Motivations

Internal

These motivations will be many and varied. They may want to try a new trick, stop falling over or simply have fun. Whatever their motivation it will come with an emotional element that could be positive or negative. The motivation will usually stem from an external source or influence.

External

Most motivations do not initially come from within. They are created by external influences like media, friends and family, education, competition, fear, excitement and so on. Parents may also have their own motivations for their child to take a lesson. These need to be taken into consideration as they can often be very different from the child’s motivation.

Discovering a student’s motivations is best done through good questioning. This will start when profiling the student and will continue throughout the lesson. Use questions like: “What would you like to achieve on your snowboard today?”; “Is there something you’ve seen that made you want to try that or someone that gave you the idea?”

It is important that the instructor is attentive and listens to the child’s replies throughout this process. It is beneficial to take note of how the child is emotionally responding, i.e. are they happy, anxious or excited. Once the instructor understands their motivations and how they feel about them, they will be able to incorporate them into the lesson more easily.