Physiological and social motives with various intensities

depending on immediate or long-term goals manage the lives of

people. Motivation has also been among the issues that sports
psychology science has been interested most in recent years. In
our daily life, our behaviors take shape and are constantly
changing depending on the contents and intensities of the
motives. For example, it is only explainable by the power and
intensity of motivation considering that there are people running
for training in the fields despite negativity and difficulties, when we
are too lazy to go to another room (İkizler and Karagözoğlu,
1996). Motivation in a sporting environment can be defined as a
desire that drives and directs behavior. Roberts, Treasure and
Conroy (2007) explained the motivational process with
psychological structures such as directing, organizing and
strengthening the behavior of achievement. Hagger and
Chatzisarantis

(2007) described motivation as the dominant, guiding and

empowering behavior process. Alternatively, according to Sage
(1984), motivation refers to the direction and intensity of the
individual's effort.

Motivation is important in continuity and achievement in sport as

well as orientation towards sports (Tiryaki, 2000). It can be said
that motivation is a premise in the emergence of any effort. The
direction and intensity of effort are related to motivation. While the
direction of the effort refers to approaching or avoiding any
situation, the intensity of the effort refers to how much effort is
spent in a situation. For example, Ali and Mehmet want to be
selected for an "X" football team (the direction of the effort). For
this, they both practice four days a week (intensity of effort).
When Ali and Mehmet's studies are monitored, it can be said that
Ali is more motivated than Mehmet if it is seen that Ali puts more
effort in his training than Mehmet does. In addition, it is possible
to mention many factors affecting motivation because the
individual has to maintain not only his/her organic existence but
also his/her social existence. Motivation is often misunderstood in
the sporting environment. As proof of this, arousal, which is
mostly due to competition pressure in the sports environment, is
treated as motivation. In other words, low or high arousal is not
synonymous with low or high motivation. The encouraging words
of the coach or the trainer before the contest starts may increase
arousal, but do not increase motivation (Tiryaki, 2000).In
summary, motivation is the state of intrinsic and extrinsic
stimulation that directs the individual towards a particular action.
Acting in a goal-oriented manner by getting ready via impulse or
needs and the feeling of relaxation and pleasure after reaching
the goal is called motivation. Motivation is seen as the key
element of the achievement for athletes in sports (Gould et al.,
2002). In this respect, the studies related to motivation in sports
and training can generally be grouped under two objectives. The
first is to understand why some people are interested in sports
and training and why they do sports, and why others are not
interested in doing sports and why they don't do sports.

The second objective is what motivation is for achievement, its

impact on sports and motivation strategies (Yeltepe, 2007). The
fact that the objective tendencies form the basis of understanding
the athlete’s motivation, what achievement means for the athlete,
and why the athlete acts differently in different environments has
led many researchers to investigate the objective tendencies of
athletes from different sports fields and how athletes perceive the
environment in their respective sports fields. These studies are
based on some theories in the field of sports psychology.
“Achievement Motivation” and "Achievement Goal" theories are
the fundamental theories for the examination of achievement
motivation and achievement goals of athletes. In this context,
"Achievement Motivation" and "Achievement Goal", which are
among the topics frequently discussed in the field of sports
psychology, have been examined and explained in the relevant
theoretical framework.

In this study, it was determined that the reasons for motivation of

male and female students attending sports high schools showed
similarity; however, intrinsic motivational factors were found to be
different. Another difference determined was that the female
students found learning useful information more important, while
the prestige of being an athlete, discovering new training
techniques and the pleasure of mastering their skills were more
important for the male students.Although it was determined that
the reasons of motivation of university students depended more
on extrinsic factors and that the order of importance for these
factors changed in terms of gender, our study showed that the
motivational factors showed that there are differences in
motivational factors for male and female athletes (Aslan and
Dalkıran, 2016). In this study, it was found that the reasons of
motivation for sports high school students depended more on the
intrinsic motivational factors and that the order of importance of
these factors varied according to gender.

In the study by Kılınç et al. (2011) on the motivational levels of

athletes, they found that there was no difference according to
gender, while Oyar et al. (2001) found that the most important
reasons that led male and female students to participation in
sports were “improving skills, being healthy physically, learning
new skills.” These results showed similarity with those of our
study.It was determined that with regard to the reasons for doing
sports, male students attached more importance than female
students did to the subscales of “being well respected, gaining
prestige, maintaining good relationship with friends”, while female
students attached more importance to the subscales of “improving
other individual aspects, feeling better, learning useful
information, feeling intense emotions, feeling bad when not
making time for

sports.” In the study by Oyar et al. (2001), a significant difference

in the subscales of “skill improvement, achievement,
entertainment, and activity” for the female

students was found, while Çekin et al., (2001) reported that the
motivational factors such as being well respected in the social
environment and being healthy were prominent.

These results showed similarity with our study.It was determined

that the motivational factors of the male students doing sports
were mainly related to intrinsic motivation, yet it was also seen
that the order of importance of these factors varied according to
the gender variable. It was determined that the motivational
factors of the female students doing sports were mainly related to
intrinsic motivation. However, it was also found that the order of
importance of these factors varied in terms of gender.It was
determined that the motivational factors of students doing
individual sports were mainly related to intrinsic motivation, while
the order of importance of these factors varied according to the
individual sport. It was determined that the motivational factors of
students doing team sports were mainly related to intrinsic
motivation. Besides, it was also found that the order of importance
of these factors varied in terms of team sport. In conclusion, it can
be said that both male and female students want to get pleasure
from the sports they do and to be successful in their sports. Thus,
they are motivated accordingly. Based on these results, it is
recommended that studies should be done to increase the
sportive motivation of the students who take sports training. it is
recommended to consider the reasons that motivate the students
in the planning of sports training. It is recommended that the
emotional factors should be taken into consideration in the
motivation of the students who receive sports training. The
educational institutions in the sports field are advised to provide
professional psychological support in order to encourage students
to participate in sports.