My approach to athlete motivation is oriented around the understandings of Self-Determination Theory (SDT):

• Encouraging autonomy-supportive environments that meet each individual’s basic psychological needs:

  • autonomy - to have agency to make choices on our own behalf;

  • competence - to experience proficiency when accomplishing different tasks, such as goal setting;

  • relatedness - to be securely connected to and understood by others. 

• Supporting intrinsic motivations, allowing them to achieve their highest realms of potential and performance excellence.

  • Intrinsic motivations are our greatest source of subjective and physical well-being, and happiness, ultimately supporting overall well-being.

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My approach to motivation also involves the tenets of Motivational Interviewing (MI):

• a collaborative, goal-oriented approach to conversation to strengthen an individual’s motivations and commitments to change, by eliciting and exploring a person’s own desires, abilities, reasons, and needs to change with an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion (Rosengren, 2018).

• MI is ultimately about inspiring and retrieving the wisdom, experiences, and insight from within the individual increasing intrinsic motivations, resulting in greater commitment and change, such as when aspiring for performance excellence and overall well-being (Rollnick, et al., 2020).