Sport participation motivesof Kenyan female university athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the participation motives of female university athletes at a university sport championship. It was hypothesized that the participation motives would not differ significantly based on the athletes’ age, sport participation experience and year of study. Data were collected through participation motivation questionnaire (PMQ) from 132 female athletes participating in university sport championship. Results indicated that the primary motives for participation were to improve skills, physical fitness and team spirit. The motives did not differ (p>0.05) based on age, sport participation experience and year of study. It is concluded that female athletes participate in sports due to intrinsic reasons and therefore coaches and administrators need to structure training bearing in mind the participants’ motives. Future studies should be conducted from a developmental perspective to test the notion that socio-cultural environments e.g., a coach’s gender, athletes’ sexual orientation, student athletes’residence and as well as the influence of friends/family, could affect participation of female athletes in university sport.

Keywords: Sport participation, motives,female athletes, university sport championship.