Motivation
Motivation begins with the motivator motivating himself—you should always lead by example. If you come to practice every day lacking enthusiasm, you cannot expect your team or staff to be excited about being there with you. After all, motivation is quite simply having the proper attitude. And, as you should all know, attitudes are contagious—good or bad.

The most important feature of the great motivator is caring about those who he wants to motivate. In fact, the greatest motivating factor is love. But before you read any further, the preceding sentence should be clarified. Love is more than putting your arm around a player and patting him on the back. You must acquire and practice what’s called tough love. Discipline is an intricate part of any basketball program. You must discipline those same players you care about because you do love them. And while you don’t have to be a drill sergeant, a disciplined squad is more likely to accept motivation than an undisciplined one.

Motivation is all encompassing. You must look for ways to motivate every phase of your program. The majority of these are subtle sources, but motivating opportunities just as well.

Small things like uniformed appearance in practice can help motivate. Being prepared each day in practice as a coaching staff will assist you to being more readily able to motivate—as well as you making your players more accessible to motivation. Create a motivating atmosphere. You don’t have to have a state of the art locker room or an upscale designed office—but make sure they are clean and organized. A bulletin board is one of those oldest items in an athletic locker room, but it still gets a lot of mileage in getting subtle messages to your team every day. Be creative with your bulletin board. Don’t load it up with items because they will never get read. One short poem or quote with a couple of news items that will draw their attention will do a great deal.

Look for creative ways to get your message across to your team. Have some else come and speak to your team. Former players, successful coaches, or just someone you consider to be a good motivator. Don’t forget to use a VHS video player. You can find a number of videos to show your team to emphasize certain points.

And above all, if you want to be considered a great motivator, you must be able to persevere through difficult times. No coach goes undefeated for his career. All coaches go through difficult time periods, some of which may last an entire season. They must be resilient and able to attack adversity with the same vigor as victory. If handled poorly, a single lost game, can ruin an entire season, and sometimes a career.

It is critical that you don’t dwell on defeat Step back and take a look—find the reasons why and then repair them. Harping on bad experiences will only bring more to come. When people think of motivation, they think of the rah-rah speeches before the big game—you should think of your ability to lift your team and your staff up after defeat

The right motivation is critical and must come from a true service to those you are leading. Otherwise, you’re not so much inspiring people to follow you as seducing them and this is never permanent or truly fulfilling.

Ask any person who is successful in whatever he or she is doing what motivates him/her, and very likely the answer will be "goals". Goal Setting is extremely important to motivation and success. So what motivates you? Why are you in college? If you are in college because that's what your parents want, you may find it difficult to motivate yourself. Sure, it's possible to succeed with someone else providing the motivation for you. ("If you graduate from college, I'll give you a car!" or worse "If you don't graduate from college, you won't get a car.") But motivation that comes from within really makes the difference.

Certainly, you need some intelligence, knowledge base, study skills, and time management skills, but if you don't have motivation, you won't get far. Think about this analogy. You have a car with a full tank of gas, a well-tuned engine, good set of tires, quadraphonic CD system, and a sleek, polished exterior. There it sits. This car has incredible potential. (Have you heard that before?) However, until a driver sits behind the wheel, puts the key in the ignition, and cranks it up, the car doesn't function. You guessed it; the KEY is MOTIVATION.

Interest is an important motivator for a student. So is a desire to learn. When you link these two things together, you create success. Often success in an endeavor leads to more interest and a greater desire to learn, creating an upward spiral of motivation toward a goal you have established.
 
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