Research in sport and exercise psychology indicates that motivational factors contribute to exceptional achievement, both in individual and team sports. Therefore, analysing differences between junior and senior athletes in contact ball sports in terms of their motivational differences may be an important information source for the selection process and management of the development of the elite athletes. In this study data on athletes’ motivation was collected via self-assessments. Data was analysed in order to answer the questions regarding the motivational differences of athletes, which might be related to the type of collective ball sport and their competing level related to age. Sample consisted of 316 athletes at junior and 286 athletes at senior level, which were active in one of the three team sports: football, handball, and water polo. They filled in three self-report questionnaires: Self-motivation Inventory – SMI; Sport Attitudes Inventory – SAI; and Task and ego orientation in sport questionnaire - TEOSQ. Results suggest that senior athletes have higher score on self-motivation, motive to achieve power and task goal orientation scales than junior athletes. These findings were replicated in all three sports which were analysed. Besides that, football players have the highest motive to achieve success, motive to achieve power and task goal orientation; water polo players have the most pronounced self-motivation, while handball players show lowest levels of these motives.

中文翻译：

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初级和高级运动员之间的动机差异：对足球、手球和水球运动员的分析

运动和运动心理学研究表明，激励因素有助于在个人和团队运动中取得非凡成就。因此，从动机差异的角度分析接触球运动中初级和高级运动员之间的差异可能是精英运动员发展的选拔过程和管理的重要信息来源。在这项研究中，关于运动员动机的数据是通过自我评估收集的。对数据进行分析是为了回答有关运动员动机差异的问题，这可能与集体球类运动的类型及其与年龄相关的竞争水平有关。样本包括 316 名初级运动员和 286 名高级运动员，他们活跃于三项团队运动之一：足球、手球和水球。他们填写了三份自我报告问卷：自我激励量表——SMI；运动态度量表——SAI；运动问卷中的任务和自我导向 - TEOSQ。结果表明，与初级运动员相比，老年运动员在自我激励、实现动力和任务目标定向量表上的得分更高。这些发现在所分析的所有三项运动中都得到了复制。除此之外，足球运动员有最高的成功动力、动力动力和任务目标导向；水球运动员的自我激励最为明显，而手球运动员的自我激励水平最低。结果表明，与初级运动员相比，老年运动员在自我激励、实现动力和任务目标定向量表上的得分更高。这些发现在所分析的所有三项运动中都得到了复制。除此之外，足球运动员有最高的成功动力、动力动力和任务目标导向；水球运动员的自我激励最为明显，而手球运动员的自我激励水平最低。结果表明，与初级运动员相比，老年运动员在自我激励、实现动力和任务目标定向量表上的得分更高。这些发现在所分析的所有三项运动中都得到了复制。除此之外，足球运动员有最高的成功动力、动力动力和任务目标导向；水球运动员的自我激励最为明显，而手球运动员的自我激励水平最低。