“The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves” – Hellen Keller
Athletes. We know them, we support them, they can be the hero or the villain. Watching them can make us feel a million different ways but one thing is for sure: they work hard.
The effort they put into their training and competitions is unmatched so the least we can do as spectators is show them our support and encourage them. However, is there a certain way to do this? Is one method of encouragement better than another? Can the way we encourage athletes impact their performance?
These are all questions that the sport psychology team at InnerDrive was keen to answer. Here’s what we found in our research…
It may seem like a simple question, but have you ever thought about why we actually encourage athletes? The obvious answer would be to motivate them. But it’s actually more helpful than this.
To understand this, try to place yourself in the shoes of an athlete before a big event. What would you be feeling? Common answers would include pre-competition anxiety, nerves, self-doubt or lack of confidence. But these aren’t the only thoughts piling up in their heads. They may also be thinking about the weather, delays, adapting to new competition plans…
All of these things could influence an athlete’s emotions, focus and especially their motivation – which could impact their quality of performance.
This is why encouragement is so important. It gives athletes that extra dose of motivation they may have lost in their periods of self-doubt. When athletes are cheered on, they feel supported. This reinforces their determination, increasing their physical effort in turn.
So, encouragement can enhance athletic performance – we just need to make sure our encouragement is helpful for the ones we are cheering on.
In a fascinating study, researchers spoke to a group of marathon runners to identify how they felt about the encouragement they received. After many surveys and interviews, the results showed there were two types of encouragement:
Helpful encouragement
Helpful encouragement is encouragement that athletes believed improved their performance. It can be split into two categories:
Helpful encouragement creates a sense of pride and competence within athletes. Something as simple as clapping will show athletes you are proud of their efforts, which will increase their determination and improve their performance.
Support is also very effective when its personalised. Shouting out athletes’ names or club names was seen to be very encouraging and really improve performance. Researchers also found that adding a sense of humour to your support was very useful. Phrases such as “run like Brad Pitt is at the end of the line” not only lightened the mood but increased motivation.
Unhelpful or “misplaced” encouragement
Unhelpful encouragement includes when information is inaccurate or said very early in the competition. This type of encouragement can also be split into two categories:
It’s also worth noting that encouragement that seems helpful may become unhelpful depending on the context or how the athlete is feeling. For example, if an athlete is very fatigued and struggling, shouting “keep running” may not be encouraging but instead frustrating.
Also, the inaccuracy of information was something that could turn a helpful comment into an unhelpful one. For example, telling a runner “only 1 mile to go” or “you’re over halfway” when they clearly aren’t was seen as very unhelpful and demotivating.
Giving the right kind of encouragement isn’t always easy, but luckily researchers created the “IMPACT” approach to help us out. It includes six different ways to provide helpful encouragement…
The way you encourage athletes can really make a difference to their results. However, it’s crucial to remember that context and the athlete’s psychological state can influence the way they interpret your support.