Initial+Proposal

I intend to make my senior seminar project about the psychology behind motivation in children, focusing specifically on the difference between internal and external motivation in sports. The effects of this motivation and how it can be applied (by players, parents, and coaches) in specific situations is really what I want to learn about. I have coached a travel soccer team for the past two years. My first year this girls were nine and ten, this year they are ten and eleven. I really enjoy coaching them and would really like to help them become better soccer players. While I do not intend to pursue coaching as a career I like to coach. Becoming a teacher, mentor and friend to these girls is the best part of this “job.” I want to be the best coach I can be to these girls, and so I want to learn how to do this, but at the same time pursuing the vast entity of the human mind through the study of motivation. The soccer season begins in August and ends in mid-November; as a result I need to have the background work for my hands-on project done by mid-November. For this project, I intend to make a video of my efforts with the girls, including examples of internal and external motivation, as well as practices and games. I also plan on doing a good deal of my research before this date because I need to be able to apply the motivational techniques that I learn. The research that I must do spans a great variety of topics. First, I must research motivation itself, find out what it is and how it changes as one grows, second I must research motivational techniques and how to apply them, last I must research the effects of motivation on children in sports. This project will require a lot of work, many research hours as well as hours working. However, since I am already committed to coaching this soccer team, my hands-on hours are not nearly as intense as they would have been. My mentor, my mom, is a coach herself and I am relying on her to help me both with planning practices and reminding me to implement certain motivational techniques. I feel confident that she will do a fabulous job with this responsibility. The main problem I can foresee is my own procrastination. However, I am going to work hard to overcome this; I believe that the many steps that are necessary to take must be taken at certain times and therefore will help protect me against my own laziness. I am looking forward to this project. I feel like I will learn a lot and it will improve my own skills at something I enjoy doing. I cannot wait to really delve into the research and my hands-on project.