Abstract
ObjectivesDuring COVID-19 athletes have had games canceled, seasons postponed, and social supports lost. These changes negatively impact their motivation, and potentially identity, as athletes. We draw on self-determination theory to examine motivation in sport and its relationship with athlete identity during COVID-19.DesignA cross-sectional study design was employed consisting of online quantitative surveys.MethodWe gathered background engagement and motivation data from 115 athletes involved in organized sport. They responded to questions on basic psychological needs satisfaction (competence, relatedness, autonomy) and athlete identity.ResultsWhen reflecting on their basic psychological needs during the pandemic, most athletes considered them important. Athletes' competence and relatedness in sport were associated with social-related athlete identity, but not autonomy. Only relatedness in sport was associated with exclusivity-related social identity.ConclusionsUsing a self-determination theoretical lens, our findings contribute to understanding athlete motivation and identities when sport is interrupted.
Highlights
As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, sporting events and competitions were put on hold for many individuals
We examined the effect of autonomy, competence, and relatedness on social and exclusivity-related athlete identity while controlling for competitive sport status
Before COVID-19, 73% of athletes indicated playing their sport more than once a week, a number that dropped to 29% over the course of the last 3 months of the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, sporting events and competitions were put on hold for many individuals. Information In order to get a sense of participants’ previous and current sport engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic we asked seven general background questions such as their level of sport and if they had been able to return to their sport as COVID19 regulations eased. This information was primarily collected to describe the sample. We created three single-item measures asking participants to rate how important they felt satisfaction of competence, relatedness, and autonomy for sport is during COVID-19 (1 = strongly disagree, 10 = strongly agree).
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