Motivational factors for sport: the case of soccer athletes aged between 12 and 17 years

Purpose.The purpose of the study was to identify the reasons why training athletes practise soccer, as well as verify changes in motivation in under-15 and under-17 athletes.Methods.Overall, 100 male training athletes from a 2 nd division soccer club of the Brazilian Men's soccer Championship in the state of Goiás participated in the research.The subjects were divided into 2 categories: under-14 (aged 12-14 years) and under-17 (aged 15-17 years).The mean age equalled 14.3 ± 1.4 years and the experience time was 10 ± 4 months.The instrument for data collection was the Motives for Physical Activity Measure -revised scale.Results.The results showed that the main reason for practising soccer was fun, followed by competence, fitness, social aspects, and appearance, successively [F(3,195,316,349) = 60.036;p < 0.05].However, when analysing the category of 12-14 years, no difference was observed between the fun and competence dimensions, between competence and fitness, or between fitness and social aspects.The comparison between the categories proved that there were differences in appearance and social aspects dimensions, and that these aspects motivated more the athletes aged 15-17 years.Conclusions.Consequently, the intrinsic motivation, specifically the reasons related to fun and competence, were the factors considered most important for soccer practice among young training athletes aged 12-17 years.