Comparison of achievement motivation levels of professional soccer players and amteur soccer players (İzmir-Manisa sample)

SUMMARY The purpose of this study was to compare the achievement motivation and achievement need levels of professional and amateur male soccer players. Specifically, the relationship between independent variables (age, soccer playing experience, marital status, residential area, education level, and salary) and. dependent variables (power motive (POW), motive to approach success (MAS), and motive to avoid failure (MAF)) were examined, in Izmir and Manisa. The participants were 308 active professional and amateur soccer players within 15-40 years age range (26.3Ü3.39) in Izmir (professional = 87 and amateur = 69) and Manisa (professional = 71 and amateur = 81). Willis Achievement Motivation in Sport Questionnaire and Personal Information Form were used to measure the variables of interest in this study. As a result of the test and one way analysis of variance, professional and amateur soccer players showed non-significant differences in terms of POW, MAS, and MAF (p>0.05). As a result of age comparisons, older soccer players had higher POW (p=0.041) and MAS (p=0.027). In terms of soccer experience, experienced soccer players had higher POW (p=0.010), while inexperienced soccer players had higher MAF (p=0.042). Marital status comparisons revealed that married soccer players had higher POW (p=0.007). University graduate soccer players showed high levels of POW (p=0.021) and MAF (p=0.009). There were significant differences among POW (p=0.01 1) and MAF (p=0.018) when players compared how much they earn. When compared in terms of monthly salary, higher salary players had higher POW (p=0.034) and MAS (p=0.029) while lower salary players had higher MAF (p=0.044). Examination of achievement need scores (ANS) of soccer players revealed that professional players had higher ANS (1.749) than amateur players (1.559). Professional players and amateur players in Manisa had higher ANS (0.986 and 0.856) than professional players and amateur players in Izmir (0.864 and 0.702). Key Words: Professionalism, Amateurism, Motivation, Achievement Motivation, Achievement Motivation in Sport, Achievement need.