Coaches spend all that time coming up with practice plans for the team. They are there for players who come to them with problems, doing their best to be fair while guiding players to a winning season. For any coach, that is no easy task.

You put your heart and soul into these kids and yet, sometimes, it seems they forget that they are even on a football team with their obvious lack of motivation. Sometimes it shows itself in horseplay or complaining or just simply not being focused at practices.

If you coach teen and preteen football players, you experience this regularly. What can coaches do about it?

First off, nobody can motivate another person. We can only help others find their own motivation and connect it to the task at hand. How many times have you worked with a very talented player who just wasn’t interested in developing that ability? I hear it regularly from parents in working with young athletes one-on-one, and it’s very common.

My recommendation is to begin every season with a quick survey of the players, either in person or on paper, asking them to list what their motivations are for playing football and being on the team. The key is to not accept general answers, which is what you are likely to receive. Ask them to be specific.

For instance, you will undoubtedly get these answers:

• To have fun
• To make friends
• To achieve my goals

The problem with those general motivations is that they have no emotional punch. Motivation is basically an emotion that fuels action. Low emotion gets low action.

For “fun,” ask: What is fun to you about playing football? When do you have the most fun?

You are looking for answers such as: tackling people, making a perfect play by doing my job, pushing guys out of the way, being proud to get in shape, being unique as a football player, etc.

For “friends,” ask: What kinds of things do you most enjoy about having teammate friends? How is that different than non-sports friends?

You want detailed answers such as: chest bumping after a good play, getting each other fired up before a game, teaming up to take the opponent out of a play, etc.

For “goals,” ask: What specific goal do you want to achieve this year? Why do you want to achieve that goal? How will that benefit you?

Again, try to draw out specifics such as: “I want respect, praise from my coach/parents/teammates … I want to be set up to go to the next level of competition next year.”

It’s the specifics that help athletes paint the pictures and feel the feelings they want to experience that will keep them motivated through a season.

When you see motivation lacking, pull out the athlete’s motivations and remind him or her of them. Re-ignite the emotional benefits they signed up for. This would be a great task to delegate to assistants and parent helpers as well.

You need to always keep in mind that a child’s brain is not full developed, not even teenagers. The part that processes delayed gratification is last to fully gain function, and it often doesn’t happen until their 20s. You can fill that gap.

Craig Sigl’s work with youth athletes has been featured on NBC TV and ESPN. Get his free ebook: “The 10 Commandments For a Great Sports Parent” and also a free training and .mp3 guided visualization to help young athletes perform under pressure by visiting: http://MentalToughnessTrainer.com