Motives for sports practice in young soccer and volleyball athletes

Lidyane Zambrin Vignadelli,Enio Ricardo Vaz Ronque,Helio Serassuelo Junior,Maria Raquel De Oliveira Bueno,Luiz Roberto Paez Dib

doi:10.5007/1980-0037.2018v20n6p585

Lidyane Zambrin Vignadelli, Enio Ricardo Vaz Ronque + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5007/1980-0037.2018v20n6p585

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Abstract

The reasons why athletes, especially young people, seek to adhere to sports practice has aroused the interest of research. The aim of this study was to identify the reasons for the sports practice of young soccer and volleyball athletes according to gender, age, family economic class, practice time and level of competitiveness. 188 athletes, 56 volleyball athletes and 132 soccer players aged 10-16 participated in the study. The reasons for the sport were identified through the Participation Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ). The data were analyzed through Covariance Analysis. The results indicated that, in general, the most important reason for sports practice was “Technical Competence” (4.51±0.54), followed by factors of intermediate importance: “Competition” (4.30±0.73), “Group Activity” (4.29±0.71) and “Physical Fitness” (4.25±0.64). Low-income families (C) attributed greater importance to the motivation factors related to “Social Recognition” and “Group Activity”. Athletes with lower practice time conceded less relevance to “Group Activity” and “Affiliation”, while those with a national competitive level demonstrated greater importance to all motivation factors, with the exception of “Competition.” Young athletes have been motivated to practice sports, especially for reasons related to self-realization, improvement of technical skills and overcoming challenges. Differences were also identified between family economic class groups, practice time and competitive level in the motivation factors for sports practice.

Highlights

Questions regarding the reasons that lead athletes to start practicing in sport become of relevance within the sport psychology, since motivation has been identified as a key factor for the sporting success and well being of athletes[1,2,3]
The results demonstrated that, in general, “Technical Competence” was the primary motive factor reported by young athletes for sports practice
Previous studies with young people from different social contexts presented similar results, in which the factor “Technical Competence” was the most important[13,15]. These findings should not be regarded as surprising, since it is understandable that young athletes, from the beginning of their sports practice, give preference to factors related to sports success, since the establishment of future goals has been pointed out as the most determining reason for professional athletes when compared with non-professionals[25]

Summary

Introduction

Questions regarding the reasons that lead athletes to start practicing in sport become of relevance within the sport psychology, since motivation has been identified as a key factor for the sporting success and well being of athletes[1,2,3]. The most common motives for sports practice in young people fall into four factors: enjoyment, technical competence, affiliation and physical fitness[6]. Young people participate in sports because they believe them to be fun, they like to strive to achieve the desired competence, be alongside friends, meet new people and try to improve their physical fitness[7]. Both for girls and boys, in adolescence, the factor “Develop skills” was named as the most relevant for the practice of soccer[8]. The most motives factors were technical development, health and affiliation[9]

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