This study aimed at identifying whether age, competition level and gender influence motivation for sport participation in Italian senior athletes. Four hundred and thirty-three athletes aged 45-80 years participated in the study by completing the SMS questionnaire validated for this population. Separate scores for the 7 Extrinsic Motivation (EM), Intrinsic Motivation (IM) and Amotivation (AM) subscales of the SMS questionnaire, as well as a global self-determination index, were calculated. Psychometric testing did not fully support the factor structure of the SMS due to the presence of cross-loading items, suggesting that some items should be revisited to better fit the older athlete population. The analyses of the effects of age, competition level and gender on sport motivation of senior athletes showed a significant interaction between age (45-55, 55-65, >65 years) and competition level (local, regional, national, international) both for the global self-determination index and for the EM scale score. It suggests that the oldest athletes competing at local level are less supported by self-determination as compared to their younger counterparts or to age-matched athletes competing at national or international level and that EM may be a key motivational factor for the ageing athlete depending on his/her competition level. Despite the hypothesised influence of stereotyped gender role socialisation on self-determination of older athletes, no gender difference emerged.

Teamgym is a new and emerging closed-skill sport, which includes tumbling, trampette, and floor programs performed by teams ranging from 6 to 12 athletes. The purpose of this study was to verify the concurrent validity of the session-rating of perceived exertion ([RPE] session-RPE) to quantifying the internal training load (ITL) of tumbling, trampette, and floor training sessions using Edwards' summated heart rate (HR)-zone method as a criterion measure. Session-RPE was obtained with 2 different instruments (i.e., CR-10 Borg's scale and visual analog scale) multiplied by the training duration (minutes). Ten female teamgym athletes (age = 21.7 ± 1.2 years; height = 164.9 ± 6.6 cm; and body mass = 54.6 ± 5.4 kg) participated in this study. High and significant correlations (r range: 0.77-0.85; R range: 0.59-0.85; p < 0.01) were found between Edwards' HR and the session-RPE methods and between the 2 session-RPE instruments (r range: 0.92-0.97; R2 range: 0.85-0.94; p < 0.01). The significant (p < 0.05) differences emerged between training sessions indicate that session-RPE discriminates ITL in relation to various technical skills. Hence, session-RPE can be a useful and inexpensive tool to quantify ITL in teamgym, and coaches could use this instrument to monitor their periodization plan as experienced by the athletes.