“Intrinsic motivation of football players” and “Corona and sports” - Prof. Dr. Jürgen Beckmann, head of the Chair of Sport Psychology, spoke on these topics with interviews in the TV program “Blickpunkt Sport” on Bavarian Television and on the radio program “Notizbuch” on Bayern 2.
In “Blickpunkt Sport” on 21 June 2020, Prof. Beckmann dealt with questions relating to motivation: “Is it possible to motivate yourself at all if you have already achieved the title of German football champion several times before? Is it still a goal to win the next game? Or, does a team stop putting in as much effort at that point?”
According to Prof. Beckmann, motivation is a “complex phenomenon”. Competitive athletes are highly motivated to perform and allow themselves to be stimulated by this. However, an important prerequisite for this is always self-determination and appreciation. “If a coach succeeds in making players feel valued, enabling them to make the most of their incentive opportunities, as well as empowering them to implement them, then this becomes a crucial requirement. And, Hansi Flick clearly manages this very well at FC Bayern Munich”, explains the habilitated sports psychologist.
In the radio program “Notizbuch”, which airs on weekdays from 10:05 to 12 AM on Bayern 2, the topic on 23 June 2020 included “Corona and sports - how has community sport changed?
Many people experienced a small motivational boost from the coronavirus and its associated initial restrictions. Prof. Beckmann believes there are various reasons for this: “A particular type of motivation has certainly arisen from this situation, which involves different aspects. First of all, people want to go outside now, after it was difficult to spend time outdoors for quite some time and above all to socialise. Now people want to take the opportunity to go out and enjoy sports. In Austria, during the lockdown, outdoor sport was the only activity that was allowed in particular neighbourhoods. And the other aspect relates to the fact that many people are currently working from home. This has resulted in greater flexibility, eliminating the need to travel to and from work and not having to be at the workplace from 9 AM to 5 PM throughout the day. Time can be scheduled individually, allowing people to go jogging for an hour at noon, for example. This is much more likely to happen compared to when you're sitting at your desk in the middle of the city.”
Furthermore, during the Corona pandemic the organisation of community sports suffered extremely, as hardly any activities were offered due to the contact restrictions. “Naturally, this was a problem for many people”, said Prof. Beckmann. “There is an additional incentive for people who usually practice sports together with others. This does not only apply to movement affecting the body and health, but also to the so-called follow-up motive, i.e. the need to maintain harmonious social contacts with others. Of course, this ceased to exist during Corona.”
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Contact:
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Beckmann
Chair of Sport Psychology
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60/62
80992 München
phone: 089 289 24541
e-mail: Juergen.Beckmann(at)tum.de
Text: Romy Schwaiger
Foto: Lehrstuhl für Sportpsychologie