A carreira de praticantes e ex-praticantes amadores da categoria adulto de handebol da cidade de Governador Valadares: percepção quanto a motivação

Abstract

Practicing sports regularly or sporadically, in specific places or improvised places, has been growing significantly in society nowadays. The search for a better aesthetics and better quality of life can be relevant factors for the high search for physical activities. Other than that, there are also aspects related to enjoyment, physical fitness, self-efficacy, affiliation, leisure, and social promotion. However, the articles about motivation only focus on high performance scenarios and they utilize quantitative methods of investigation. Thus, this present article aims to present another view (qualitative), trying to comprehend the motivation when practicing recreational handball, with the goal to attract more eyes to the subject. This study purpose is to investigate the factors that motivate (or motivated in the past) adult amateur Handball athletes and former athletes in Governador Valadares, MG. More specifically, this study wants to identify the factors that influenced the athletes on choosing Handball, including duration of practice; insertion in the sport; consistency in the sport; resignation of the sport; permanency in the sport and participation in tournaments. Interviews were conducted in a semi-structured environment individually, analyzed posteriorly using the subject analyze technique. It was found that the interviewed subjects’ practice or practiced the modality for proximally ten years. The main reasons for the incorporation in the sport were the Physical Education classes; an invite from the teacher, coach, relatives, friends or simply watching a tournament. The motivation related to the adherence to the sport was due to identification with the modality and its particularities, the participation of friends and family, the challenge, the emotions provided by the game and the curiosity about the modality. The motives related to the resignation of the sport were lack of time and injuries, and the permanency on the sport was justified for the affection for the modality itself and the relationships created because of it. All the subjects interviewed participated in a tournament at some point. This study can contribute to a deeper understanding of the reality of Handball in Governador Valadares in the amateur level, which allows to develop more academic interest to the practice related to leisure and sociability. Those are critical elements for social life and which support the sport phenomenon for beyond high-performance.