Dropout as a Phenomenon among 15-18-Year-Old Cross Country Skiers at Vuokatti Sports Academy

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the issue of premature termination of the sport career, i.e. “dropout phenomenon”, among adolescent athletes. The purpose of this thesis was to describe the dropout phenomenon among 15 – 18 – year – old Cross-Country Skiers of Vuokatti Sports Academy team and explore its nature and reasons for it. The cross-country skiers of three other academies also participated in the survey. These academies were Etelä-Karjala Sports Academy, Päijät-Häme Sports Academy and Etelä-Kymenlaakso Sports Academy, but the primary focus group was the skiers of Vuokatti Sports Academy. The 42 athletes completed the questionnaire that evaluated their motivation for sport participation, personal motivation orientation, attitude towards the most common sport dropout reasons, career expectations and contentment with the previous competing season. The aim of the thesis was to explore the determinants of sport dropout among 15-18 year old cross- country skiers and provide the information about dropout phenomenon and predisposition for it for to the Academy’s coaches and administration. The author’s personal aims were to understand the training needs of the chosen age group, and explore the factors affecting growth, development, and social behavior of adolescent cross-country skiers.

The results of the study indicated that 29.6% of the cross country skiers in the Vuokatti Sports Academy team had thought about dropout and did not plan to become top athletes, while only 3.7% of the athletes did not want to continue training and competing in the upcoming season. The most important reason for sport dropout predisposition was “I am not as good as wanted to be” followed by “The training is too hard”, “I need more time for non sport activities” and “I need more time for education”.

This thesis also highlighted the important role of motivation and motivational climate in the developmental process of dropout predisposition and actual desire to drop out. The results obtained from the cross-country skiers of Vuokatti Sports Academy and from the other academies that took part in the study are in line with previous research on sport dropout.