Motivational Determinants of Recreational Padel Participation: A Comparative Analysis Across Age and Gender

The aim of this study is to examine the differences in motivation when playing recreational padel regarding gender and age. The sample included 201 respondents (M = 131, F = 70) with an average age of 31 ± 7.07 years. Data was collected online via the Sport Motivation Scale-II (SMS-II) questionnaire. Spearman correlation presented the highest correlation between intrinsic and introjected (r = 0.658) motivation forms. Furthermore, results were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test. The results showed a statistically significant difference in motivation between men and women exclusively in the dimension of introjected regulation (M = 107.54, F = 88.76; <i>p</i> = 0.03), while no difference was found in the other dimensions. Also, introjected regulation was found to have the highest impact on differences across age (18-30 yr = 94.39; 31-50 yr = 110.59; <i>p</i> = 0.05). The research shows that padel as a recreational activity has a similar motivational effect on different age and gender groups, apart from introjected regulation, where men show higher results. Overall, the motivation to engage in padel largely depends on personal interests, enjoyment and perceived benefits, while gender and age have a limited influence, which coincides with some of the previous literature. Since research on motivation in the context of padel is still rare, this research contributes to the understanding of the factors that influence recreational engagement in this sport.