Judo instructors need to consider coaching tailored to the practical goals of athletes, and this study focuses on motivation. A previous study on judo examined the reality of motivation in judo practice based on free-response answers from judo athletes. However, in this study the reliability of that classification is considered insufficient. Therefore, this study aims to clarify the factor structure and reliability of motivation in judo practice based on the thoughts of college judo athletes through statistical analysis.
A questionnaire survey was conducted targeting college judo athletes to obtain responses regarding their basic attributes and motivation for judo practice. Exploratory factor analysis was performed using data on motivation for judo practice, and Cronbach’s α coefficient was calculated as an assessment of reliability for each factor. Additionally, correlation analysis and t-tests were used to examine the relationship between factor scores and attributes. As a result, five factors with 30 items were extracted regarding the motivation for judo practice among college judo athletes: “Goal/proximity” (α=.93), “Attractiveness as budo” (α=.87), “Personal growth” (α=.85), “Inertia continuation”(α=.85) and “Formation of career in judo instruction” (α=.90). There was a weak positive correlation or relatively strong positive correlation observed among all factors except for “Inertia continuation”. Additionally, the “Inertia continuation” factor showed a weak positive correlation only with the “Attractiveness as budo” factor. When conducting t-tests for each factor based on gender, significant differences were found in the “Goal/proximity”, “Attractiveness as budo”, and “Personal growth” factors. In all cases, males exhibited significantly higher values.
Comparison with a previous study suggests that the motivational factors for judo practice among college judo athletes are comprised of motivation as judo practitioners and motivation as student athletes. Furthermore, instructors are required to convey the appeal of judo and to tailor coaching to meet the goals of individual athletes.
