Life goal patterns of elite athletes from nonnational-sports-association sports

• Main Author: Wong, Jane Sook Young
• Other Authors: Masato Kawabata
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/72067
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In Singapore, a National Sport Association is expected to provide for their athletes to the best of their abilities such that the latter will face fewer challenges whilst competing for the nation. In the recent years, there have been sport organisations without NSA status thereby lacking governmental funding and support. The purpose of this study therefore explored the association between the life aspirations of this unique population and their perseverance in their sport despite a lack of funding and recognition. The responses for the study were randomly obtained from 46 athletes aged 18 – 35 years old from the Dodgeball, Tchoukball, and Ultimate Frisbee community via the Aspiration Index administered online. Later, face-to- face interviews from 6 athletes of the 3 sports were conducted. In general, higher scores were consistently reported for intrinsic aspirations than extrinsic ones. Wealth was observed to be of highest importance among the extrinsic aspirations, while health was observed to be highest in importance among the intrinsic aspirations. The interviews however, provided another perspective to their view on their aspirations in relation to their perseverance; that their decision-making is not solely steered by intrinsic aspirations. In fact, the lack of monetary support was the largest issue at hand. Even though the results showed that intrinsic aspirations can be seen as mediators of their decision to continue in a sport that does not favour their extrinsic aspirations the government can do more to aid these athletes in their pursuit of elite sports.