Factors Underlying Enjoyment of Youth Sports: Sport and Age Group Comparisons

A 10-item Thurstonian paired comparison inventory pertaining to factors underlying sport enjoyment was administered to 822 youth sport participants. The sample included participants at four age levels (7-8, 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 years) from the three sports, soccer ( n = 330), baseball ( n = 176), and hockey ( n = 343). Considerable consistency was found across both sport and age levels in the relative importance of the different enjoyment factors. Factors that were interpreted as being intrinsic to the sport activity (excitement of the sport, personal accomplishment, improving one's skills, testing skills against others, and just doing the skills) were consistently rated as being most important, whereas more extrinsic or outcome-related factors (pleasing others, winning rewards, winning the game) were consistently rated least important of the 10 factors. The social items “being on a team” and “being with friends” were consistently of intermediate importance. The results are interpreted in terms of contemporary views of intrinsic motivation, and suggestions are offered both for future research and for youth sport practice.