1. Please read everything below and understand the instructions.
2. You will use some of the references that I’ve provided for you to answer all 5 questions and to provide in-text citations with page numbers.
3. This assignment will be 100% human written with an AI and Similarity report attached
4. You will use basic college terminology (not too technical).

For this case study, you are going to be asked to apply the information you have learned on motivation, including self determination theory, to this scenario.  You’ll read the case study and answer the questions posed at the end.

As a team, you’ll use the discussion board here to communicate with each other about your ideas, contribute your thoughts and perspectives, and give feedback to your team members on their own contributions.  One individual member of each team should post the final product your team wants graded (see directions below).

Instructions:

Read “The Case of Adam”.

First, identify motivational levels of Adam throughout the case. Be sure to think back to the motivational continuum in self-determination theory, identifying the levels of motivation. You will want to be able to determine the regulatory styles and explain why you feel that Adam may have been operating at these levels.

Second, identify the motivational problems–specifically identifying WHY motivation is low in terms of motivational theories including self-determination theory. Hint: Think about need fulfillment & thwarting at various stages of the scenario.

Third, discuss strategies of overcoming the situation that are based upon motivational theories. Answer all of the questions posed within the case study reading.

Use the discussion board to communicate with each other and brainstorm about your answers.  Identify a team member to post the final answers by Sunday night, and be sure to title this posting with “Final Team Submission”.

Evaluation

This assignment will be graded using the Team Activity rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning your work so that you ensure your submission meets the criteria in place for this assignment.  All team activity assignments combined are worth 25% of your final course grade.

Case Study #1: The Case of Adam

The Case of Adam

Adam was a Sophomore in high school, and this was his second year on the high school swimming team. He had always been a good student, maintaining a GPA between 3.2 and 4.0. This year his goal was to “make State” in swimming. This was going to be hard for him because this was only the beginning of his second year in swimming, while most of the kids on the swim team had been swimming on a team since they were 7 or 8 years old.

As the school year began, he voiced his goals to his mom, an ex-swimmer herself. “Mom, my goal this year is to make it to State in swimming,” Adam, said. “Wow! That’s great!” replied his mom. “What events are you planning on making State in?” She asked. “Well, I was thinking that I could probably make it in 50 Free, 100 Free, and maybe 200 Free.” Adam replied. “This is great, Adam! I’m glad to see that you are thinking about it ahead of time and setting goals for yourself,” responded his mother.

As the year progressed, Adam worked hard in workouts and was very positive and enthusiastic regarding the progress he was making. However, at one swim meet his coach asked him to swim the 500 Freestyle–an event that Adam had never swam before. He was initially nervous and doubtful about his capabilities in this event, as he had always considered himself to be a sprinter. However, much to his amazement, he made State times after the first time he swam the event! This threw Adam for a bit of a loop, as he was still about a second away from making his 100 Free times, and had just made his 50 Free times. In addition, he was actually closer to making his 200 Free times than he was his 100 Free time. Adam struggled with this because he knew that the stroke technique was different for sprinting versus distance. In distance, he had to be sure to pace himself, use long strokes, keep his kick up, get all of his turns right, and finish hard. In the 50 and 100 free, he had to shorten his stroke, go all out the entire way, get his strokes right and finish hard. In addition, those who were training as sprinters did different weight techniques during weight training. He was not supposed to bulk himself up too much for distance swimming. He figured he would just train for distance now that he knew that he could easily make the distance times, whereas it was more difficult to lower his times in shorter distances.

Adam was actually progressing very well, and he was so excited about swimming that he began to form more long term goals. He told his mother that not only did he want to swim in State, but he also wanted to get a swimming college to an “A College,” but wanted to pursue sports psychology and become a swim coach. Shortly afterward, Christmas break came, and he and his mother went away for a vacation Alaska. Adam was not excited about having to miss swimming for 2 weeks, and was convinced that there would be no swimming in a cold place like Alaska. However, his mom convinced him that quite the opposite was true. In fact, Alaska had a very strong swim program. She knew Adam was worried about his performance slipping if he had to miss swimming for two weeks, so she called the local high school where they would be visiting, spoke with the swim coach, and arranged it so that Adam could work out with their team. As it ended up, Adam was able to practice one on one with the coach, and then with a few of the boys for two weeks. He was able to get coaching on his stroke technique and was told by the coach in Alaska that he “had raw talent.” Everything was fine…until they came back from the vacation.

Suddenly, without any apparent reason, Adam’s motivation to swim completely slipped away. Not only did his mom notice, but his coach was very concerned. Adam was not putting forth the effort that he normally displayed during workouts, and was struggling to keep up with some of the boys that he normally beat rather easily. State was coming up in a month in a half, and Adam had to “get it together” in order to perform well at State. For two weeks Adam had a bad attitude. When the first meet came up and he shrugged off a less than stellar performance and claimed that he “didn’t care.” He said that he no longer liked swimming or the kids on the team. Confused and concerned, Adam’s mom approached his swim coach and talked to him. She explained to the coach that Adam had been working with a coach in Alaska while away, so he wasn’t “out of the water” for two weeks. She also expressed that she knew how much Adam had wanted to succeed and couldn’t understand why he suddenly embraced such a bad attitude. His coach said he would talk to him, which he did. Slowly, Adam started coming around and by the time that State rolled around, Adam had made State times in the 50, 200 and 500 free, and placed in the top 16 in the state for the 500 free, plus his relay team placed in the top 8 in the state.

Questions to think about when solving this case study:

1. Was Adam initially intrinsically or extrinsically motivated to swim? Using Self Determination Theory, identify the type of motivation (hint: refer to the continuum that identifies levels of motivation).
2. What could have caused Adam to have the sudden turn for the worse concerning his motivation to swim?
3. At what level of motivation was Adam operating on after his vacation?
4. Do you think that being away caused Adam to have a fear of failure?
5. If you were Adam’s coach, what might you do to improve his motivation after his return from his vacation?