Psycho-Social Attributes of Male Volleyball Players in Kenya

Abstract

Socialization into sport revolves around initial entry, continued participation and seeking excellence. Kenyan women volleyball players have returned significant successes at regional and continental competitions.However their success is not comparable to men teams which are yet to set any accolades at regional and continental level. The purpose of this study was to investigate pyscho-social attributes of Kenya male volleyball players who took part Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) league in 2015.The attributes investigated involved family background factors, reasons for specialization and motivesforcontinued participation.Data was collected through self-reported questionnaires from (n=71) participants and was analyzed for frequencies and percentages. Results indicated majority of 38.5% had experiences of one to three years, majority of them (over 50%) came from lower and middle class backgrounds, reasons for specialization were; talent, enjoyment and social interactionswhilethe motives for continued participation were talent , desire to win and success in volleyball. It is concluded that male volleyball players entry into volleyball and their continued participation is buttressed in intrinsic motives. Consequently, coaches and team managers need to take stock of these drivers of seeking excellence in volleyball. Future studies need to be conducted to unearth the relationship between socio-psychological factors and technical and tactical shortfalls of the men volleyball players in Kenya.