Introduction
For decades, the importance of sports in our lives has
been advocated [1]. A variety of values are included in sports, and some
aspects are present for doing, watching and supporting. Sports players range
from young to elderly, and among them, there are Masters athletes who have been
involved in track and field for years. These activities are held annually not
only at domestic masters’ competitions, but also at world masters’
international competitions associated with fully attracting attention [2]. For
the background, there is probably a growing interest in maintaining health, a
revival behavior once again similar to previous days, or a desire to have a new
trial action in challenging area [3].
Furthermore, athletic of track and field is the basic
exercise of all sports [4]. Unlike other sports competitions, large numbers of
people, equipments, and facilities are not required. Anyone can do it easily,
at their own time, place, occasion (TPO) and also pace. This characteristic is
to support the convenient factor of athletic sports. Recently, local marathons
have been very popular and held frequently all over Japan [5]. This is one of
the phenomena that many people are interested in athletic competition such as
masters’ athletics.
Various studies have been conducted on masters’ sports
[6]. The focus was on how competition-oriented sports affect people's minds,
bodies and behaviors, and on what kind of factors motivate people to continue
sports activities [7]. Among many athletes who participate in Masters
competitions, some seem to be simply competitive-oriented, and others seem to
be comfort-oriented [8]. Some differences may be present due to the age factor
of master’s athletes. Therefore, the authors conducted a detail study using
questionnaire for Masters athletes. What kind of sports orientation and what
kind of sports value awareness do they have? Further, we investigated the age
factor separately for non-elderly and elderly groups. The results and
discussion would be described in this article.
Subjects and Methods
The subjects enrolled in this article were are 90
participants with average age of 62.6 ± 12.9 years old. They took part in the
International Gold Masters Athletics Championships held in Kyoto in October
2013. Questionnaires were distributed to the participants of the competition,
and they were asked to fill in and collect them on the spot.
The contents of the survey were concerning the basic
attributes, sports orientation and sports value awareness in the Masters
athletics. As to the competitive orientation in the Masters, we asked them to
select one of the five options for the direction that they always aim for the
sports. They are i) record and victory, ii) health maintenance and progress,
iii) leisure/fun/vacation, iv) friends and colleagues, and v) others. When they
selected others, the reason or its details were asked to describe.
As regards to sports value awareness, we have referred
to the previous analytical framework [9]. There were five types in the
following.
a.
Recreation type:
it seeks to achieve some common purpose through the sports desire satisfaction,
b.
Leisure type: it
tries to satisfy the desire for performing sports itself immediately,
c.
Abstinence type:
it attempts to achieve some purpose through the process of ascetic training;
d.
Agôn type: it
tries to satisfy the sports desire itself through ascetic, unpleasant hard
training,
e.
other type: the
cases for none of a)-d)
They are asked to choose one of them, which was close
to their values. When selected the time e) other, they are asked to provide the
details.
Statistics and Ethical Consideration
For statistical investigation, the participants were
divided into a non-elderly group aged 64 and under and an elderly group aged 65
and over. In both groups, statistical method of cross tabulation was performed.
Concerning the statistical processing, SPSS Statistics 27.0 was applied [10].
This research was reviewed and implemented by an
ethics committee that was established in the International Masters Athletics
Federation ?IMAF? in Wakayama, Japan. The discussion was based on the
Declaration of Helsinki and the Personal Information Protection Act, which
would be standard ethical consideration. After explaining to the subjects both
verbally and in writing the specific purpose of the survey, the informed
consent was obtained by both of verbal and writing manner. The results will be
statistically processed in a way that does not identify individuals.
Results
Respondent attributes
The subjects enrolled in this study were 42
non-elderly athletes under the age of 64 (M/F=34/8), and 48 athletes of 65 and
more than the age of 65 (M/F=43/5). The ratio of non-elderly and elderly group
was 47% and 53%, respectively. The average years of continuous playing in the
Masters athlete were 8.86 ± 8.96 years for the non-elderly and 18.62 ± 11.33
years for the elderly (mean ± standard deviation).
Sports competitive
orientation
The results obtained from the collected data for sports competitive orientation are as follows. In both age groups, the majority of respondents were oriented toward “record and victory,” followed by “health maintenance and progress.” In both age groups, the intention of “leisure/fun/vacation" was the least (Figure 1).
Figure 1:
The results of sports competitive
orientation.
Figure 2: The results of sports value for 2 age groups.
Among non-elderly respondents (<64 years old),
“others” included a variety of replies. They are i) competitive-oriented
content, such as “I have no intention,” “Improved motivation and health,”
“Participation in all events,” and “Challenging,” ii) confirmation of the
current state of health and physical strength, and iii) socially oriented
content such as "participation in society".
Sports value
awareness
The results for both age groups were studied for 5
types including recreation, leisure, abstinence, agôn, and others (Figure 2).
In both groups, recreational type was most frequent, which occupied 50-56% of
them. Successively, abstinence type was followed as 15-19%. Among the responses
to other types, some replies were included. They were "lifelong active
athlete" from elderly group, and "maintaining health while competing"
and "strengthening physical strength" from non-elderly group.
Discussion
In this study, we attempted to examine what kind of
sports competitive orientation and sports value awareness are present for
Masters’ track and field athletes [11]. The study was divided for elderly and
non-elderly groups [12]. As a result, in both age groups, the most common
preference for sports was clarified as "better record and victory".
In terms of sports value awareness, the majority of respondents in both age
groups have selected for "recreation type."?
The result for sports competitive orientation showed
that "better record and victory" were the most common. It suggests
that masters’ athletics would have the purpose as challenging records and
competing with others for win or lose [13]. Consequently, lots of participants
seem to recognize athletics as intentional or game-oriented. It was apparent
from the fact that the leisure orientation of leisure/fun/vacation was the
least prevalence [14].
The International Masters Athletic Federation (IMAF)?was
established to advance the lifelong sports ideals for the Masters sports [15].
The aim is to emphasize fitness and wellness to invite large numbers of
participants to the competition, and to give the pursuit of excellence and
excitement with friendship [16-406](Takenaka). The characteristic point would
be that anyone who is healthy can easily start participating IMAF competition
[17-408](Konoike). For reflecting this philosophy, the participants would have
sports competitive orientation associated with pursuing excellence. At the same
time, they can have health consciousness of “fitness and health” [18].
On the other hand, current study showed the impressive
results that many athletes estimated sports as recreational matter. It may be
reflected by the philosophy of lifelong sports [19]. Unlike other recreational
sports, Masters’ sports activity can pursue the improvement of skills through
daily practice and training [20]. Currently obtained results, however, showed
that their daily continuous workout is not a training, but it can be regarded
as careful preparation period to get the pleasant moment of competition [21].
From mentioned above, participation in Masters’ athletics may bring various
psychological beneficial outcomes, including life satisfaction, competition,
socialization, self-esteem, self-confidence, personal empowerment and
resilience to some negative events of aging [22].
Conclusion
The impressive results were obtained in this article.
Masters’ athletes have pursued the orientation of the competition itself such
as aiming for record and victory. However, the purpose for masters’ sports was
found for achievement of other matters. This attitude and direction may be
recognized for some mature athletes in recent years. In other words, masters’
athletes tend to develop their motivation, skills and the way of enjoying
sports associated with gradual maturation with age, regardless of the past or
present level.
Recently, a new elderly generation called “baby
boomers” has emerged, and then previous traditional image of the elderly has
been changing. During this period, it is expected that more people will
increase who are interested in Masters Sports. Various approaches will be
developed to bring about the evolution for Masters Sports in the future.
Conflicts of Interest
Author declares no COI.
Funding
There were no grants as to this report.
References
9. Osaka T, Fujiwara K. A
study of the competition-oriented of the participants of all Japan masters’
track and field championships: the value orientation in sports among the
participants. Research journal of physical education Chukyo University. 1999;
41: 41-55.
12. Kleiber
DA. Toward an applied social psychology of leisure. J Leisure Res. 2020; 51:
618-625.
15. International Masters Athletics Federation ?IMAF?.