Motivation Is Not Always Black and White: Attending to African American Athletes’ Psychological Needs for Sport Involvement

Abstract

Athletics in the current society is a place of diversity with athletes coming from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds. Athletes of different cultural backgrounds, African American athletes in particular, have experienced barriers and biases and subsequently different motivational factors from Caucasian athletes that influence their overall participation in sports. Thus, it becomes important to understand potential differences in athlete’s involvement in athletics and implementing changes to help promote a positive climate for African American athletes to feel motivated in pursuing involvement in sports, especially since a majority of professional coaches are Caucasian. In this article, we review prior research that highlights motivational differences between African American and Caucasian athletes and translate them to coaching practices.