Basic psychological needs

The basic psychological needs (BPN) are, in Deci and Ryan's account, three innate needs: autonomy (a sense of choice), competence (a sense of being effective) and relatedness (belonging with people who matter to you). When they are satisfied, intrinsic motivation and well-being grow; when they are frustrated, engagement drops. They are universal across any activity, sport included.

An athlete whose three needs are met trains with genuine interest and copes better with stress. Chronic frustration of those needs leads straight to loss of motivation and burnout. Tight control from a coach, for instance, undercuts autonomy, while a run of failures undercuts competence.

There are scales for satisfaction and frustration of the basic needs in sport, and adaptations of them are part of our assessment set. They show which of the three needs is falling short. Working from the results, a sport psychologist helps you make targeted changes to the training environment and to how people talk to each other.

The practice is targeted: for autonomy, offer choice and explain the reasoning behind demands; for competence, set progressive, reachable goals and give feedback; for relatedness, build team rituals and support. Goal-setting and reflection exercises are useful here. Formats for each need are in our collection of exercises.

This is the core of self-determination theory; its three parts are the need for autonomy, the need for competence and relatedness. Frustrating them sets off amotivation and loss of motivation. A shortfall in autonomy often lies at the root of conflict with the coach.