Evolution of Young Female Athletes’ Reasons for Participating in Judo and Basketball

Evolution of Young Female Athletes’ Reasons for Participating in Judo and Basketball

Motivation is a keystone of sport success and is relevant and important at all levels of athletes, from early skill development in children to competing at an elite level to lifelong participation in a post-athletic career [1]. The change in direction and intensity of motivation in sport can lead to a negative impact on adherence and participation in athletic preparation, up to the point of dropping out of sport Ntoumanis, et al. [2]. Major known theories to explain motivation in sport are competence motivation theory [3, 4], achievement goal orientation theory [5], and self- determination theory [6, 7]. Competence motivation theory maintains that children are motivated to feel competent in achievement settings and to engage in mastery attempts so that they can display competence;  achievement goal orientation theory posits that to understand the motivation of young athletes it is necessary to understand the function and meaning of their goal-directed action [5]; and finally, according to SDT, intrinsic motivation is considered to be of the highest quality in terms of involvement in sport. To create high internal motivation in individuals, three basic psychological needs should be met: autonomy (the level at which individuals perceive their behavior to be under their own control), competence (individuals’ perception of their ability to perform a certain action/behavior), and relatedness (a sense of belonging created by forming relationships with others) [7].

Translating theory into practice shows that motivational strength and content are not consistent along athletes’ careers and that it is therefore important “to zoom in” to the temporal structure of motivation [8]. Understanding the changes in motivational patterns throughout athletic careers is necessary for applying the relevant psychological support and training as part of athletes’ psychological development starting from childhood, continuing to adolescence, and finally in adulthood [9, 10].

Research literature has indicated that the important aspects of youth sport include enjoyment, satisfaction, and appreciation [8, 11], and the motives to continue sport activity are having friends, achieving excellence, improving skills, and winning the game [12]. On the other hand, lack of motivation may lead to dropping out from sport, especially among youth athletes [11, 13]. For example, studies from the National Alliance for Youth Sport have found that of 40 million children participating in various sport disciplines, 70% dropped out before the age of 13. Specifically, the numbers are 64% for girls until age 16–17 years [14]. Some of the major reasons the girls indicated were that sport was no longer fun, pressure from parents, sport injuries, and coach pressure. In addition, recent research has shown that one of the obstacles young female athletes face is lack of psychological support which may finally lead to dropout from competitive sport [15].

A systematic psychological support while taking into consideration gender, personality, sport discipline, and periodization of the training process has already been put into practice [16, 17, 18, 19, 20]. However, not enough attention is being paid to the dynamic of motivation during sport careers, which maybe an influential concept affecting the adherence of young female athletes. This idea has special importance since it has been found that the dropout rate is higher among females compared to males [14].

Some research suggests that psychological support should be provided starting from a young age, considering the uniqueness of the motivational dynamics influenced by the sport discipline and athletes’ characteristics, gender, and training experience. For example, providing young female athletes with the appropriate psychological tools and supportive environment may increase the likelihood of their having successful long-term careers in sport [10]. Such an approach should be applied taking into consideration changes that have occurred over time in the factors that motivate athletes. The goal of psychological support is not only to improve athlete performance, but also to teach stress- coping skills for facing adversity [16]. These skills could affect the perception of athletes and positively affect the way they evaluate and interpret the pressure they encounter. In addition, enhancing female athletes’ sport motivation could lead to positive adaptation to various obstacles [21].

Studies which investigated motivation among youth athletes did not separate between individual and team sport disciplines. The performance requirements and structure of team vs individual sport may be a cause that has an effect on the motivation of youth athletes [22]. For example, in team sport the responsibility for team outcome is distributed among all team players. On the other hand, in individual sport, accountability and responsibility are solely on the individual athletes [23]. This environment may differently has an effect on sport motivation of young athletes in individual and team sport [24].

In line with these studies Orbach, et al. [15] found that motivational dynamics may be different for individual (e.g., swimming, judo, track and field, gymnastics) and team (e.g., soccer, basketball, handball, volleyball) sport disciplines. That study delineated motivational profiles for young female athletes across three age groups (young 8–10, middle 11–13, adult 14–17) starting and continuing competitive sport activity. Results showed that regarding the motivation to start sport activity, intrinsic, winning, and health motivations were stronger in team-sport disciplines compared to individual sport; when considering the motivation to continue sport activity, intrinsic and team motivation were the strongest factors among both team- and individual-sport disciplines. In addition, among adult female athletes, team motivation was higher for individual sport compared to team sport. In another study, Orbach, et al. [15] investigated the obstacles young female athletes face during participation in competitive sport and found that in individual sport, during the young ages, experiencing lack of success was the greatest obstacle, while in the middle and older age groups, experiencing no success and lacking time to participate were more serious difficulties than those concerning the coach or other external obstacles. This means that adult female athletes perceived that lack of time and success were the most difficult obstacles to deal with. In team sports, no significant obstacles were found among the young group. However, the middle age group perceived lack of success as the most difficult obstacle to face compared to the other three. For the adult age group, experiencing no success and lacking time were the most dominant compared to difficulties with the coach and other external obstacles. To be more concrete, it is important to investigate whether specific sport disciplines are characterized by differences in their participants’ motivational dynamics.

The major aim of this research is to investigate the differences in motivational dynamics among young female athletes participating in judo or in basketball. These two sport disciplines have been selected since they are the most popular among youth females in the country. Israeli athletes from these disciplines have achieved significant results in international events, such as the Olympic Games and European and World Championships [25, 26]. Therefore, a national goal is to recruit and maintain young talented female athletes to systematic training in these two sport disciplines. On the other hand, it is important to understand the differences in sport motivation that may lead to drop out rate. This investigation has been carried out focusing on the motivational pattern involved in joining and continuing participation in the sport activity, as well as the obstacles athletes face during their athletic careers. In the future, based on the results of this study, it will be possible to recommend effective psychological support, taking into consideration the unique motivational dynamics for team and individual sports.

Participants

The current study involved 188 girls who practice regularly in a competitive setting as part of a national project for advancing women’s sport. Participants ranged in age from 8–17 years, were drawn from different geographical areas within the country, and participated in basketball (n = 94) and judo (n = 91). Participants were divided into three age groups according to chronological age to track their development. The age groups were 8–10 (young, n = 53): 11–13 (middle, n = 84) and 14–17 (adult, n = 48).

Instruments

The modified Gould, et al. [27] questionnaire for examining young athletes’ reasons for participating in sports was tailored to the research objectives. The questionnaire is divided into three parts: In the first part, with 35 items, the athletes were asked to rate their reasons for choosing to start participating in the sport; in the second part, with 44 items, they were asked to choose the reasons to continue participating in the sport; and finally, in the third part, with 20 items, they were asked to rate obstacles that interfere with and/or make it difficult for them to participate in sports. A 5-point Likert-like scale from 1 (not important at all) to 5 (very important) was used for each item in the questionnaire. The instructions noted that there are many different reasons to participate in competitive sport and the researchers were interested in the participants’ own unique reasons for participation. In addition, the athletes were asked to answer a demographic questionnaire about their background and general experience in sports (years of training, participation in competitions, level of achievement, etc.). Factor analysis revealed different interpretable factors for each section of the questionnaire (Table 1).

Factor for Continue and α Cronbach

Factor for Obstacles and α Cronbach IM: 0.937 IM: 0.962 CF: 0.897 EM: 0.917 EM: 0.924 EF: 0.827 TM: 0.871 TM: 0.870 NSF: 0.853 WM: 0.836 CM: 0.828 NTF: 0.774 HM: 0.896 HobM: 0.855 Factor for Start and α Cronbach *IM = Intrinsic Motivation; EM = Extrinsic Motivation; TM = Team Motivation; WM = Win Motivation; HM = Health Motivation; CM = Competitive Motivation; HobM = Hobby Motivation; CF = Coach Factor; EF = External Factor; NSF = No Success Factor; NTF = No Time Factor Table 1: Factors per each section of the questionnaire with the corresponding α Cronbach*.

Motivation to Start

A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (2 b/j x 3 age groups) was conducted to investigate differences between basketball and judo athletes across age groups in their motivation to start. The statistics were conducted per each factor: IM, EM, TM, WM, and HM. Results indicated a significant main effect for b/j for the following factors: IM, F(1) = 47.08, p = .00, for EM, F(1) = 10.33, p ≤. 001, for TM, F(1) = 19.00, p ≤ .00, for WM, F(1) = 31.30, p = .00, and for HM, F(1) = 17.44, p = .00. In addition, main effect was found for the factor HM for age, F(2) = 4.96, p ≤ .008.

Post-hoc tests with Bonferroni adjustment for the b/j main effect indicated that the motivation to start sport participation was higher among basketball athletes compared with judo (Table 3). In addition, post-hoc tests with Bonferroni adjustment for age main effect for the HM factor indicated that the motivation among the older age group (M = 2.37) was lower compare to the young and the middle age groups (M = 3.12, M = 3.01, respectively).

Motivation to Continue

A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (2 b/j x 3 age groups) was conducted to investigate differences between basketball and judo athletes across age groups in their motivation to continue. The statistics were conducted per each factor: IM, EM, TM, CM, and HobM. Results indicated a significant main effect for b/j for the following factors: IM, F(1) = 62.01, p =.00, for EM, F(1) = 17.33, p = .00, for TM, F(1) = 19.46, p = .00, for CM, F(1) = 41.45, p = .00, and for HobM, F(1) = 25.79, p = .00. In addition, main effect was found for the factor CM for age, F(2) = 3.21, p ≤ .04.

Post-hoc tests with Bonferroni adjustment for the b/j main effect indicated that the motivation to continue sport participation was higher among basketball compared to judo athletes (Table 3). In addition, post-hoc tests with Bonferroni adjustment for age main effect for the CM factor indicated that the motivation among the older age group (M = 3.60) was higher compared to the young and the middle age groups (M = 3.10, M = 3.16, respectively).

Obstacles

A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (2 b/j x 3 age groups) was conducted to investigate differences between basketball and judo athletes across age groups regarding obstacles they faced. The statistics were conducted for each obstacle: CF, EF, NST, and NTF. Results indicated a significant main effect for b/j for the following obstacles: CF, F(1) = 34.07, p = .00, for EF, F(1) = 37.56, p = .00, and for NSF, F(1) = 25.22, p = .00.

Post-hoc tests with Bonferroni adjustment for the b/j main effect indicated that the judo athletes faced stronger obstacles compared to basketball athletes (Table 4).