Examination of national badminton athletes'smotivations to participate in sports

Aim: The aim of our study is to determine the sports participation motivations of male and female badminton athletes who have gained the national status of the Turkish Badminton Federation. Since the reasons for participation in sports and the reasons for motivation of male and female athletes of all ages differ, it is important to determine the reasons for the participation of national badminton athletes in sports in terms of orientation. Material and Method: A total of 128 national badminton players, 51 girls and 77 boys, participated in our study. After obtaining the necessary permissions, the scale form was applied online via Google Doc. The Motivation Scale for Participation in Sports, developed by Gill et al. (1983) and adapted into Turkish by Oyar et al (2001), was used as a data collection tool. SPSS 26 statistical program was used in the analysis of the data obtained in the study. Statistical tests Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis test were used to determine that the data were not normally distributed. Pearson Correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between the variables. Results: While a significant difference was found between the gender of the athletes and the level of the competition sub-dimension, there was no significant difference between the age and region of residence of the athletes and the sub-dimensions of motivation to participate in sports. In the correlation test, it was determined that there was a relationship between age, height and weight and the sub-dimensions of motivation to participate in sports. Conclusion: In our research, while it was determined that there was a differentiation in the motivation of participation in sports according to the variables of gender, age, weight and height, it was observed that badminton athletes generally tended to participate in sports for achieving a certain success or status, having fun, competition and physical appearance. Based on these results, it can be said that badminton players are affected by both internal and external factors.