Creating an Optimal Climate for
Athlete Achievement & Enjoyment
Dr James Matthews, C. Psychol., Ps.S.I
UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science
IOC consensus statement on
youth athletic development
“Develop healthy, capable and resilient young athletes, while attaining widespread, inclusive,
sustainable and enjoyable participation and success
for all levels of individual athletic achievement. “ Two questions to answer…
1. What does success mean?
2. How can you create the right climate
for achievement and enjoyment?
An athlete’s behaviour in achievement situations is a consequence of their
perception of “success” in different contexts.
Achievement Goal Theory
(Nicholls, 1989; Duda & Hall, 2001; Duda, 2013)
Achievement Goal Theory
Situational Factors
Dispositional Factors
Task-oriented
Ego-oriented
Task involving climate
Ego involving climate
Achievement Behaviour
Task Oriented Behaviour
1. Persistence
2. Optimal Effort
3. Focus on developing
current skills and
learning new ones
4. Self referencing
5. Choice of moderately
challenging activities
6. Selection of
competitive settings
that allow feedback
on performance
7. Do not fear failure
“For myself, losing is not coming second. It's getting out of the water knowing you
could have done better. For myself, I
have won every race I've been in.” Ian Thorpe, 5 Time Olympic Champion
Ego Oriented Behaviour
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Perception of high
ability
Selection of activities
where person feels
he/she will
demonstrate superior
performance to others
When this cannot be
achieved – person will
select goals that are
either very easy or will
avoid the task
• Drop out
• Don’t persist
• Blame others (Attribution
failure to external factors
outside of their control)
• Super sensitive to
criticism in front of peers
• Challenge coach authority
“It’s not enough to succeed; others
must fail!”
Quote attributed to Gore Vidal
Desired Goal Orientation?
In pairs, consider which grouping is
best and why
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Hi task/low ego?
Low task/High ego?
Hi task/Hi ego?
Low task/Low ego?
High Ego – Low Task
High Ego – High Task
Anxiety
Focus on winning
Focus on winning or what it
takes to win
Uses feedback constructively
Low Ego – Low Task
Low Ego – High Task
Disinterested
Low perceived ability
Low anxiety
High enjoyment
EGO - LOW
TASK - HIGH
TASK - LOW
EGO - HIGH
“What may make high task & high ego individuals motivated and confident
‘over the long haul’ … is the fact that they have their strong task orientation to
fall back on when their sense of
normative competence is in jeopardy” (Duda, 1997; Van Van Yperen et al., 2015)
What is a Motivational Climate?
The way in which an individual in a
position of authority shapes and
structures an achievement setting
establishes a motivational climate that
conveys certain goals
“People say you need to be hard on people, but by the time you’re at that elite level you are
prepared to die and the last thing
you need is someone whipping
you into shape. No one could
have questioned my commitment
to the sport, so it would seem
rather ridiculous that you would
need to push and bully to get the
best out of me.” (Victoria Pendleton, Olympic Champion)
“It’s interesting to hear so many ways to explain it: laid-back, free willy, doing
whatever,”
“We run this program with extraordinary standards in how we prepare every day,
with expectations that they’re going to be working their tails off every single step of
every single practice.” And they do that, they’re in an environment where they can feel good about what they’re doing.”
“This is the result of a journey to figure out how you can create an environment
where people can find their best, stay at
their best, foster their best for the people
around them so that everybody can join
in.”
(Pete Carroll, Super Bowl winning Coach with the
Seattle Sea Hawks)
How can we create the “right” climate?
Think TARGET…
Ask yourself…
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Task - Are activities task or outcome focused?
Authority - Do you insist or involve?
Recognition - What do you reward?
Grouping - How do you group players?
Evaluation – What do you assess?
Timing – Do you provide time for individuals?
Applicable in practice and competition
If you build it, they will…
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Keep participating
Feel capable
Have positive affect
Be at decreased risk of
burn-out
• Perform…
Duda et al, 2013; Harwood, 2015; Hodge el., 2014; Isoard-Gautheur et
al., 2013
Two Questions to Answer…
1. The meaning of success is crucial. Winning is
important, but the journey of striving to win through
learning, effort and persistence is more important.
2. The climate established by the coach plays a major
role in terms of producing an adaptive and resilient
athlete that can functional effectively in their sport, so
think TARGET.
Selected References
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Bergeron MF, Mountjoy M, Armstrong N, et al. (2015). International Olympic Committee
consensus statement on youth athletic development. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49,
843-851.
Duda, J. L. (2013). The conceptual and empirical foundations of Empowering Coaching™: Setting the stage for the PAPA project. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology,
11(4), 311-318.
Duda, J.L. (2001). Achievement goal research in sport: pushing the boundaries and clarifying
some misunderstandings. G.C. Roberts (Ed.), Advances in motivation in sport and exercise,
Human Kinetics, Champaign: IL.
Harwood, C. G., Keegan, R. J., Smith, J. M. J., & Raine, A. S. (2015). A systematic review of the
intrapersonal correlates of motivational climate perceptions in sport and physical activity.
Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 18, 9-25.
Hodge, K., Henry, G., & Smith, W. (2014). A case study of excellence in elite sport:
Motivational climate in a world champion team. The Sport Psychologist, 28 (1), 60–74
Isoard-Gautheur, E. Guillet-Descas, & J.L. Duda (2013). How to achieve in elite training
centers without burning out. An achievement goals theory perspective. Psychology of Sport
and Exercise, 14, 72–83.
Van Yperen, N. W., Blaga, M., & Postmes, T. (2014). A meta-analysis of self-reported
achievement goals and non-self-report performance across three achievement domains
(work, sports, and education). PLoS ONE, 9(4): e93594