WINNING, MOTIVATION, AND THE TRAINING CLIMATE YOU CREATE AS A COACH

“Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”

This quote – originally from team sports (football coach Vince Lombardi) – still echoes in many competitive environments today. And while climbing isn’t football, parts of our sport have moved closer to that mindset. In competitions where there are qualification cut-offs, limited spots, and where podiums can decide whether an athlete continues to compete the next season, winning can quickly feel like everything.

But what does that actually do to motivation – especially in young climbers?

A study by Joshua Breiger, Sean Cumming, Ronald Smith, and Frank Smoll (2015) looked at just that question. Their research on Winning, Motivational Climate, and Young Athletes’ Competitive Experiences offers valuable insights that easily translate to climbing and to the coaching of youth athletes.

What the study found

The researchers followed nearly 200 youth basketball players aged 10–14 and examined:

• how much their teams won,

• what kind of motivational climate their coaches created, and

• how the athletes felt about their sport, coaches, and teammates by the end of the season.

They distinguished between two coaching climates:

• Mastery climate: success is defined by effort, learning, and personal improvement.

• Ego climate: success is defined by outperforming others and winning.

The findings were clear:

• Coaching behaviours – not the win–loss record – had the stronger impact on how athletes experienced their season.

• Both boys and girls responded positively to a mastery climate: they enjoyed the sport more, liked their coaches and teammates better, and wanted to keep playing.

• An ego climate, on the other hand, was linked to lower enjoyment and lower perceived support from the coach – especially among girls.

Winning still mattered to boys, particularly when paired with an ego climate: when they were winning, they enjoyed the experience; when they were losing, motivation and team cohesion dropped sharply.

Girls, however, reacted much more negatively to ego-focused environments. Their enjoyment, connection to the coach, and willingness to continue were all lower when the climate was about outperforming others rather than improving together.

What this means for climbing

Even though climbing is an individual sport, the social environment still plays a major role—especially during youth and adolescence. Research consistently shows that peers and team cohesion strongly influence how young athletes feel, think, and perform. In climbing, training rarely happens in isolation: most young climbers train in groups, where a sense of belonging, shared progress, and mutual support can either fuel or hinder motivation.

At the same time, coaches serve as key role models. The way they talk about effort, success, and failure often shapes how their athletes start talking to themselves. Their mindset – whether focused on learning or outperforming others – sets the tone for how young climbers define success, interpret setbacks, and approach challenges.

So, even in an individual sport like climbing, every coach creates a motivational climate – through the feedback they give, the goals they emphasize, and the way they respond to mistakes or failure. This climate becomes the psychological backdrop against which athletes develop their motivation, confidence, and long-term relationship with the sport.

A mastery-oriented climate might sound like this:

“I like how you stayed with the move and adjusted your beta.”
“What did you learn from that attempt?”

An ego-oriented climate, in contrast, can sound like this:

“You were the only one who sent.”
“You need to beat her if you want to make the team.”

While both can drive performance in the short term, their long-term effects differ dramatically. A mastery climate builds resilient, self-determined climbers who can handle setbacks, while an ego climate tends to foster fragile motivation – especially when athletes stop winning.

And in a sport where progress isn’t linear and “failure” is part of daily practice, a mastery approach is the only sustainable way to keep young climbers engaged and mentally healthy.

Practical Applications for Climbing Coaches

1. Define success beyond results.
Emphasize progress, learning, and personal bests – especially in training phases. Help athletes internalize that success isn’t limited to podiums.

2. Give feedback on effort and strategy, not only outcomes.
Point out what was done well in the process (“You committed to the move even though you were pumped”) instead of simply praising the send.

3. Watch your language during competitions.
The tone and wording you use before and after rounds can easily shift the climate. “Let’s focus on executing your plan” fosters mastery; “You need this top to qualify” increases ego pressure.

4. Notice differences in reactions.
Some climbers thrive in competitive comparison, others shut down. Especially for girls and younger athletes, relational support and mastery cues tend to predict higher enjoyment and long-term motivation.

5. Reflect on the climate of your team.
Ask yourself – or even your athletes – what they think you value most. Their answer might tell you more about your motivational climate than you expect.

Want to dive deeper into the psychology of motivation?

Join our free webinar for climbing coaches:
“The Psychology of Motivation” – October 29th, 7–8 pm CET

We’ll explore how to foster sustainable motivation in your athletes, how to balance competitiveness and mastery, and how to create a climate that supports growth—both on and off the wall.