Met·a·phys·ics
- the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.
Training as a vehicle of becoming
Training and physical pursuits are often perceived as being about vanity and certainly, they can become exercises in inflating the ego and reaffirming one’s vanity however, it is rare that these material motivations create a long term sense of motivation. Why is that?
First, we must talk about what motivation is and how we’ve understood it over time. In his article The Structure of Human Motivation, Pincus defines motivation as “an individual level, unobservable state of striving, which drives and directs goal pursuit behavior towards need fulfillment (2023).”
Martin E. Ford identified 32 different theories and many theorists who’ve developed their own models of what motivation is and how it works (1992).
The aim of this article is not to disseminate every single theory on motivation but to examine the coach’s role in working with their athletes towards developing a sense of motivation that drives them to actions which allow them to experience connection, self esteem, and wholeness. This coaching takes into consideration the athlete’s individual needs, their spiritual and psychological attitudes, and the lived experiences they reside in. Combining an understanding of the individual’s motivation and needs with an emotionally intelligent practice, the coach can develop a way of being and interacting with their athlete that facilitates both improvement in the physical practices at hand, the athlete’s psychological resilience and attitude, and the athlete’s overall wellbeing.
In the article “Towards and Evolving Critical Consciousness in Coaching Research: The Physical Pedagogic Bricolage” the authors name four primary research approaches in the field of sport coaching (Bush, A. J., & Silk, M., 2010). These approaches are psychological, sociological, modeling based, and pedagogical – the authors go on to encourage additional branches of thought to drive coaching research into a more complex domain by encouraging the coach to consider history, philosophy, religion, linguistics, literature, visual arts, applied and performing arts, anthropology, economics as well as political and others lenses. Evans (2017) also notes that biomechanics and empirical research tend to dominate the field of sport science while ignoring the social elements of sport coaching.
Driving the coach away from reductionist points of view and towards a complex and interdisciplinary view point is an attempt at reducing fragmented or overly specialized and myopic coaching from interfering with the coach’s job of developing the athlete.
Why are there Coaches?
Coaching does not exist in a vacuum, coaching as a phenomenon exists as a response in part due to the existence of people who want to be coached or who seek out coaching.
Why do people seek out sport coaching? Coaching is sought for a handful or reasons – primarily, individuals seek out coaches looking for improvement in wellbeing, physical health, or job and sport performance. Underneath these things is some kind of human drive or motivation to be healthier, feel better, or to do well or win. Why do humans want these outcomes? Generally, humans want these outcomes in order to enjoy life more fully, develop self esteem, find a sense of meaning, or make one’s self or others proud, to develop a sense of belonging or social connectedness, or to accomplish something beyond one’s self.
Thus, a coach exists to identify and meet both physiological, biomechanical, and emotional or existential needs. The coach may use the tools of motor learning, physical assessment, skill development, and mindset techniques to assign exercises or applied physical practices to the athlete. However these methods of knowing and types of knowledge production alone become not enough. When a coach works with a diverse array of people they quickly learn that there are types of knowledge that are oblique in the literature that in the coaching world simply get referred to as some kind of mythical coach’s insight but are actually a more diverse and complex skillset of meeting need. Knowing the right thing to say to the right person at the right time, soothing fear of movement with context, getting someone to ask more of themselves and their efforts, etc cannot fully be encapsulated by the performance driven sport psychology or biomehcanical realms. In light of these things, viewing coaching as purely mechanistic or simply to produce athletes for capital or militaristic purposes – which is much of what sport science emphasizes – becomes too narrow of a lens.
In Maslow’s original hierarchy of needs he identified five critical domains of human need:
- Physiological
- Safety
- love/belonging
- Self Esteem
- Self actualization
The first four of the five needs are deficiency needs, meaning the less one has of them the more one is driven towards them which reduces motivation as needs are met. Self actualization is special because it is a need of becoming, the more the need is met the more the motivation to meet the need increases.
Later in his career he revised this list to include three more tiers beyond the fifth need which also tend to be growing needs rather than deficiency needs.
- cognitive needs
- aesthetic needs
- transcendent needs
Coaching the metaphysical takes into account these needs of being while integrating non sporting traditional disciplines into the coach’s practice.
The Pygmalion Effect
“Treat people as if they were what they out to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being” – Goethe
Robert Rosenthal published a series of articles on what he observed as the pygmalion effect. In his initial study teachers were given a group of students and told at random that some of them had more academic potential than others in order to determine if the expectations of the teacher shaped the academic direction of those students. During observation, students who were viewed more favorably and as having more potential were treated with more attention, patience, and care than those who were deemed as having less potential. Over time these expectations shaped student development and academic performance and the pygmalion effect was born.
Indeed, what is expected of people affects what they become capable of. In coaching, viewing the athlete as capable and as having the potential for growth is an imperative foundational belief that should drive the coach to treat the athlete with patience, care, constructive discipline, and encouragement.
Servant Leadership and Love in Action
In his 1973 book book Servant as Leader, Robert Greenleaf noted his inspiration for the term as coming from Herman Hesse’s book Journey to the East. Greenleaf notes that the primary message he took from Hesse’s book was that “the great leader is seen as servant first” and that “leadership was bestowed upon a man who was by nature a servant,” here leadership is something assigned which can be taken away from a man but the servant nature was the real immaterial man – something that cannot be taken away.
Greenleaf defines the servant leader as someone who:
- Prioritizes understanding over being understood
- Is empathetic yet demanding of others
- Is a healer of one’s self and others
- Persuades through consensus rather than coercion
- Is self aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and accountable to them both.
- Is aware of the present moment and understands complex situations involving ethics, power, and values.
- Is pragmatic and understands the moment at hand and the context leading up to it
- Is a good steward over the responsibility that they hold and who is committed to serving the needs of others transparently.
- Are good community builders.
Metaphysical coaching requires the coach to take on the position of the servant leader so that the people they coach may grow in their own values, ethics, and commitment, and perhaps move them towwards becoming coaches themselves someday.
For the Coach
For coaches reading this article the series of self reflections below can be used as a starting place for looking at one’s own coaching practice and to develop a consciousness of one’s role as a coach:
- Why do I coach? What is my purpose as a coach?
- If my athletes described my coaching or leadership, what would they say?
- How do my daily actions as a coach reflect my purpose from question one?
- Do I successfully create space for my athletes to express themselves?
- How do I handle my athletes when they are struggling?
- Am I an emotionally safe presence for my clients to bring their concerns to?
- How do i handle feedback from my athletes?
- How do I handle making coaching mistakes?
- How do I measure my success?
- How can I serve my athletes beyond sport performance?
For Athletes
For athletes reading this article the series of self reflection questions below are intended to develop a sense of self reflection and to identify needs within a coaching space or to empower the athlete to more effectively communicate their needs with their coach.
- When do I perform at my best?
- What are my strengths as an athlete? What are my weaknesses?
- When do I struggle the most during training or competition?
- What kind of feedback do I respond best to?
- How do I emotionally respond to coaching feedback currently?
- What kind of feedback do I appreciate vs what kind makes me feel unsafe?
- One thing my coach may not be aware of is:
- What outside life pressure currently affects my performance or training?
References
- Babad, E. Y., Inbar, J., & Rosenthal, R. (1982). Pygmalion, Galatea, and the Golem: Investigations of biased and unbiased teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74(4), 459–474. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.74.4.459
- Bush, A. J., & Silk, M. (2010). Towards an evolving critical consciousness in coaching research: The physical pedagogic bricolage. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 5(4), 551–565. https://doi.org/10.1260/1747-9541.5.4.551
- Evans, B. (2017). Sports coaching as action‑in‑context: Using ethnomethodological conversation analysis to understand the coaching process. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 9(1), 111–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2016.1246473
- Ford, M. E. (1992). Motivating humans: Goals, emotions, and personal agency beliefs. Sage Publications.
- Garratt, D. (2013). Philosophy, qualitative methodology and sports coaching research: An unlikely trinity? Sports Coaching Review, 2(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/21640629.2013.822152
- Hwang, S., Feltz, D. L., & Lee, J.‑D. (2013). Emotional intelligence in coaching: Mediation effect of coaching efficacy on the relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership style. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 11(3), 292–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2013.763489
- Kenrick, D. T., Griskevicius, V., Neuberg, S. L., & Schaller, M. (2010). Renovating the Pyramid of Needs: Contemporary extensions built upon ancient foundations. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(3), 292–314. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610369469
- McLeod, S. (2026). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
- Nichol, A. J., Hayes, P. R., Vickery, W., Boocock, E., Potrac, P., & Hall, E. T. (2021). Athletes as “sites of normative intersectionality”: Critically exploring the ontology of influence in sport coaching. Sociology of Sport Journal, 38(3), 241–250. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2020‑0114
- Ntoumanis, N. (2012). A self-determination theory perspective on motivation in sport and physical education: Current trends and possible future research directions. In G. C. Roberts & D. C. Treasure (Eds.), Motivation in sport and exercise (Vol. 3, pp. 91–128). Human Kinetics. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781492595182.ch-003
- Reid, H. L. (2016, May). The training of the Olympian soul. The Other Journal. https://theotherjournal.com/2016/05/training-olympian-soul/
- Roberts, G. C., & Treasure, D. C. (Eds.). (2012). Advances in motivation in sport and exercise (3rd ed.). Human Kinetics. ISBN 9780736090810.
- Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom: Teacher expectation and pupils’ intellectual development. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2020). Philosophy of sport. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2025 Edition). https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sport/
- University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries. (2025). Metaphysics and ontology – General philosophy: Research guide. https://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/c.php?g=178198&p=1462411