I've been reading this fascinating book Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning ISBN-10: 0736058036, and what peaked my interest was the section on sports psychology. From the book - The role of sport psychology is to help athletes achieve more consistent levels of performance at or near physical potential by carefully managing their physical resources through appropriate psychological strategies and techniques. Which is a fancy way of saying how a coach can help massage egos.

Ideal performance state which is the ultimate goal of every athlete. Some hallmarks noted:

• absence of fear
• narrow focus of attention concentrated on the activity itself
• a sense of effortlessness
• sense of personal control
• distortion of time & space in which time seems slow

Speaking from experience, the last point of time being slow can be a stressful thing too, especially if your in a ring fighting a 3 minute match and you are tired and that last minute seems like one hour trying not to make a mistake and get knocked out.

From the beginning of the season as we first get into the water we as paddlers strive for a common goal while we're on the boat. And that is synchronicity through our stroke then power, then pace, which will build speed to propel the boat forward faster than the other boats to the finish line. Because after all we're in this to win 'it' right?

We are all wired differently from one another and our motivations and desires differ for what we want to accomplish in dragon boating. Our team is fortunate that as 'competitive - recreational' paddlers we get coaching from a world class coach, we train at regular intervals, hold training camps during the summer  and some have done off-season training. All this takes a certain level of commitment since most of the people on this team are considered Masters (40+ yrs old) and/or are working professionals that have life and family commitments. So the motivational phenomena of coming to practice to achieve that common goal of synchronicity and go stronger, faster is what makes this team make up very interesting indeed.

A couple of things I've learned which can apply to many of the members of my team on the Motivational phenomena:

• Intrinsic motivation is important for any athlete
• Able to maintain consistent effort across practice and competition (no brainer)
  
• Has a desire to be competent and self-determining (we all have the common goal to be fast and strong as a team)
  
• Athlete is a self starter because of their love for the game (why am I here again...?)
  

How can this state be maintained or encouraged?

• Appropriate goals especially process or performance goals can increase perceived competence. (This I feel we needed some work on this year since we really didn't have a major goal of striving for something big...until recently)
  
• Giving the athlete some latitude in decision making increases perceived self-determination (Choice of blue pill or the red pill)
  
• Authoritarian behavior is sometimes warranted in sport - in that clear directives are needed in a stressful and competitive environment....(hey someone has to call the shots)

Psychologists theorize that there are 2 opposing personality traits within all people. Motive to achieve success (MAS) and the motive to avoid failure (MAF). MAS is pretty self explanatory, while MAF relates to the desire to protect ones ego and self-esteem.

(This taken from a forum board post - since it was put so eloquently)
MAF athletes tend to be more comfortable in situations where it is either very easy or extremely difficult to achieve success. This is because they either know they have no chance or have worked hard enough to where they are most comfortable with their abilities. When unprepared they have tons of negative self talk and can actually talk themselves into poor performance. Dominated by the WORK HARD (lift heavy) all the time only if it will benefit me. Takes extreme arousal levels to achieve optimal performance and often go passed optimal into higher extremes lowering performance ( to jumpy, quick to react, stuff like that)

MAS athletes tend to do better and are more motivated under EXTREME conditions that are uncertain and challenging, with a 50% chance of winning or losing. These athletes are more competitive, have a level head, and do not require as much arousal to get to optimal performance levels. very rarely feel unprepared and always confident in their abilities. Low amounts of negative self talk. Dominated by train smart, stay healthy, think more about why and what is going into training.

We actually all have both types in us at some point, but one dominates over the other. Certain sports you will see more MAF athletes and some more MAS athletes and others with a good mixture of both. There is no right or wrong way to think, both work just as well for the athlete. Its more of how they approach a problem. They both will get to the same goal different ways.

In a coaching aspect the MAF athlete is much harder to coach, where as a MAS athlete is more open and easily accepts critique and criticism to better themselves.

I'm more of a MAS as failing is all part of learning and growing and it helps me figure out what I need to do next to improve myself, I'm always looking for feedback from the coaches and people who have more experience in the skill I need to learn. Like Paddling, this is only my second year, and most of my teammates have 5 years of paddling experience and many of them have confided in me that they still have a lot to learn. So it's with that attitude that I will approach every year I'm in the water reaching for that synchronicity with power and technique. I work hard to give my best effort and achieve my goals, I approach my tasks with a 'failing is not an option' aspect but it's going to happen at some point so there is no use in fearing or getting angry over it.