Youth basketball player's experience, enjoyment and burnout levels in recreational and specialization context

Abstract

Introduction Developmental Model of Sport Participation (DMSP) provides a framework to understand sport participation contexts and its characteristics [1] . According to DMSP, children and youth participate in extracurricular organized sports for recreation or competitive performance. Sport setting for enjoyment and health refers to recreational context and sport setting for competitive performance refers to specialization context. The purpose of the study was to compare 12–14-years-old male basketball players’ experiences, athletic burnout levels and sources of athletic enjoyment in recreational and specialization settings. Methods Participants were 276 male basketball players with a mean age of 12.9 ± 0.7 years from a recreational ( n = 133) and a specialization ( n = 143) context in Ankara, Turkey. Data was collected by Youth Experiences in Sport Scale (YES-S), Sources of Enjoyment in Youth Sport Questionnaire (SEYSQ) and Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). One way ANOVA was conducted for comparing YES-S, SEYSQ, and ABQ scores. Results Descriptive statistics indicate participants’ slightly positive perception of experiences in sport, high enjoyment and low burnout in both recreational and specialization context. One Way ANOVA indicated no significant differences in the YES-S, SEYSQ, and ABQ scores of the basketball players from recreational and specialization contexts [YES-S, F(1, 274) = .00, P = 0.966; for SEYSQ F(1, 274) = .00, P = 0.989; for ABQ F(1, 274) = .20, P = 0.888] ( P > 0.05). Conclusion Although there was no significant differences between recreational and specialization context groups, recreational group's YES-S score was slightly higher than specialization group. Specialization group's SEYSQ and ABQ scores were slightly higher than recreational group. In terms of DMSP, high level of enjoyment and low level of burnout foster children to engage recreational and specialization context activities where they gain positive youth experience. In conclusion, this study findings indicate a positive activity climate for youth basketball players in both recreational and specialization context for the current study participants.