Posts

“Understanding Your Own Worldview and Others Values”

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 Kia Ora koutou, This is Hiro. Today’s blog topic is: “Understanding Your Own Worldview and Others Values”   1: What Are Worldviews? Everyone has their own background, purpose, and reasons for participating in sport. But often, we are unaware of these differences and instead project our own expectations or generalised assumptions onto others. In this article, I invite you to reflect on your deeper motivations and explore other perspectives. Doing so can help you better understand yourself and those around you. This includes recognising why your friends, children, or teammates might feel joy or disappointment for reasons different from your own. If you can understand others’ worldviews and perspectives, you'll be able to communicate more effectively and offer better support to teammates, athletes, and mentors. Ultimately, this awareness can bring more harmony to your sports community.     2: Do You Know Where You Are? In competitive sport, we often...

A New Tool for Your Training Program: A Bonus Rest Day Can Improve Your Running and Decision-making

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Kia Ora koutou, This is Hiro. Today’s blog is about  “bonus rest day” in your training plan, and how it can positively affect your training cycle. Contents -           Rest Days -           What is a “bonus rest day”? -           #1: 5 days vs. 6 days of training  -           #2: Discuss with your coach  -           #3 Improving judgment  -           #4 Checking in with your own condition  -           Conclusion   Rest Days Whether you are someone who enjoys a fun running lifestyle or you train for a big goal, you probably schedule rest days in your weekly or monthly training cycle. Many runners have a “fixed rest day” e...

The "10-Minute Rule" : A Mental Strategy for Runners and Life

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  Kia Ora koutou, This is Hiro. Today, I’d like to talk about how to deal with those days when you just " don’t feel like going for a run" . “We all have days when our motivation drops. But what can we do about it?” When exercise is a part of your life, there will be days when you don’t feel like training. On those days, you might try to reframe your mindset and push yourself to stick to the schedule. But just imagining the session, we can feel stressful. Your mind has to “fight” the imagined stress of the workout before it even begins. It becomes a tough mental game. Sometimes, we lose that battle to our imagination, which is one of the biggest obstacles in our minds. Mental Tips for Low-Motivation Days I’d like to share a few tips for overcoming the mental barriers you face on days when you don’t feel like running. These tips can also be applied to any daily task where you’re struggling with motivation. My hope is that they help you better manage your menta...

Changes in Motivation Across Athletic Career Stages "What are you seeking through it?" [Part2]

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  Kia Ora, This is Hiro. Today’s blog is Part 2 of Changes in Motivation Across Athletic Career Stages “What are you seeking through it?” If you missed Part 1, you can [ click here ] to read it first. #1: Pitfalls of Ego Orientation As discussed in Part 1, Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) has two orientations: Task orientation (more intrinsic) Ego orientation (more extrinsic) As athletes advance and improve, they often become addicted to winning and external praise. This “victory and praise” can over satisfy their needs, causing external motivation to dominate their sporting identity. Even if their motivation was initially intrinsic, elite and pro sports usually evaluate only winning . Athletes must continually prove their superiority. In elite careers, self-esteem, once built on personal growth and mastery, can become distorted by social recognition and material rewards. As a result, they may no longer enjoy the sport itself and begin to bel...

Changes in Motivation Across Athletic Career Stages " What are you seeking through it?" [Part 1]

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Kia Ora, This is Hiro. Today’s blog is Part 1 of Changes in Motivation Across Athletic Career Stages “What are you seeking through it?” We start sports for many reasons: for health, fun, as a core part of life, for social connections, for the satisfaction of beating others, for money, or for social recognition. When I was a child, I was obsessed with seeing my times improve every day. That directly fuelled my motivation. I was satisfied thinking,  “I can get faster, I can get better.” That was my first reason to start and become hooked on running. Many runners probably share similar experiences from the early days of their sporting lives. However, our motives and goals change across different phases of an athletic career. In this article, I’ll introduce the concept of career phases and explain where motivation comes from at each stage. Understanding these ideas can help you adapt your coaching style to athletes’ developmental stages or rethink your own running and training approa...

Coaching, Motivation, and Cultural Norms: Rethinking the Power of Words

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 Kia Ora koutou, This is Hiro. Today’s topic is “Coaching, Motivation, and Cultural Norms: Rethinking the Power of Words.” I’d like to talk about the power of a coach’s words and how these words can affect their athletes.   Contents -           Motivation -           Understanding the Coach and Understanding the Athlete -           Positive (Gain) vs. Negative (Loss) Framing of Motivation -           In Actual Coaching Practice -           Understanding the Athlete’s Cultural Background -           Norms and Motivation in Running Culture -           New Norms and Stress -           Practical Takeaways for Coaches -    ...