Factors Affecting Performance

Motivation

Motivation is your level of desire to succeed.  To perform at their optimum level a performer must be highly motivated.  When we are motivated to do well our levels of concentration increase, we react quicker to stimulus, and will have more desire to succeed.  Motivation is important in game and practice situations. 

Motivated performers are more likely to achieve in an activity, particularly where determination is a priority, e.g.  defending in team sports requires determination to stay with the opponent you are marking get into a good defensive position and block shots, etc.  In badminton situations where you have to get into position early and longer rallies, determination will help keep a performer going.  In badminton motivation is required for longer rallies where fatigue may affect your performance.  A motivated performer is more likely to push themselves, and not give up.  They will make more of an effort when they are required to cover large distances on the court to play a shot.

Internal Motivation

This is a person’s internal desire to succeed based solely on the person wanting to do well for self gratification.   If you enjoy an activity you are more likely to have higher levels of internal motivation.  Although competitive and professional sportsmen have external motivations such as money and trophies, all performers at a high level need great internal motivation to reach the top in their sport.

External Motivation

External motivators are things which performers are given as a reward for good performance.  At professional levels this could be money.  In competitive sports trophies and medals are external motivators.  I PE an example of an external motivator is the grade you will receive for your performance.  External motivators often add to a performer’s determination to succeed but this is usually coupled with a high degree of internal motivation.

Goal Setting

Setting long and short term goals is a useful way of increasing motivation.  Giving a performer something to aim for which is challenging but achievable allows them to gradually progress and improve performance.  In badminton, an example of a long term goal may be to improve your success rate of your weak shot from 30% to 50% in a game situation or to beat a player who is better than you in a full court game.  Short term goals may be to increase your success rate of your weak shot from 50% to 70% in a target practice drill or to score more points with a smash in a conditioned game in training.

Boredom

Boredom is a factor which can cause a performer to lose motivation.  In practice situations it is very important to have variety in the practices to stop you getting bored.  Goal setting within the practices also help keep you focused by giving you a target to aim for.  Bringing the challenge of a game situation when practising, for example full court and conditioned games, helps alleviate boredom. 

Level of Arousal

Your level of arousal is the level to which you are motivated and focused at any one time.  Everyone has an optimum level of arousal at which they perform best.  Our level of arousal will be higher in a game situation than in practice and will be higher again for important games, e.g. cup finals or games against our biggest rivals.  You may have experienced the feeling of being highly motivated before a big game or performance.

It is important that your level of arousal is high enough that you are motivated and determined to do well.  This will help in situations where fatigue is setting in as performers who are motivated are more likely to show determination to ‘play through the pain barrier’.  You are also more likely to show determination to win in difficult situations, for example in badminton if you have just played a shot from backcourt and your opponent returns a drop shot, someone with a higher level of arousal will show more determination to reach the front court and play a return.  A performer who is not motivated may give up on the point.

It is also vital that your level of arousal is not too high as this can lead to negative effects.  Some players are motivated so highly that they become nervous and focus more on the fear of losing rather than the motivation of winning.  This may lead to them making poor decisions.  For example, in badminton they use an overhead clear more often than they should as this is a fairly ‘safe’ shot to avoid losing the rally rather than playing a drop shot or smash which are more ‘risky’ shots to try and win the point.  In football players may show less composure on the ball when under pressure and play longer passes into the opposition’s corners rather than play a short possession pass.  This is because there is less risk involved if the pass goes wrong as the opposition will not win possession in a dangerous area whereas a shorter pass might be intercepted on the half-way line giving your opponents a good attacking opportunity.  Levels of arousal being too high also has physical symptoms such as increased pulse and breathing and in some cases even physical shaking.  This means the performer is not in control of their muscles which will have an impact on their skill level.

Concentration

Concentration is the ability to focus on relevant information from various stimuli.

Concentration is a vital aspect to any successful performance.  In game or practice situations there are many sources of information coming into your brain.  Successful performers will focus only on the relevant information and block out the irrelevant such as crowd noise or movement of people who do not directly affect their performance, e.g. line judge, referees, spectators, etc.  The decision making process is based on the information received and more skilful performers and focused performers will process relevant information quicker and more effectively and select correct options accordingly.

It is important to stay focused at all times during a performance but it is almost impossible to maintain your highest levels of concentration all the time.  A skilful and experienced performer will keep their concentration high throughout but will have the ability to increase their concentration levels at key stages of a performance.  For example, a goalkeeper in football can let his concentration drop during an injury stoppage in play.  His level of focus will need to increase slightly if his own team have a corner at the opposite end of the pitch.  He must be aware of the possibility of a counter attack from the opposition, but there is still no immediate danger so he does not yet need to be at his optimum concentration level.  His concentration levels must be at their highest when he is either directly involved or in situations where he may be called into action.  When the opposition have the ball in an attacking situation for example, in possession of the ball on our wing, he must be aware that a cross may come into the box and he will have a key decision to make about whether to come off his line and try to win possession or whether to stay on his line to make any potential shots for opponents more difficult.  This decision will be based on many key factors such as the position of his defenders, position of opposition attackers, flightpath and speed of the ball.  His concentration levels must be high in order to process all this information and make the correct decision.

In badminton it is important to be focused during any part of the rally, including the few seconds prior to the serve to try and anticipate the next move of your opponent.  You can let your concentration drop slightly during short breaks between points and slightly more during longer breaks between sets.  A high level performer will be close to his optimum concentration level at all times during play. 

The game situation can affect players’ concentration.  Most players will be more focused games which are evenly matched because they know they have a good chance of winning but will have to work hard to do so.  For example where the score is 17-16 as the skill and fitness levels of the players are probably quite similar so factors such as concentration and motivation could be the difference between winning and losing.  Contests which are not evenly match in terms of ability can lead to drops in concentration for both the stronger and weaker player.  A player who is winning 17-5 may allow their concentration to drop as they feel they are in no real danger of losing the game and similarly the player who is losing 17-5 will feel they have no real chance of winning so may lose concentration.

Feedback

Feedback is any information received about my performance.  Feedback can be internal or external.  External types of feedback include visual, verbal and written feedback as well as knowledge of results. 

Visual feedback is when I can watch a model performer playing to see how the technique should be done correctly.  I also receive visual feedback from teacher or pupil demonstrations.  I may also be able to watch my own performance on video which would allow me to compare my performance to that of a model performer.  This would allow me to see parts of my performance that I perhaps do not notice while I am playing, for example my body shape and position when I play the shots, or whether I fully extend my arm when playing overhead shots.

Verbal feedback is when a teacher or partner tells me about my performance.  Verbal feedback should be positive to improve the performer’s confidence, and should be precise and given in small amounts to give the performer specific targets or aspects of performance to work on.  It is important to give verbal feedback as soon as possible after the performance so the performer can relate the feedback to their performance.  Performers at the cognitive stage of learning normally rely on large amounts of verbal and visual feedback. 

Written feedback can be received through, game analysis, movement analysis and scattergram sheets.  Written feedback is useful as at a glance it can allow me to see patterns or pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in my performance.  For example, a scattergram can shoe the area of the court where most of my shots are landing or my game analysis sheet will show boxes with a high number of successful shots or a high number of unsuccessful shots.  This also allows be to carry out a statistical analysis on game and collect quantitative data.

Knowledge of results can be used as an indicator of whether my performance has been successful or unsuccessful.  This could be the result of an individual point, a set or a match.  Although one off results of games are not a true indicator as on any occasion I may play above or below my normal level, after a number of games, if I am winning regularly against opponents of similar ability, this would suggest I am performing well and perhaps improving.  Also for each stroke I can analyse whether I win or lose a high percentage of the points with that shot, giving me an indicator if I play that shot effectively.

The main type of internal feedback is kinaesthetic feedback which is how a performance feels.  For example, when I strike the shuttle the shot feels different if I get a good clean contact with the middle of the strings, than if I strike it with the edge of the strings or part of the metal frame of the racket.  All performers receive kinaesthetic feedback but performers in the late associative and automatic stages are more likely to process this type of feedback and relate it to their performance and be able to make improvements.