Reasons for Participating in a Serious Leisure Career: Comparison of Canadian and U.S. Masters Swimmers

Abstract

1N4Abstract For Canadian and United States Masters swimmers we examined how career contingencies (age, sex, familial status, and stage of swimming experience) were linked to benefits derived (personal and social rewards -importance of reasons for participation) from their pursuit of this serious leisure sport career. From questionnaire data on convenience samples of Masters swimmers, Canadian (337) and U.S. (363), we identified reasons for adult participation in competitive swimming, measured the relative importance of reasons, and ascertained whether the relative importance of reasons varied by age, sex, familial roles, or swimming experience. A factor analysis of 25 reason statements extracted six factors (sociability, achievement, fitness, skill development, enjoyment, and tension release). A series of regression models specified which career contingency variables were linked to each reason and whether differences existed across samples. In sum, Canadian and U.S. swimmers generally endorsed similar reasons for participation. U.S. swimmers assigned greater importance than Canadians to achievement, fitness, and tension release. For the career contingencies: fitness, sociability, and enjoyment were important to females; all ages viewed fitness, achievement, skill development and sociability as important; and stage of swimming experience was linked to relative importance assigned to skill development and achievement.Although the phenomenon is much older, the term &dquo;serious leisure&dquo; only dates from the past decade when Stebbins (1982) sketched the rudiments of the idea in a conceptual statement. Since then a standard short-hand definition has evolved: serious leisure is &dquo;the systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist, or volunteer activity that is sufficiently substantial and interesting for a participant to find a career there in acquisition and expression of its special skills and knowledge&dquo; * We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Robert A. Stebbins, Richard A. Wanner, and Michael Benson for their constructive comments in manuscript preparation. We also acknowledge the assistance Donald R. Ploch on the statistics.

Serious Leisure, Health Perception, Dispositional Optimism, and Life Satisfaction Among Senior Games Participants

“…Stebbins has also identified six defining characteristics of serious leisure: (a) perseverance, (b) significant effort, (c) career development, (d) personal and social benefits, (e) expression of self and identity, and (f) unique ethos. Diverse groups of people have been the targets of research in serious leisure literature, as researchers have examined older golfers (Siegenthaler & O'Dell, 2003); people with disabilities (Patterson, 2000); runners (Major, 2001); master swimmers (Hastings, Kurth, Schloder, & Cyr, 1995); volunteers (Gravelle & Larocque, 2005); adventure tourists (Kane & Zink, 2004); and football fans (Gibson, Willming, & Holdnak, 2002). Some studies of serious leisure have investigated the behavior of older adults and discovered that it is conducive to their well-being (Brown, McGuire, & Voelkl, 2008;Siegenthaler & O'Dell, 2003).…”

Conditioning of Youth Participation in Swimming in Warsaw

“…W za pre zen to wa nej pra cy ba da no uwa run ko wania uczest nic twa war szaw skich gim na zja li stów, li ceali stów i stu den tów (n=2104) w pły wa niu -dys cy plinie, któ ra, ra cjo nal nie upra wia na, przy no si wie le korzy ści zdro wot nych [1,23], kom pen sa cyj no -ko rek cyjnych [24,25] i re kre acyj nych [26].…”

To Travel or to Compete? Motivations of Masters Swimmers

“…They are influenced by a host of behavioral factors that are different for each person and may shift across the lifespan (Hastings, Kurth, Schloder, & Cyr, 1995;Vallerand & Losier, 1999). Therefore, what may make one person choose to attend a special event at an aquatic facility such as a swim meet may not be the same for another person.…”

“…Moreover, past experience with the sport also became a contributing factor for motivating the adult sport participant. Hastings, Kurth, Schloder, and Cyr (1995) discovered that for adult Masters swimming participants, their past experience with the Masters swimming program and number of swim meets participated in that year significantly affected their motivation.…”

“…On one hand, travel motivators can be explained by the desire to seek new and different experiences, the need to escape from routine, and a desire to meet people, whereas motivations to participate in a sporting activity can be driven by the desire to win, to be with the team, or to improve the level of fitness (Hastings et al, 1995;Weed & Bull, 2004).…”