Research Article - (2013) Volume 3, Issue 1
1Ankara University College of Physical Education & Sports, Ankara, Turkey
2Azerbaijan Shahid Madani University College of Physical Education & Sports, Tebriz, Iran
The aim of the research is to determine the differences in goal orientation in respect to the age categories and gender of volleyball players. From among players who played in Turkey in 2012, 67 young women, 71 junior women, 71 senior women and 77 young men, 77 junior men, 71 senior men, 433 athletes in total, participated in the research. The goal orientation of the volleyball players was assessed by a “Task and Ego Orientation in Sports Questionnaire- TEOSQ”. The findings of the project revealed considerable differences in the goal orientation in relation to the gender of the players [F(2,427)= 14.457; p=.000], and the gender X category [F(2,854)= 7.956; p=.000]. Moreover, considerable differences were found in regard to the goal orientations and the egos of athletes of both genders. According to the findings of the research, the goal orientation and ego of women is higher than those of men. According to genderx category, while there is a considerable difference in goal orientation statistically, there is no considerable difference in ego orientation. According to these findings, the task orientation of the competing athletes in the older women category is higher than that of the other groups. In short, the task orientation and ego of women is superior to that of the men and the task orientation of women is superior to the senior category, and the young and the junior categories.
Goal Orientations, Gender, Volleyball, Age Categories
Research has revealed that human beings are goal oriented individuals, their feelings of success and failure depend on their own goal orientations, and they achieve a feeling of success when they attain their goals. This aspect of human beings attracted the attention of sports psychologists. Researchers in the field of sports science developed goal orientation theory in order to understand these goal orientations.
Much research has been oriented towards different branches of sports since the target profiles that individuals have lay at the heart of understanding what success and failure meant for a sportsperson, why a sportsperson displayed different behaviors in different environments, why he/she started sport [1]. According to Nicholls [8], athletes have various aims and goals in order for various criteria of success, such as taking pleasure, developing skills, reaching an end, and winning. Each sportsperson has valued goals and displays various behaviors in order to reach these goals.
Nicholls argued that the concept of "Goal Orientation" comes into play when individuals achieve a feeling of success and explains when and under what circumstances she/he feels successful through statistical data.
Additionally, a goal orientation approach argues that athletes are motivated for success, and deal with their goals with this purpose in mind [9]. A goal orientation approach may be sub-divided into two independent ideas, namely, task oriented goals and ego oriented goals. These two goal orientations known as task and ego are related to the way athletes see and judge their own skill levels.
Task oriented athletes favor proficiency strategies and focus on a personal criteria to achieve the required level of success. Such athletes believe in tough exercises for skill development and in training [10]. Task orientation was found to be related to the beliefs that demand knowledge acquisition, effort and cooperation with peers [5]. For the task oriented individual, success is achieved by exercising hard and with pleasure, and doing his/her best. Their most important aim is to develop their own potential. This is a competition, an arena for developing themselves. They believe that the better a rival is, the more knowledge and skills they will get from the arena. They choose new and compelling tasks from these exercises. After the experience of failure, they can yet develop constancy[9]. This is because these individuals have internal motivation and use their internal motivation to meet and overcome difficulties. For them, the feeling of success is an indefinable feeling, but failure is seen as a destructive force for which they blame themselves.
Another dimension of goal orientation is ego orientation. Success means beating the rival in a competition with less effort for an ego oriented individual. For them, perceived skill is more important than hard exercise and making the effort [10]. An ego oriented individual participates in an activity motivated by the desire to gain superiority. The most important characteristic of such an individual is his/her need to be the best, and to show that they are the best. An ego oriented sportsperson believes that fortune and social recognition are important criteria for success. These athletes begin to lose internal motivation in the event of any failure [3].
An ego oriented individual makes conclusions about his/her success by comparing himself/herself with other people around him/her. In other words, an ego oriented child generally says things such as, "We should compete to see who is faster" [4]. The reason behind this is that an ego oriented individual desires to be the best of the best in his/her own field. Also, such an individual regards it is a great success if he/she becomes the champion at a tournament in which only he/she participates[11]. The number of people entering any competition is not important for them; only being the champion is in any way important for them.
Ego oriented sportsmen tend to use unsportsmanlike advantages to achieve success with respect to others [10]. They mostly adopt the motto, "all is fair when it comes to winning". These individuals, who are capable of displaying both ethical and unethical behaviors, choose either much weaker or much stronger rivals when choosing rival for themselves [9]. The aim in choosing a weaker rival is the thought of an easy win. Winning with less effort is one of their characteristics. The other rival profile, the reason for choosing a much stronger rival, is that it is obvious that they will be defeated. The excuse of the individual for any failure is to win is thus already made. The thought that the rival is superior, and that he/she cannot possibly beat that rival, makes it a meaningful and rational excuse. Such excuses save him/her from responsibility and guilt.
Actually, ego oriented individuals, who always present themselves as strong and competitive against other people, quit sports when they hit failure [4]. Moreover, resistance and the high anxiety levels felt by ego oriented individuals leads to them liking and enjoying sports activities less.
Comparing ego orientation and task orientation in research worldwide, [6]. Have argued that while the internal motivation of ego oriented individuals reduced over time, the development of the internal motivation of task oriented individuals improve. Bayar et al. [2] also added that if the athletes were more task involved than ego involved, their internal motivation would be higher; on the other hand if the athletes were ego involved, their external motivations would be fed. According to Duda et al., while task oriented children enjoyed sports, ego oriented children found sports more boring [5].
In this regard, assessing whether or not there is a difference between goal orientations, in terms of both sex and categories, in relation to the respective place of women's and men's volleyball in Turkey is the aim of the present research.
Sample: Among the volleyball teams randomly selected randomly from the universe of the Ankara study in the 2011 - 2012 season, 209 women and 234 men, consisting of 71 older men, 71 older women, 85 young men, 71 young women, 78 star men, 67 star women, a total of 433 athletes participated in the research.
Procedure: The researcher gave out questionnaires to the male and the female volleyball players before training.
Data Collection Instruments
Task and Ego Orientation in Sports Questionnaire (TEOSQ): The questionnaire was developed by Duda[7]based on the "Developmental Based Perceived Competence Theory" of Nicholls.
Data Analysis
Descriptive statistical techniques and MANOVA (2x3x2) (Gender X Category X Measurement) were used. One way ANOVA was used for determining difference.
When Table 1 is examined, a considerable difference is found [F(2,854)= 7.956; p=.000] in the goal orientations of the athletes according to their gender [F(2,427)= 14.457; p=.000] and gender X category interaction. Related to this, Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics and variance analysis results according to gender, and Table 3 shows these results according to gender X category interaction.
Table 1. MANOVA results related to the goal orientation of athletes with respect to the their genders and the categories in which they competed
Table 2. One way variance analysis results according to the gender of the athletes with respect to their goal orientations.
Table 3. One way variance analysis results according to the gender X category interaction of athletes with respect to their goal orientations.
When Table 2 is examined, a considerable difference in terms of ego and task orientations between male and female athletes is seen [F(2,428)=28.605;p=.000]. According to that, the ego and task orientations of women are higher than that of the men's.
When Table 3 is examined, a considerable difference (p<.05) in the task orientation in statistical terms with respect to the gender X category interaction is found while a considerable difference in ego orientation is not found (p>.05).According to the results, the task orientation of athletes competing in the older female category reveals a higher task orientation than that in the other groups.
In the study, conducted in order to determine the task orientation of volleyball players living in the Ankara province, according to their age categories, a considerable difference was found in their goal orientations with respect to the athletes’ gender and gender X category. Moreover, a considerable difference in terms of the ego and task orientations of the female and the male athletes was determined. According to research findings, the ego and task orientations of the women are higher than those of the men. The goal orientations of male and female students were analyzed in the study conducted by Duda[7] on college and high school athletes engaged in individual or team sports. It was stated that the women were more task oriented while the men were more ego oriented. In the present study, results similar to those of Duda were obtained, and it was seen that the goal oriented points of the female athletes were higher than those of the men. It is seen that women volleyball players both enjoy sports much more than do the men and they compete more with their rivals than do the men. According to the gender X category interaction, while a statistically considerable difference is found in task orientation (P<.05), a considerable difference is not found in ego orientation (P>.05). With respect to these results, the goal orientation of the athletes competing in the senior woman category is higher than in the other groups. In other words, women competing in the senior category like competing with themselves more than their opponents and play volleyball with pleasure. Also, they believe in skills development and tough exercise in training. Being task oriented is related to beliefs in the acquisition of knowledge, constantly trying, and cooperation with peers [5]. Such volleyball players in the older woman category tend to upgrade their potentials. Bayar et al. [2] determined that task oriented athletes were more motivated than ego oriented ones in their research in which the motivations of task and ego oriented athletes were examined. In this context, woman volleyball players are more motivated and feel much more loyal to their tasks. Toros[9] analyzed the task and ego orientations of elite and non-elite athletes by separating them into two age groups, 23 and below, and a 23and above group. His results revealed that there was not any considerable difference between these age groups. However, a considerable difference between the young, junior group and senior woman category was found in the present study. The task orientation of the senior women was found to be higher than that of the other category (young and junior). The reason why Toros did not find a considerable difference in his study conducted with basketball players may be that the study group is smaller than that of the present sampling and the sports branches of the two studies are different. But the main reason may be that woman volleyball players are more successful than men in Turkey. In Turkey, it is seen that woman volleyball players are more successful than men when considered in terms of their general success and failure, in terms of age, categories and gender, and in their numerical participation (as evidenced by their participation in the 2010 World and European Championship for junior Women, participation in the 2012 Olympic Games for Women, and in the 2012 European Championship for junior Women). In this respect, the present findings obtained by a consideration of volleyball players in terms of gender and categories are important for stating that volleyball is perceived differently by men and women, and there is a difference between men's and women's volleyball.
