ABSTRACT
The
purpose of the study was to examine the perceived effect of motivational tools
on student-athletes performance in some selected tertiary institutions in Lagos
state.
A
total of one hundred and twenty respondents were selected from two tertiary
institutions in Lagos state using a stratified random sampling technique to
select sixty student-athletes from Lagos state university and university of
Lagos.
The study adopted a descriptive research
design and the instrument used for data collection was a self-structured
questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using simple percentage and
chi-square (x2) 0.05 level of significance.
Two
hypotheses were stated and both were rejected. The findings revealed the
following:
i.
Financial incentives have significant
effect on student-athletes performance in Lagos state tertiary institutions.
ii.
Non-financial incentives have
significant effect on student-athletes performance in Lagos state tertiary
institutions.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgment iv
Abstract v
Table of content
vi
– vii
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study 1
– 7
1.2 Statement of the problem 8
1.3 Purpose of the study 9
1.4 Research questions 9
1.5 Research hypotheses 10
1.6 Significance of the study 10
– 11
1.7 Delimitation of the study 11
1.7 Limitations of the study 12
1.8 Operational definition of terms 12
– 13
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1
Concept of sports and competitive sport 15 – 17
2.2
Student-athletes as a special population 17 - 18
2.3
Concept of motivation and types of
motivation 18 – 24
2.4
Factors which can affect athletes
motivation 24 – 26
2.5
Changes in motivational orientations 26
2.6
Satisfaction of needs and motivational
strategies 27 – 30
2.7
Concept of rewards and incentives 30 – 31
2.8
How motivation enhances sports
performance 32 – 33
CHAPTER
THREE
METHODS
AND PROCEDURES
3.1
Research design 34 – 35
3.2
Population 35
3.3
Sample and sampling technique 35
3.4
Instrumentation 35 – 36
3.5
Validity of the instrument 36
3.6
Reliability of the instrument 37
3.7
Procedure for data collection 37
3.8
Procedure for data analysis 38
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF
FINDINGS
4.1 Data analysis 39
– 43
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1
Summary 44
5.2 Conclusion 45
5.3 Recommendations 45
– 46
References 47 – 50
Questionnaire 51 – 54
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Sport
is a formalized phase of play and games. It is an organized, competitive,
entertaining, and skillful activity requiring commitment, strategy and fair
play, in which a winner or loser can be defined by objective means (Harper,
2008).
Sport
is an incredibly important contributor to human nature in our society. It has
developed to become a powerful political and social tool used for the
advancement of societies around the world. Sport at any level will replace the
necessary competitive edge in an individual and kindle the fire of dedication
and hard work.
Sport
in educational institutions is one of the oldest traditions in higher
education. To this day, most institutions of higher education have
intercollegiate sport programmes which means that a large number of
students–athletes exist on campuses (Michael and Nancy, 2004).
Many
developing countries in which Nigeria is one, have been relatively successful
in international sports. Nigeria’s success is notable in various international
sports and this makes it imperative for the country to start thinking about how
to improve and sustain the performance of her athletes for continued success
right from the tertiary institutions.
Biddel
(2004) suggests that, athletes who are well motivated are more likely to
continue participating than those who are not well motivated. He further
stressed that, a highly motivated athlete would be more eager to give a better
performance than a lowly motivated one with same skills.
If
an athlete is not in a positive psychological state, mistakes will be made in
the performance and he/she will not perform at the best level (Woods, 2007).
The
impacts of tertiary institutions sport in Nigeria has come under increasing
focus in recent years especially when comparison is made between them and those
in United States of America, England, Australia, China etc where it is believed
that such institutions make constant research into sports performance of world
standard.
However,
the not too impressive level and poor performance of student-athletes in Lagos
State tertiary institutions are boiled down to the type of motivational tools
been used and its effect on their performance, particularly when valued by the
recipients.
These
tools influence motivation in student–athletes and increases participation,
interest, development, skill acquisition and quality of performance.
These
tools can be regarded as rewards or incentives (financial or non-financial).
Financial incentives includes bonus, cash donations from sponsors, monetary
allowance for athletes in training camp etc. Non-financial incentives include
scholarship, insurance policy, material gifts, medals, awards, verbal or
non-verbal encouragements (praises, smile), trophy tours, public recognition,
media recognition etc.
It
is appropriate for youth competitive sport to include rewards or incentives
just as they are included in higher level of competition. It is essential for
administrators and coaches to provide athletes with support / reward for their
self-referenced achievement.
These
tools mentioned above seems to be important to both learning and performance of
skills because it relates to the amount of encouragement and remuneration
received for taking part in sporting activities (Lawler, 1992).
In
April 2002, Delta State Government reward its coaches and athletes for coming second in final medals table of the 13th
National Sports Festival in Edo State and made some promises ahead of the 14th
National Sport festival in Abuja. This appreciation in anticipation motivated
the athletes and they eventually came first in Abuja 2004, final medals table
(Vanguard, 2004).
Mshelia
(1990) opines that talented student–athletes in West African universities
require incentives like money, scholarship, insurance policy, media recognition,
material gifts and presents to keep them active in sports.
Eniola
(1998) attributed that student-athletes should be provided with financial
incentives for participating in one sports or the other because it goes a long
way in motivating the athletes. The athlete may see it as a means of settling
other monetary responsibilities.
Athletes
feel secured and safe when they are covered with a life assurance or accident
relief insurance policy. Since it has been said that whoever participate in
sport is already taking a risk of being injured or death (such as the case of
Samuel Okwaraji of Nigeria, Marc Vivien Foe of Cameroon and Dani Jarque of
Spain), provision of insurance policies for athletes is of paramount
importance.
Athletes
are well motivated to participate in competitions when they are rest assured
that if they sustain any injury they will be taken care of. Also, with the
provision of insurance policies, athletes have the instinct that their future
is bright and in the case of any accident in the course of participation, they
will not be neglected by the authorities or organizers in charge. Tartary
institutions should acquire group accident insurance for their athletes because
the intensity of competitive sports is very high, thus higher risk is being
taken.
According
to Onifade and Fasan (1991), athletes provided with gifts and presents as
rewards for a certain performance will strive hard to perform better in
subsequent competitions. Gifts and presents given to athletes for qualitative
performance motivate other upcoming athletes to emulate or even supersede them.
In 2003, Enyimba international Football club of Aba, Nigeria, won the CAF
Champions league, and the players and coaches were given a car each. This
motivated the players and coaches’ even better that they won the competition in
the following year. Other gifts and presents used for motivation include
phones, electronic items (T.V. D.V.D etc) beverages, sporting equipments etc.
These gifts and presents sometimes come from sponsors or philanthropists.
Athletes
can also be motivated by match bonus and goal bonus. Match bonus is given to
every member of a team after winning or drawing a match, and it is sometimes
given even when they are defeated depending on the circumstances or after the
performance of the team has been evaluated. On the other hand, the bonus given
for goal scored either goes to the team or the player that scored the goal.
Bonuses are financial incentives because they are usually paid in cash.
Media
recognition via print and electronic media companies plays a significant role
in sports. Journalist tends to report and telecast athlete or athletes that are
performing well in competitions and this goes a long way in motivating athletes
to put up a high performance in any competition.
Athletes
that are on top of their game usually appear on the pages of newspapers and
attend live sport programmes on radio and T.V stations, locally and
internationally. Media assessment propagates the athletes to concentrate on the
sport in which they partake in, knowing fully well that poor performance will
be criticized by the media and quality performance will be praised which will
in turn increase the value of such athlete locally and internationally.
Awarding
of scholarship is also an important motivational tool in tertiary institutions
for student-athletes. It is the most common way of motivating student-athletes
that performed well in inter-tertiary sport competitions. Most tertiary
institutions award scholarship to student–athletes that return from
inter-tertiary sports competitions (NUGA, WAUG, WUGA) with a medal. These
scholarships take care of their tuition fees for that academic session or
subsequent ones.
All
these incentives or rewards were meant to boost and sustain the performance of
this special population called student-athlete in sports competitions organized
for tertiary institutions. This study therefore, shall investigate the
perceived effect of motivational tools on student-athletes performance in some
sleeted tertiary institutions in Lagos State.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
This
study seeks to examine the variational influence of motivational tools
(financial and non-financial incentives) on student–athletes performance, since
it has been generally established over the years that motivation influences
athletes’ performance.
To
some people, athletes are better motivated to perform when the factors involved
are internal i.e. from within, such as determination to win, will power to
excel etc while some other people are of
the opinion that external motivational factors such as rewards or incentives
(financial or non-financial) motivate athletes better.
Therefore,
the problem of this study is that there is no clear cut as regards the
influence of internal and external motivational tools on student-athletes
performance. In this regard, the study shall investigate the influence of these
motivational tools on student–athletes performance in some selected tertiary
institutions in Lagos State.
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The
purpose of this study was to show the
perceived effect of motivational tools such as bonus, cash donations from
sponsors, monetary allowance in training camp, scholarship, insurance policy,
material gifts and presents, awards, verbal or non-verbal encouragement ,
public recognition and media recognition on the performance of student–athletes
in some selected tertiary institutions in Lagos State, as well as the
techniques and strategies to be employed in preparing the athletes for a
desirable performance.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
(1) Will
financial incentives have any effect on student-athletes performance in some
sleeted tertiary institutions in Lagos State?
(2) Will
non-financial incentives have any effect on student-athletes performance in some
selected tertiary institutions in Lagos State?
1.5
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
The following hypotheses were tested in the study:
(1)Financial incentives
will have no significant effect on student – athletes performance in some
selected tertiary institutions in Lagos State
(2)Non-Financial
incentives will have no significant effect on student-athletes performance in
some selected tertiary institutions in Lagos State.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This
study is an addition to existing knowledge in the field of sports, and physical
education. It also serves as a basis for further studies as regards the
influence of motivational tools (financial and non-financial incentives) on
athletes’ performance. The study will be of great benefit to sport managers and
coaches as well as administrators as it will reveal the extent to which the
above mentioned motivational tools influences athletes performance. Moreso, the
institutions, and sports councils shall also find the results of this study as
a timely springboard to approach the management on obstacles impeding the
performance of their athletes in inter-tertiary competitions such as Nigeria
Colleges of Education Games (NICEGA), Nigeria Polythecnic Games (NIPOGA),
Nigeria University Games (NUGA), West Africa University Games (WAUG) and World
University Games (WAGA).
1.7 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This
study was delimited to:
(1)Two selected Lagos
State Tertiary Institutions
(a)
Lagos State University, Ojo
(b)
University of Lagos, Akoka
(2)Perceived effect of
motivational tools on student-athletes performance in the above mentioned
institutions was sampled through questionnaires.
(3)One hundred and twenty
respondents were selected as sample for the study.
(4)The subject of the
study included student-athletes (male and female) in each of the institutions
(5)Data
were collected by the use of self-developed questionnaire.
1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The
respondents felt bored in responding to the research instrument (questionnaire)
due to its quantity because it contains two sections (A and B) but the
researcher ensured that he persuaded them to patiently respond to the
questionnaire.
1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF
TERMS
ü Goal:
An object of effort, target of achievement over a period of time.
ü Success:
An accomplishment or achievement of purpose
ü Student-athlete:
Refers to students who combine sports participation and their academic
undertakings in tertiary institution.
ü Performance:
This refers to the measure of achievement in training and competition by an
individual or team or institution in terms of quantity and quality of
output.
ü Motivation:
The force setting a person into action and sustaining it until a particular
target is achieved.
ü Sport:
A competitive situation of a formalized phase of game.
ü Inter-tertiary sports:
This implies various academic institutions for their students.
ü Tools:
These are incentives (financial and non-financial) used to boost and sustain
the performance of students –athletes during training and competition.
ü Technique: Methods
of performance, it is the strategy used in teaching certain skills.
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