The process of producing on urge to achieve a specific goal due to the influence of any external object is known as motivation.

Motivation for sports includes improving skills, being with friends, becoming physically fit, liking the challenges and experiencing success.

Athletic Motivation Inventory (AMI) involves 190 items designed to assess 11 personality traits; drive, aggressiveness, determination, guilt proneness, leadership, self confidence, emotional control, mental toughness, coach ability; conscientiousness and trust.

AMI was developed to:

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1. Enable the athlete to experience positive personal growth through participation.

2. Permit athlete and coach to improve communication and motivation.

3. Assess causes of changes.

4. Provide an instrument to be used in sports psychology research. Self-Concepts

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Various methods have been used to measure a person’s self-concept. One way is to have the individual select from a number of statements describing a person (e.g., “I am self-confident,” “I am usually fearful,” “I work efficiently,” etc.) those that apply to him.

The self-concept arrived at by this method can be compared to the individual’s ideal self by having him also select statements that describe the person he would like to be. Or his self-concept can be compared with the picture others have of him by asking friends and relatives to select statements that describe him. Thus, it is between self-concept and ideal self as viewed by others.

Some interesting results have been obtained with methods of this type, but, it with other self- report tests (such as personality inventories), the individual’s test-taking attitude may bias the results. He may not be willing to admit he is as dissatisfied with himself as the really is. For example, a study of adolescent girls with behaviour problems showed that some of the girls actually rated their self-concept than their ideal self (Cole and others, 1967). In view of the kinds of problems these girls were having, it seems unlikely that they were really that pleased with themselves.