an athlete
to absorb the meaning of joining in a competition that somehow defines of being an athlete. In
my own perception there are a lot of things that can be done such as; watching or manipulating
things that brings the mood back for an hours, seeing and mingling with people overnight who
gave attachment emotionally or urge us to do so, training to an extent that will condition our
muscles or body, and taking a rest to mobilize our body and gain more energy. With this,
Arousal may be considered to in various ways be like having “drive”, “activation”, “readiness”
or “excitation” since it is required in order to achieve optimum performance in sport or exercise
taking into consideration what type of an athlete you are.
However, according to Weinberg & Gould (2007) Athletes need to maintain optimal
levels of arousal. The intensity of arousal falls along a continuum and is dependent on each
individual and the activities being participated in, arousal is not automatically associated with
either pleasant or unpleasant events.  You might be highly aroused by learning that you have
won $10 million or you might be equally aroused by learning of the death of a loved one’.
As mentioned above athletes need to maintain optimal levels of arousal.  An athlete who has
low levels of arousal will perform and will not be ready for the intensity and challenges of the
game.  As arousal increases performance improves up to an optimal point where best
performance results (Weinberg & Gould, 2007).  If arousal levels continue to increase and is too
high, it can then cause the athletes performance to decline resulting in the athlete making alot of
mistakes.  This is best described by Brukner & Khan (1993) as they have found that a common
problem for some athletes is that they get "too keyed up". The excessive level of arousal leads to
increased muscular tension, poor decision making, loss of concentration, and disrupted rhythm
and co-ordination. Therefore being able to recognize and control the level of arousal is an
important factor in maximizing an athletes

3. How does an athlete manage one stress before, during, and after the competition?
As what I’ve said above I’m not an athlete but a dancer, in this field of passion emotional, mental
and physical aspects are indeed necessary to be stabilized to perform well. Things I consider to
be stress free are; I seek for someone who knows me more than others do to listen and give
advices, give myself a time to be alone and talk to God so that I will be guided spiritually, do
things that makes me happy and even pat and convince myself that I’m doing good than
yesterday and do better tomorrow. Before the competition, I always go to church to pray so that I
will be blessed and lighten my mind to accept what will be the result is. During the competition,
I try to calm myself from the distractors and enjoy the day to omit the attack of nervous. After
the competition I give myself a reward for finishing the competition no matter what the result is.
Furthermore, according to Dr. Graef created the acronym P.E.R.F.E.C.T. for steps that
help athletes manage excessive stress and put the fun back into sports and life. P – Positive Self-
Talk, as a fundamental part of sport psychology, telling yourself, 'You’ve got this,' or 'No
problem, keep going,' after a misstep helps athletes reduce nerves and performance anxieties. It
can even help an athlete improve his or her overall performance. E – Embrace Adversity, it’s
important for athletes to keep in mind that excellence requires effort, and to keep pushing when
training gets tough – those are the moments when we improve. R – Reverse Engineer, recall
moments when you performed at your best and then work backward to discover simple behaviors
you can employ in the future. F – Focus on the Now, be mindful of your thoughts as you train
and focus on steering your attention to the task at hand. E – Evolve, by diversifying your life,
you will place moderate stock into a variety of different endeavors. C – Chill Out, after a big
performance, your body needs both physical and mental restoration. T – Talk It Out, sport
psychologists, coaches, counselors or friends can help guide you through your struggles. Parents,
too.

From the said stress management above, athlete will be somehow facilitated that will
urge him to do better and perform well because stress is inevitable but prevention can lessen the
pack of problems that an athlete is carrying.

REFERENCES
 Chon, P. (2020). What’s The Best Motivation For Athletes? Retrieved from
https://www.google.com/search?
q=what+motivates+an+athlete+to+train+and+compete&newwindow=1&sxsrf=ALeKk01
_dl7kADicyOnNQDHtMzFkk5Gig:1605010695530&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=
Pb6ZxlJYtVFCcM%252CEvVVcXrhd7JL1M
%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_kRAvwG2jegh7GJuWPwfWvhLFHb52w&sa=X&ved=2ahU
KEwiroPjivfsAhWFfXAKHS5zAf0Q9QF6BAgHEAM#imgrc=Pb6ZxlJYtVFCcM
 Weinberg & Gould (2007). Arousal. Retrieved from
https://sites.google.com/site/thepsychologicalgame/anxiety-and-arousal/what-is-arousal

 Doncaster, L. (2016, September 6). The P.E.R.F.E.C.T. way to help young athletes
reduce stress. Retrieved from
https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/perfect-method-reduces-athlete-stress