Features of motivation for playing sports in athletes of various age groups

Abstract

The article studies the features of motivation for playing sports in athletes of various age groups in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Involving the residents of the republic in physical education and sports, developing mass sports for the population of all ages, and making sports facilities accessible to the population are state objectives in the field of physical culture and sports. To systematize the population’s commitment to sports, quantitative data indicators are currently used, while the Strategy for the Development of Physical Culture and Sports of the Russian Federation for the period until 2030 indicates that it is necessary to systematize qualitative indicators of the population’s commitment to sports. Therefore, we analyzed two groups of subjects, in terms of gender and age, to identify the features of motivation for playing sports, in ahletes of different age groups. The respondents were participants in the winter extreme marathon race “The Pole of Cold-Oymyakon 2023” and students studying at the Institute of Physical Culture and Sports of NEFU. To analyze the motivation for doing physical culture and sports, we used the Sports Motivation Questionnaire and “Study of V. I. Tropnikov’s motives for doing sports.” The results of the analysis showed that for the male athletes, the focus of motivation for playing sports is towards competitive activity rather than towards the training process; for female athletes, the focus of sports motivation is focused on the training process and competitive activity. In terms of age, the orientation of sports in young people and in athletes older than middle age, sports motivation is expressed for competitive activity, in middleaged athletes sports motivation is expressed for competitive activity and the training process. The priority motivations for playing sports among athletes participating in the winter extreme marathon race “The Pole of Cold-Oymyakon”, student athletes of the Institute of Physical Culture and Sports of NEFU, in all age groups for both men and women are “development of character and mental qualities”, “physical perfection”, “aesthetic pleasure and acuity of sensations”