Motivación para la práctica deportiva en niños y jóvenes gimnastas

The motivational factors that lead people to practice physical and sports activities on a regular basis may differ between population groups. Knowing this, this study was carried out with the aim of analyzing the motivation for sports practice in children and young gymnasts, in Campo Grande-MS, Brazil. Data referring to sex, age group, experience in competitions were collected and the Participation Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ) was applied. The results indicated that the main motivating factor is Technical Competence. Comparing gender, boys showed higher values in the factors Social Recognition, Group Activity and Affiliation. Regarding age groups, there was difference between groups 1 (five to seven years old) and 3 (over 10 years old) in the factors Social Recognition, Group Activity, Emotion, Affiliation and Fun; between groups 2 (eight to 10 years old) and 3 (over 10 years old) in the Emotion factor, in all cases with a higher value in the younger group. There was no difference between groups regarding experience in competitions. It was concluded that children and young gymnasts are motivated mainly by the Technical Competence factor and less by the Affiliation factor.