Motivation is something that spreads from player to player. If you put a young player in a group where every other person works incredibly hard and wants to get better, the young player is going to play up. The energy of motivated teammates pulls each individual along in different ways. This is why the same player can develop at wildly different rates depending on who surrounds them at practice.

Group Energy is Contagious

Walk into a practice where the whole group is highly motivated, and you will likely feel their energy immediately. It spreads to everyone on the field, and it lifts up players who might otherwise have coasted. The reverse holds true as well. A group without motivation drags everyone down to its level.

Even when there is a motivated player within a largely unmotivated group, they are going to struggle in maintaining their intensity. The collective energy of a training group becomes either what carries them forward or holds them back.

Watching Others Work Motivates Players

Players are constantly measuring themselves against the others around them. A lot of the time, the effect happens without anyone realizing it. When a teammate sprints after every loose ball, it becomes harder to only just jog after yours. When others stay late to work on their finishing, leaving early starts to feel like it is the wrong thing to do.

This drives improvement in a way coaching on its own can’t. A coach can tell players to work harder, but sometimes they wont. Watching a respected teammate outwork you on the other hand motivates. Kids absorb the standard their peers set and adjust to meet it. 

Motivation Fills the Gaps Coaches Can't Reach

A coach can run their practice, but they aren’t inside every player's head. Motivated teammates reach places coaches cannot. There are simply more of them, and they encourage each other during all parts of a season. Each player influences the other in small ways.

They challenge one another to improve specific skills. And a constant, informal motivation from peers often accomplishes more than scheduled coaching, because it is always in the back of a players mind. The group keeps itself driven in ways no single coach could manage alone.

Shared Goals Create Shared Drive

When a group of teammates genuinely wants to win and improve together, their individual motivations merge. Working for each other and for the shared goal, drives effort through the long, difficult stretches of a season. A player on their own is going to lose personal motivation on a given day, yet show up and push anyway because the team is counting on them. Having shared commitment picks them up when their own enthusiasm dips. 

Finding the Right Group

All of this should shape how families think about where their child plays. The talent of a program matters, but the motivation level of the teammates matters just as much. When evaluating a team, pay attention to the energy of the group. 

Do the players seem to care? Do they push each other? Your child will spend countless hours training alongside these teammates, and their motivation will rub off one way or the other. Choose a group whose drive will lift your child, and watch how much faster they grow.