Original articles  EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CLINICAL MEDICINE 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2003 December;43(4):530-4

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Identification of dropout reasons in young competitive swimmers

Salguero A., Gonzalez-Boto R., Tuero C., Márquez S.

School of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, University of León, León, Spain

Aim. The pur­pose of ­this ­study was to ­examine rea­sons for dis­con­tin­uing ­sport par­tic­i­pa­tion in ­Spanish com­pet­i­tive swim­mers.
­Methods. ­Sixty-two swim­ming drop­outs (40 ­males and 22 ­females, ­ranging in age ­from 14 to 30 years) ­were admin­is­tered the Ques­tion­naire of Rea­sons for Attri­tion of ­Gould et al.
­Results. The ­results of the ­survey indi­cated ­that ­having ­other ­things to do was the ­most impor­tant ­reason for attri­tion. ­Other ­items ­rated impor­tant ­were ­related to ­lack of fun, per­cep­tion of ­failure or low ­skill, ­while low rat­ings ­were ­given to ­items ­related to achieve­ment/­status or affil­i­a­tion. A sig­nif­i­cant mul­ti­var­iate ­effect was ­obtained for ­gender and for expe­ri­ence at ­dropout. Anal­ysis of indi­vidual ­items by “t”-test dem­on­strated ­that ­females ­placed ­greater ­emphasis ­than ­males on exces­sive pres­sure, ­hard ­training, dis­like of com­pe­ti­tion, not win­ning ­enough and not ­feeling impor­tant ­enough. ­Former swim­mers ­with ­less expe­ri­ence at ­dropout ­rated ­interest in ­another ­sport as ­more impor­tant and ­being too old as ­less impor­tant ­than swim­mers ­with ­more expe­ri­ence.
Con­clu­sion. The ­results of ­this ­study sup­port the impor­tance of neg­a­tive fac­tors ­related ­with ­aspects of the ath­letic envi­ron­ment ­that ­lead to dis­con­tin­uing in com­pet­i­tive swim­ming.