In recent years, the sport of tennis has obtained great progress in China; research involving tennis players’ motivation, however, was rarely covered. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine what are the essential factors that motivate youth tennis players to continually engage in practices and competitions. Firsthand information and meaningful feedback can provide much to the international tennis community that will improve their teaching/coaching and help manage various competitions more effectively.
Method:
Participants were 120 youth tennis players (boy = 78, girl = 42; age 11-17) from the metropolitan area of Suzhou (PRC). The Adapted Questionnaire of Athlete’s Motivation (AQAM, Zeng, 2013) was employed for data collection; the AQAM consists of 30 items wherein 10 items in the first part asked participant's general information; 20 items in the second part asked what factors motivate he/she to engage in the practices and competitions continuely. Each motivation question (MQ) allowed the participant to respond in a five point Likert type scale (5 represents "Strongly fit", and 1 represents "Somewhat fit ").
Analysis/Results:
Data analyses techniques, like descriptive statistics and independent samples t test, revealed: (a) the top five mean scores from the 20 MQs are: MQ15 “reduce pressure” M = 3.81 + 4.84; MQ6 “make new friends” M = 3.70 + 1.31; MQ7 “contest winners” M = 3.61+1.33; MQ1 “high technical content and unique value” M = 3.55 + 1.54; and MQ4 “have fun and happiness” M = 3.53 + 1.55. (b) The comparison analyses on the mean score between the boys and girls revealed: fifteen out of twenty comparisons reached significantly different (p< .05 or higher) levels, whereas the boys scored significantly higher than those of the girls on MQ1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, and 17 (e.g., MQ3 “For health”, MQ11 “foster self-esteem”, MQ12 “improve my own literacy” and MQ17 “develop skills”); the girls scored significantly higher than those of the boys on MQ2, 13, 18, 19, and 20 (e.g., MQ2 “for fun and get rid of boredom”, MQ13 “for establishing prestige among classmates/friends”, MQ18 “hope to become tennis coach”, and MQ19 “satisfy the will of family”).
Conclusions:
In conclusion, the results of this study provided quantitative data regarding the essential factors that motivate the youth tennis players to keep practicing and attending competitions. Meaningful feedback and suggestions are made; much of the detail and reasons behind these results/findings were analyzed and discussed.