Level of Motivational Factors of Athletes in Relation to Their Sports Participation

Purpose: This study aimed to measure the level of motivational factors of athletes in relation to their sports participation. The study reveals the highest and lowest motivational factors among athletes and the team that are perceived as most and least motivated. Methods and Materials: The study is quantitative in nature. A purposive sampling technique was chosen to get the sample from the population. The research sample consists of student-athletes from Far Eastern University. These student-athletes are enrolled in the academic year 2022-2023. The research is limited to seven (7) participating sports such as Athletics, Basketball, Cheering Squad, Dance Troupe, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, and Table Tennis. Each sport has seven (7) men and women, a total of ninety-eight (98) participants. The instrument used in this study is a standard questionnaire. The Sports Motivation Scale (SMS-28) of Pelletier et. al was used to measure the level of motivational factors of athletes in relation to their sports participation. The researcher used Weighted mean and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in this study. Results: The study confirms that the level of motivational factors in the sports participation of athletes is high, with the supporting data of an overall mean of 3.32. The highest motivation factor is intrinsic motivation--to know, with an overall weighted mean of 3.79 and a verbal interpretation of extremely motivated, while the lowest factor is extrinsic motivation- external regulation with an overall weighted mean of 3.27 and a verbal interpretation of highly motivated. However, the researcher excludes amotivation in the choices since amotivation negatively impacts motivation. The athletics is the most motivated team, while the dance troupe is the least motivated team however these two teams have a verbal interpretation of highly motivated. The study also reveals that the alternative hypothesis should be rejected, and the null hypothesis should be accepted, Therefore, there are no significant differences in the motivational factors in sports participation of athletes. Conclusions: Since athletes have no significant differences in motivational factors and are perceived as high, there is good practice in learning new things and providing new experiences for athletes. Coaches need to always look for opportunities wherein their athletes learn best, and athletes need to maintain their extreme source of motivation. Article visualizations: