Athlete Motivation: Desire to win or fear of failure?
Imagine you’re at a soccer game and it’s your turn to take a penalty. You step up to the penalty spot, place the ball on the ground and slowly walk backwards. As you stand there, looking at the ball and the goalkeeper beyond, what’s going through your mind? Are you thinking ‘I can’t wait to score this penalty’ as you visualize the ball hitting the top left corner of the net? Or are you silently dreading that sensation of failure as the ball flies over the crossbar? Athlete mo