Features of motives for sports activities amateur athletes

Abstract

The features of motivation for sports activities of amateur athletes, participants in bicycle marathons are considered. The most pronounced motives for doing amateur sports are the motives: emotional pleasure, physical self-affirmation, achievement of success in sports and a socio-emotional motive. A number of factors that influence the manifestation of motives of sports activity among amateur athletes are determined. Involving the population in mass sports can be one of the ways to solve the problem of improving Russian society. Mass sport in modern society attracts people with various interests, level of preparedness, age, state of health and social status. However, the motives of the sports activities of amateur athletes remain unexplored, existing studies consider the motivation for practicing pre-occupational, professional sports. The purpose of the study is to study the characteristics of the motives of the sports activities of amateur athletes. Research objectives: to determine the motivational profile of the average amateur athlete (for example, the participants of the Vologda Marathon Bicycle Marathon Cup); identify the factors affecting the manifestation of the motives of the sports activities of amateur athletes. The study involved 60 amateur athletes participating in the Vologda Marathon Cup marathon. Actual data was collected using questionnaire survey methods and the “Motives for playing sports” methodology (A.V. Shaboltas). Statistical data processing was carried out using the Statistica 6.0 program: the arithmetic mean value, standard deviation, and the Spearman rank coefficient were calculated. The most pronounced motives for doing amateur sports are the motives: emotional pleasure, physical self-affirmation, achievement of success in sports and a socio-emotional motive. Women have more expressed motives for preparing for professional activities, physical improvement, emotional pleasure and a rational-volitional motive, while men more manifest socially-emotional, social-moral motives and a motive of social self-affirmation. The better the athlete demonstrates in the cup, the more he shows the motives of social self-affirmation, social-moral and civil-patriotic motives. The opposite direction of this factor is noted with the motives of emotional pleasure, preparation for professional activity and rational-volitional motive. The higher the sports qualification of amateur athletes, the more pronounced is the motive of social self-affirmation, while the motives of emotional pleasure, social-emotional and sports-cognitive motives are more manifested in lower-skilled athletes. The age factor affects the manifestation of the motive of social self-affirmation, sports-cognitive and civic-patriotic motives. The younger the athletes, the more they manifest these motives. The highly specialized orientation of sports activity is due to the manifestation of the motives of physical improvement, social self-affirmation and socio-moral motive.

Keywords

• motives of sports activities
• amateur athletes