Athletes, Parents, Administrators, and Stakeholders
By Manuel Narvaez
Are you considering moving your child to the next level or category?
Are you worried that the current team's skill level might affect your child's development?
Introduction: The Crossroads of Athletic Development
This blog delves into the intricacies of this pivotal choice, offering insights and guidance to empower parents with the knowledge to make informed decisions. This blog briefly discusses the following theories.:
Four Stages of Competence
Human Needs
Self-Determination
Resiliency
The decision to move up a grade level in sports is multifaceted. It requires understanding your child's current stage of competence, psychological needs, and potential impact on their motivation and well-being. By considering these factors, you can help your athlete build a solid foundation, understand their resilience and self-determination, and equip them to overcome challenges and emerge stronger.
"As parents, we often stand at the crossroads of our child's athletic journey, contemplating the best path forward. The decision to move an athlete up a grade level is one that requires careful consideration, balancing the desire to challenge them against the risk of hindering their growth." — Unknown
The Four Stages of Athletic Competence
To have a better framework for understanding your athlete's maturity level, it is essential to understand their stage of competency. Using Martin Broadwell's Four Stages of Competence in sports helps us determine the athlete's maturity level in skills and knowledge. We can apply this framework in sports to understand an athlete's developmental stage:
These stages provide valuable insights into an athlete's development and mindset:
1. Unconscious Incompetence:
Description: At this stage, athletes are unaware of their skill gaps. They lack knowledge or experience in certain aspects of their sport.
Impact on Athletes:
- They may underestimate the importance of specific skills.
- Their performance might be inconsistent due to a lack of awareness.
- Coaches play a crucial role in identifying and addressing these gaps.
2. Conscious Incompetence:
Description: Athletes recognize their shortcomings and actively seek to improve. They become aware of what they don't know.
Impact on Athletes:
- They are motivated to learn and acquire new skills.
- Mistakes are common during this stage as they experiment and refine their techniques.
- Coaches provide targeted feedback and guide skill development.
3. Conscious Competence:
Description: Athletes understand and apply specific skills consciously. They break down complex movements into steps.
Impact on Athletes:
- They can execute skills effectively but require concentration.
- Performance is consistent, but it demands effort.
- Continued practice and deliberate focus are essential.
4. Unconscious Competence:
Description: Skills become second nature. Athletes perform intuitively without conscious thought.
Impact on Athletes:
- They excel effortlessly during competition.
- Muscle memory guides their actions.
- Coaches fine-tune minor details to maintain peak performance.
Examples:
1. Volleyball:
- Unconscious Incompetence: A beginner player may not realize the importance of a ready stance body position.
- Conscious Incompetence: The player acknowledges the need for better technique and actively works on body alignment.
- Conscious Competence: After focused practice, the player maintains proper form during serve-receive.
- Unconscious Competence: During the competition, the volleyball player's movements flow naturally, and they don't consciously think about technique.
2. Basketball:
- Unconscious Incompetence: A young player may not understand the concept of positioning on the court.
- Conscious Incompetence: The player learns about positioning, studies game footage, and practices tactical awareness.
- Conscious Competence: During matches, the player consciously positions themselves well, anticipating opponents' moves.
- Unconscious Competence: In critical moments, the player instinctively makes the right decisions without overthinking.
This model is a benchmark to gauge whether an athlete is ready for advancement. It's not just about winning or losing; it's about whether they are developing the correct intuition and analysis to thrive at a higher level.
Are you an athlete in stage four? Are skills and game dominance second nature to the athlete?
Skill-wise, this may indicate your athlete's level of advancement, but now, consider the psychodynamics of this situation.
Remember, beyond skill development, athletes also have psychological needs. Coaches must foster a supportive environment, address emotional well-being, and ensure that fundamental needs are met for athletes to thrive.
Like all of us, players have needs. When these needs are met, players can perform at peak efficiency, have a great relationship with the sport, and self-ignite intrinsic motivation, making the athlete dedicate time and effort to training. Training may include watching videos of games, drills, and practices, as well as working extra in clinics, showcases, and lessons.
Whichever the case, athletes, like all of us, have fundamental needs that must be met to flourish.
Understanding Human Needs in Sports: The Drive for Athletic Excellence
Ensuring that certain needs are met is crucial while considering grade-level advancement. According to different studies on the well-being of sports performers, meeting these psychological needs is essential for supporting athletes' health and performance.
To determine how well we are satisfying the needs of athletes, we may refer to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Athletes have a variety of needs that must be fulfilled for optimal performance.
Physiological Needs: Proper nutrition and hydration.
Safety Needs: Secure training environment and equipment.
Love and Belonging: Being part of a team or community.
Esteem Needs: Recognition and achievements in their sport.
Self-Actualization: Reaching their full potential and mastering their sport.
Consider, for example, numbers four and five. Is your player meeting these needs currently? Reflect upon moving up and on the following scenario, experiencing less playing time and maybe being segregated or undervalued by peers because of seniority, age, and maturity differences. If you identify that the player can cope with these scenarios, it is your choice for the benefit of your athlete, and it must be respected.
Self-Determination Theory: Fueling the Athletic Spirit
"Autonomy, competence, and relatedness are key factors that drive intrinsic motivation in athletes." — Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan
The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is observed from a multidimensional perspective of motivation, using empirical research results.
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a psychological framework that explores human motivation. It was developed by psychologists Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan. Athletes, in particular, showcase greater levels of inner drive and motivation when these needs are fulfilled within the context of sports. SDT suggests that people are motivated to grow and change by three innate and universal psychological needs:
Autonomy: The need to feel in control of one’s own behaviors and goals. Is crucial for athletes to feel that they are engaging in sports out of their own free will and personal interest, rather than feeling pressured or coerced.
Competence: The need to gain mastery of tasks and learn different skills. The athletes feel skilled and capable in their sport, which can be fostered by providing appropriate challenges and feedback.
Relatedness: The need to feel a sense of belonging and attachment to others. It involves athletes feeling connected to others within the sport, such as teammates, coaches, and the broader sports community, which can enhance their experience and motivation.
Individuals are driven to develop and transform themselves through these three fundamental and inherent psychological needs. An example of this in action could be a young volleyball player who starts by learning the basics of the sport to meet their physiological need for exercise. As they progress, they join a volleyball club (belonging), start competing (esteem), and eventually aim to refine their technique to the point of mastery (self-actualization). Reflect briefly and assess whether your athlete has mastered their skills and competence.
Resilience Theory: Bouncing Back in the Face of Adversity
"Resilient athletes are those who can face a loss, learn from it, and return to their sport with increased determination." — Unknown
Resilience Theory is a psychological principle that concentrates on one's capacity to adjust effectively and recuperate from hardship, disagreement, disappointment, and adversity. It's not only about recovering from difficulties but also about flourishing and developing in the presence of challenges. In sports psychology, it examines how athletes overcome stress or adversity during competition and training.
Athletes who exhibit resilience in sports are those who can handle pressure, recover from setbacks, and overcome challenges. This quality results from a combination of personal traits, like mental toughness, and external support systems, including coaches and family. After evaluating your child's ability to adapt and maintain motivation, parents can make an informed decision about moving up the player to grade level.
Athletes who are resilient can learn from their losses, get back on their feet, and return to their sport with increased determination. They use proactive strategies, like mental imagery and goal setting, to prepare for and navigate difficulties.
Consider an athlete who is returning from an injury. Their resilience is demonstrated not only by their physical recovery but also by their mental and emotional comeback, their ability to stay positive, and their determination to return to their previous level of performance or even surpass it. Also, consider when your athlete suffers a tough loss or disappointment and is able to make an even stronger comeback after dedicating more time and effort to getting better. It’s about maintaining a positive equilibrium and adapting to a range of sport-related adversities.
Factors contributing to resilience in sports include:
Mental toughness: The ability to stay focused and confident despite challenges.
Optimistic explanatory style: Viewing setbacks as temporary and changeable.
Physical ability perceptions: Believing in one’s physical skills and capabilities.
Conclusion
By integrating the principles of Resilience and assessing the four states of competency, self-determination, and human needs hierarchy, parents and coaches can provide more effective support for young athletes navigating the challenges of grade-level advancement. Consider that your athlete needs reasonable time to master their category before moving to a different level. This approach helps to address the athletes’ developmental needs, sustain their motivation, and nurture resilience, thereby promoting not only athletic prowess but also personal growth. The ultimate aim is to develop individuals who are not only skilled in their sport but also possess the confidence and competence to pursue their passion with vigor and determination.
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Source:
(1) Four stages of competence - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence.
(2) What Are the Four Stages of Athletic Development? - Sport Life Flow. https://bing.com/search?q=The+Four+Stages+of+Athletic+Competence.
(3) How to Move Through the Stages of the Competency Cycle. https://reachyourdreamscoaching.com/learning/the-competency-cycle-what-it-is-and-how-to-move-through-the-stages/.
(4) The Four Stages of Competence in Track and Field - SpeedEndurance.com. https://speedendurance.com/2014/11/26/the-four-stages-of-competence-in-track-and-field/.
(5) Athlete development framework: A how-to guide - Science for Sport. https://www.scienceforsport.com/athlete-development-a-how-to-guide/.
(6) Tuckman's Stages of Team Development | Athlete Assessments. https://www.athleteassessments.com/stages-of-team-development-in-sport/.
(7) Full article: Student-athletes’ need for competence, effort, and .... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10413200.2019.1675198.
(8) Developing Competence: What Coaches Need to Know about Athlete Learning .... https://balanceisbetter.org.nz/developing-competence-what-coaches-need-to-know-about-athlete-learning/.
(9) Bouncing Back from Losses: What We Know and Where We Need to Go
(10) Discovering Resilience in Sports: What We Know and Where We Need to Go
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