Background/Purpose
Using the Sport Commitment Model (Scanlan et al., 1993), the purpose of this study was to identify the antecedents of sport commitment for individuals playing wheelchair basketball.
Method
Wheelchair basketball athletes were recruited using snowball sampling and the Scanlan Collaborative Interview Method (SCIM) (Scanlan et al., 2003a) was used to collect data from individual interviews. The SCIM allows for a collaborative effort of both the player and the researcher, who in partnership capture the player's personal picture of commitment on a collaborative interview board, which is in turn related to the current and potential new sources of commitment predicted by the theory (Scanlan et al., 2003).
Analysis/Results
A total of eight players, five male and three female, ranging from 27-42 years in age, having played wheelchair basketball between 3 to 14 years, took part in the study. There were five different disabilities among the eight participants including: Cerebral Palsy, spinal cord injuries, Spina Bifida, Dystonia, Multiple Sclerosis, and Polio.
Analysis of the collaborative interview boards identified sport enjoyment as the top predictor of sport commitment, followed by social support and involvement opportunities. The transcripts from the individual interviews yielded the same top two predictors of commitment in the same order, but were followed by perceived ability.
Conclusions
The Sport Commitment Model (Scanlan et al., 1993) appears to be useful in understanding the factors that contribute to the sport commitment of individuals playing wheelchair basketball. However, there are some unique factors relating to perceived ability with this sample.
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