A good team can win. But a motivated team both on and off the field is what will make you successful. It is important to know how to take care of athletes and give them what they need to perform at their best in each game.

When energy and motivation go hand in hand, that’s when the great things happen. If you manage to motivate your team, everything will be easier and better. As the leader of your team (whether you are the coach, coordinator, captain or director), it is your duty to find a way to keep your team motivated at all times. That is why we are going to give you some useful tips to do so. Take note of these 6 points!

1- Know your team’s sources of motivation.
Knowing what motivates your players gives you an advantage. This will make work much easier without having to put in a lot of effort, because if you know your team well, you will know very well what they want. Listen to them and understand their needs.

2- Set objectives and achievable goals
There are various theories on how to motivate a team, but it has been shown that what motivates the most is the overcoming of a goal. Once it is known how far to go, athletes fight to achieve it. Most are motivated when they know the goals (as long as they are reasonable).
Athletes like to measure themselves and know how far they can go. Human beings are competitive from birth, and above all with ourselves. Therefore, setting small goals to achieve is a good method to always maintain active motivation. But be careful not to be too realistic, because you will create the opposite effect.

3- Communicate and maintain constant feedback
We all like to be heard at some point. A good coach must know how to listen to his players and bet on them. It is a way to connect with your team and make them see you as an essential figure to move forward. Good communication with all club members will also create an atmosphere of trust, reducing misunderstandings and miscommunication.

4- Propose challenges to athletes
Challenges make daily life not boring and monotonous. A very successful way is to delegate certain responsibilities among the players themselves. It is also a good idea to propose initiatives that allow them to develop their most creative side and get more involved with the rest of the team.

5- Reward your players
Like challenges, awards are one of the most used ways to motivate teams. Getting a reward for doing something you love is even more satisfying. It does not have to be a financial prize, since sometimes the opposite result is achieved. In addition, it is a bit ugly to reward your athletes monetarily as if they were employees of a company. A simple medal, a special t-shirt, or something that differentiates you from the rest is enough to make them value it, and therefore, motivate them.

6- Motivational phrases for your soccer team
As an extra I leave you this post written by Álex Sánchez where he leaves us a compilation with more than 30 motivational phrases for your soccer team. Surely you keep more than one to be able to apply them in the wardrobe 😉

Leading a team is no easy task and keeping your motivation high enough either. That is why you must keep these tips always present and apply them in your day to day so that they do not get into a daily routine. There are a thousand ideas that you can apply. One of the most common practices is to use motivation to keep your athletes interested and keep them in the club for many years. In the next post we will talk about other types of techniques to prevent your athletes from leaving the club .