Background: This study is grounded in the theory of self-determination, the achievement goal theory, and the theory of perceived motivational climate. The goal of the study was to examine the relationships among perceived coach autonomy, motivation, task and ego orientation, and the perceived motivational climate in young ice hockey players. Material and methods: The participants included 401 ice hockey players aged 14–18 years old. To calculate the power of prediction between the independent variable “perceived autonomy from the coach”, all 6 factors of motivation in the self-determination theory (SDT) and the goal orientation we conducted two path diagrams: one where task environment was the dependent variable and one with ego environment as the dependent variable. Between these factors and goal orientation among the players and the dependent variables, a hierarchical regression analysis was employed. Results: We found that high perceived autonomy support from the coach positively influences motivation in junior hockey players. Players who perceive autonomy support from their coach have a higher chance of scoring highly for autonomic regulation, according to self-determination theory. Conclusions: This probably leads to more task-oriented players who create a more task-oriented environment, hopefully resulting in fewer players dropping out of the sport.

Background: Drawing from the theories of self-determination, this study examined how intrinsic and extrinsic motives affect Norwegian adolescents' participation in organized sports and their stamina for exercising relative to gender. We also investigated which motives can predict exercising/training, and whether this is influenced by gender.Material/Methods: 368 students (male, 51%; female 49%) aged between 16 and 18 years completed a standardized questionnaire "Motives for Physical Activity Measure -Revised (MPAM-R)" (by Ryan, Frederick, Lepes, Rubio & Sheldon). The main effects were followed up using one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA). To analyze the relationship between the dependent variable "sustained exercise" and the independent variables "intrinsic motives", "gender", and "age", we conducted a multiple regression analysis.Results: Our results showed that Norwegian girls have higher scores on intrinsic motives for sports participation than boys, and that boys have higher scores on more extrinsic motives. We also determined that girls are more active in organized sports and exercise more than boys. Conclusions:Intrinsic motives, such as interest/enjoyment and competence, were found to influence sustained exercise in adolescents, but gender had no influence.

The aim of this study was to explore which motives dominate among adolescents when it comes to participation in individual versus team sports. We expected that intrinsic motives will dominate in both groups. We also had a hypothesis that those who compete in individual sport will have higher scores on intrinsic and lower on extrinsic motivation than those in team sport. We also expected that intrinsic motives would explain why they had chosen individual sports instead of team sport. The participants were 78 athletes, 39 in team sports and 39 in individual. Participants' motives were assessed with the Motives for Physical Activity Measure -Revised (MPAM-R). The extrinsic motive "fitness" had highest score in both groups, followed by the intrinsic motives "interest/enjoyment" and "competence". The only motive with a difference between team and individual sport was the intrinsic motive interest/enjoyment. The participants in team sport had a higher score on interest/enjoyment than those in individual sport. We conducted a regression analyze to explain why pupils chose individual instead of team sports. "Interest/enjoyment" had an explanation when we included this as a single independent variable. If they participated in team sport they had a higher score on the intrinsic motive "interest/enjoyment". When we included all the motives none of them had an explanation. In conclusion we could not find any differences in motives for participation in team versus individual sport. We also only partly found support for the assumption that adolescents mostly are intrinsic motivated for participating in sport.

This study investigates the relationship between motivation, goal orientation, and perceived autonomy support from the coach among junior elite hockey players. The study is based upon the theory of self-determination and the goal orientation theory. The first aim of the study was to investigate whether high scores on task involvement and perceived autonomy support from the coach may explain the intrinsic motivation of the players. Secondly, we sought to discover whether the most autonomous extrinsic motives may be explained by high scores on task involvement and perceived autonomy support from the coach. Lastly, we investigated whether the most controlling extrinsic motives may be explained by greater ego involvement or by both ego and task involvement and less perceived autonomy support from the coach. A total of 401 players aged 14–18 took part in the survey. The results show that intrinsic motivation can be explained by high scores on both task and ego involvement. The two most autonomous extrinsic motives—integrated and identified regulation—were both explained by task and ego involvement and perceived autonomy support from the coach. The two most controlled motives—introjected and external regulation—were both explained by high scores on task and ego involvement.

This study investigated challenges perceived by coaches when working with elite women’s soccer teams. Six men and four women coaches with experience in the first Norwegian League or Norwegian national team participated. Semi-structured interviews were carried out, and the data was analyzed using thematic interpretational analysis. Participants identified professionalism, early-career termination, mental characteristics, intrateam communication, romantic relationships, access to the locker rooms (men only), and team selection (women only) as the specific challenges they face when coaching these teams. The findings are discussed in relation to ensuring that good performance and development are achieved when coaching elite women’s soccer teams and helping future coaches optimize their coaching techniques when working with elite women players.