The answer to this question is of primary interest to high performance coaches in team sports. Why do some athletes "pull out all the stops" while others "keep their feet on the ground"? Basically, what is the recipe for the commitment of top-level athletes to their clubs?

While models to explain the commitment of employees to their company are legion (for example, those of the consulting firms Aon, Korn Ferry and formerly Kenexa), those to account for the commitment of top athletes to their employer are rarer. While the study of motivation is the subject of numerous models in sport psychology, the motivation of an athlete specifically oriented towards the success of his or her club has, to my knowledge, been little studied.

If we define an athlete's commitment as "their motivation to contribute to the success of their club", the Sport Profileo If we define an athlete's commitment as "his or her motivation to contribute to the success of his or her club", the Sporto model of commitment views it as the product of three types of factors: "relational" factors, "institutional" factors and "individual" factors.

 

RELATIONAL FACTORS

They reflect the relationships between an athlete and the different actors of his professional environment: the relationships with other athletes, the relationships with the coach and staff, the relationship with the managers and the relationships with the supporters.

This first type of factor is largely under the control of the employer. Indeed, the managers, through the choice of coach, the policy of relations with the supporters and their own behaviour towards the sports group, can play more or less favourably on these factors and therefore on the commitment of the sportsmen and women.

 

INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS

This category includes the other engagement factors that the club controls:

  • the club's strategy (does the athlete adhere to it?),
  • the contractual terms (does the athlete feel that he/she is being fairly compensated?)
  • material working conditions (are the training facilities satisfactory?),
  • work-life balance (does the club facilitate this?).

 

INDIVIDUAL FACTORS

The club has less control over this last category. These are motivational factors specific to each athlete: whether they are structural factors (some athletes are structurally more motivated than others to compete at the highest level) or situational factors (for example, a momentary change in motivation linked to a family event).

 

This model of the commitment of the high-level athlete can be used as an analysis grid for those who want to evaluate the overall level of motivation of their sports group, and especially to improve it! In a future article, I will share two possible methods for evaluating the level of commitment of a sports group.