The motivational factors for the futsal practice: comparison among male and female athletes of adult categories

This study aimed to measure and to compare the motivational factors for the sport in male and female athletes of the adult category of futsal. The descriptive study involving 45 federated athletes adult category, 18-32 years old, 15 male athletes from a team in Porto Alegre and 30 female athletes that participate in teams of Porto Alegre and metropolitan region. As an instrument for data collection it was used questionnaire Motivation for Participation in Sport created by Gill, Gross and Huddleston (1983). The collected data were typed and analyzed using SPSS version 19.0 through descriptive statistics. The results suggested that male athletes have higher motivation in all dimensions when compared with female athletes. The statistically significant differences appeared in the dimensions status, fitness and fun. This fact can be explained, probably, because historically there is more participation of males in the researched mode. The women futsal is a late fact. Thus, we suggest further studies of women athletes futsal and comparisons between genders in order to contribute to the psychological development of athletes and team performance.