The Motivation to Move - motivation in sports

Parks & Recreation, Jan, 2000 by L. Patrick Bartle, Marjorie J. Malkin

There are a number of ways in which people can be motivated. In addition, it is important to understand what motivation is in the context of sport and participation. Brasile, Kleiber, and Harnisch (1991) state that motivation is "a process through which persons take available resources -- time, talent, and energy -- and distribute them in a way they choose." This process is called the personal investment theory, and it incorporates a two-stage causal process.

The first stage involves the effects of external factors and their influence on how an individual perceives a particular situation. In the second stage, the individual undertakes a personal investment in the situation. The personal investment involves an inner drive, an impulse, or an intention an individual possesses as a reaction to external influences. The key question is, What motivates athletes to dedicate themselves to sport?

Everyone has different motives for participating in sports: enjoyment, physical fitness, social relationships, or goal attainment. As noted, there are two types of motivation that enable people to accomplish a particular goal or task. First, extrinsic motivation in sports participation comes from outside influences or people (Deci & Ryan, 1985). People are extrinsically motivated to gain compensation, social approval, or rewards.

Second, intrinsic motivation is an inherent characteristic that feeds off one's inner drive to accomplish a goal or objective. According to Seifriz, Duda, and Chi (1992), "focusing on a task for its own sake, having a sense of self-determination, and perceiving oneself as able to meet the demands of a task are all assumed to be fundamental to intrinsic motivation." The authors applied this concept to motivational effects on high-school basketball players. Results indicated that players were primarily motivated to participate in basketball to improve and potentially master their skills, not to compare their skills against those of other players.

The motivational climate evolved around a mastery-focused environment. Players were task-oriented because they were primarily concerned with personal improvement, trying their best, and experiencing maximum enjoyment while playing basketball.

Sir Ludwig Guttmann, founder and director of the National Spinal Injuries Center, developed a philosophy of sports participation among people with disabilities (Brasile et al., 1991). His philosophy and subsequent years of investigation have supported recreation as an excellent tool to rehabilitate and develop self-confidence, personal skills, physical ability, and determination to pursue other challenges in life (Nicholas & Fines, 1995; Taylor & McGruder, 1996; Whittaker, 1990).

Basketball has been a part of United States sports culture since the late 1800s. For paraplegic, post-polio, amputee, or mobility-impaired athletes, since its development as a rehabilitative method following World War II, it is the country's most popular wheelchair sport (Maddox, 1994). There are men's and women's divisions, an intercollegiate division, and a youth division within the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (Kennedy, Smith & Austin, 1991). The youth division was developed to provide support for adolescents who were learning the sport.

Getting the Wheels Rolling

With an increase in participation in wheelchair sports, it has become clear that adolescents with disabilities are motivated to remain healthy, competent, and socially active (Greenwood, Dzewaltowski & French, 1990; White & Duda, 1993). Research has supported the view that social support alleviates the effects of stress and reduces injuries (Martin & Mushett, 1996).

When comparing wheelchair sport participants and nonparticipants, those engaging in physical activities or sports have a positive well-being and higher vigor with lower tension, depression, anger, and confusion (Campbell, 1995; Campbell & Jones, 1994). These benefits are influenced by many factors. White and Duda (1993) suggest that success in wheelchair sports stemmed from a number of factors, including perseverance, overall health, and quality of equipment.

To better understand how athletes are motivated, a goal perspective theory is used as a contemporary social cognitive approach, suggesting that task and ego involvement are associated with how people define success and judge their competence (White & Duda, 1993). The personal investment theory encompasses three major categories: task, ego, and social incentives. These incentives are the primary factors used when researching motivation.

The first category is task incentives. Task incentives occur when a participant chooses to engage in an activity for enjoyment and personal reward. The participant is in total task absorption and pursues activities where each task's demands only slightly exceed the individual's capacity (Brasile & Hedrick, 1991). He or she is intrinsically motivated to participate for the purposes of improved competence, enjoyment, personal improvement, and mastery of a task (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975). Research by Brasile (1989) and Brasile et al. (1991) revealed that individuals participated in sports for intrinsic and task-oriented reasons, which means they were internally driven to accomplish performance goals rather than to win or compare themselves with others.