Previous research has investigated the effects of achievement motivation among athletes with reference to task and ego orientation among individual sports (Gentile, 2002: Task and Ego Differences by gender and NCAA division. Eugene, OR: Microform Publications; Yin et al. 1994: Applied Research in Coaching and Athletics Manual, 1, 50-65). To date there are no publications on the differences in male and female field hockey players’ achievement motivation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between male and female achievement motivation among field hockey players.
Participants included male (n=30) and female (n=47) club level field hockey players (mean ± SD: age: xx ± xx years). All participants signed an informed consent and completed the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992: In Journal of Sports Science, 21, 631-647 edited by M, Standage, J, L, Duda. & N, Ntoumanis). Findings showed that males had significantly higher ego scores compared to females [F (11.85, df = 76, P = 0.001] and There were no significant differences between male and female task scores [F (2.91, DF = 76) = 0.092; P> 0.05]. These findings suggest that males are more motivated to feel a valued member of the team and critically evaluate their sports performance, whereas females find mastering and improving a skill harder than males (Nicholls, 1984: In Advances in Sport Psychology, edited by T, Horn. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics). In conclusion, male field hockey players possess a higher achievement motivation compared to females, indicating that males are more driven by success and reaching their desired goal. These findings have implications for coaching methods that need to match the achievement motivation levels of male and female participants in team sports
