Motivations and Determinants Underlying the Practice of Martial Arts and Combat Sports

Objectives and approach. An attempt has been undertaken to explain the motivations and determinants underlying the practice of martial arts and combat sports in Poland in the perspective of the humanistic theory of martial arts [Cynarski 2004]. The research was narrowed down to the region of Podkarpacie (a province in the south-eastern part of Poland) and Dolny Slask (in the southwestern part of Poland). The problem under study here concerned the question of how the place of residence, the type of martial arts or combat sports practised as well as the gender of practitioners influenced motivations underlying the practice as well as the issue of social and personal determinants of such practice. Material and methods. The study materials were survey responses from persons practising aikido (37), judo - women (30) and men (34), and non-contact karate (126) (in total N1 = 227) as well as a control group -secondary school pupils practising kyokushin karate (N2 = 85). A diagnostic survey with two questionnaires was used. The survey had been developed by Wojciech J. Cynarski [2006] and addressed to, respectively, practitioners of martial arts or combat sports and secondary school pupils. The results were processed using the chi(2) test for independence and the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient - r(s). An aspiration scale with established ranks - from 1 to 7 - was adopted. Results. The place of residence does not diversify the choice of motivations underlying the practice of martial arts or combat sports. Nevertheless, it was found that: There were similar aspirations and motivations as regards judokas - both women and men. There was a high correlation of aspiration hierarchy (choice of motivations) in the groups of: aikido - non-contact karate. The highest differences as regards the aspiration significance hierarchy were noted between the groups of women's judo and aikido as well as judo (women and men) and non-contact karate. There were considerable differences in the hierarchy of aspirations (motivations) between judokas and other martial arts practitioners. Conclusion. The place of residence does not diversify motivations. There were differences in the choice of motivations when it came to particular types of martial arts or combat sports. This resulted from various objectives pursued during the practice of combat sports and martial arts.