CC BY
21Comparative analysis of development of motivation in russian and Chinese student
basketball players
UDC 77.29.07; 77.03.11.
Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Professor N.M. Pestereva1, 3 Zhang Xia2
PhD, Associate Professor M.Y. Belyakova1
1Russian Presidential Academy of the National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia
2Harbin Association of International Sports Cooperation and Exchanges, Harbin, China 3Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russia
Corresponding author: pnm_06@mail.ru
Abstract
Currently, student sports mobility is increasingly characterized by internationalization. Russian and Chinese colleges have been engaged in cooperation in student sports via, most importantly, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Network University.
Objective of the study was to make a comparative analysis of the development of motivation in players on Russian and Chinese student basketball teams from the moment they start playing basketball (at preschool and school age) to the moment they enter university.
Methods and structure of the study. The authors conducted a survey of 48 basketball players from four men's university basketball teams. The survey was carried out during an international student basketball tournament held in Harbin, China, in June of 2019 to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and China. The authors employed a set of traditional methods of research, including statistical and comparative analysis, generalization, and juxtaposition, and methods of sociological enquiry. The age of the respondents ranged from 19 to 25 years old, with their experience doing basketball ranging from 14 to 16 years and their qualifications ranging from Class 2 to Candidate Master of Sport. Each team comprised 12 players. All of the players took part in the survey.
Results and conclusion. The authors' analysis of the development of motivation in the student basketball players surveyed from the moment started doing basketball to the moment they entered university helped bring forward a set of uniform approaches to fostering motivation in both Russian and Chinese students, as well as identify a set of distinct national and regional characteristics.
Keywords: basketball, students sports, motivation, internationalization.
Introduction. In today's world, sports, especially student sports, play an increasingly important social role in the life of society. According to well-known Russian physical exercise theoretician and practician L.I. Lubysheva, doing sports is a form of human activity that shapes a person's physical, moral, and, social traits (Lubysheva, 2019). In this regard, there is added relevance in research into issues related to students' awareness of the role of sports as an area that helps cultivate a set of essential personal quali-
ties and gain some experience in social life. A mechanism that helps shape personality traits in students and youth is motivational behavior. The various aspects of motivation in student basketball players have been explored by scholars T.S. Golovkova (Golovkova & Asadullaeva, 2016), L.N. Koval' (Koval', Alekseeva, & Shevchenko, 2019), and N.S. Shumova (Shumova, Baikovskii, & Siuntse, 2019). This paper brings forward a concept that makes it possible to analyze the development of motivation in Russian and Chinese
Theory and Practice of Physical Culture I teoriya.ru I April № 4 2021
student basketball players in the pre-college period. This concept is grounded in the precondition that players on the basketball teams of top Russian and Chinese universities who are showing today good academic progress toward obtaining a bachelor's, specialist's, master's, or doctoral degree have been motivated since childhood to strive for success, develop the qualities of a leader, the ability to efficiently work in a team, the ability to make effective decisions in complex situations, the ability to "take the heat", and the ability to take responsibility for personal decisions. In the development of personal qualities in these students, a major role must have been played by basketball, as a factor that can help integrate and nurture a person's physical, moral, and social personality traits.
Objective of the study was to make a comparative analysis of the development of motivation in players on Russian and Chinese student basketball teams from the moment they start playing basketball (at preschool and school age) to the moment they enter university.
Methods and structure of the study. The survey engaged players on the basketball teams of the following top Russian and Chinese universities: Saint Petersburg State University (QS world ranking - 234), Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin (364), Zhejiang University (54), and Harbin Institute of Technology (277) (QS, 2020). A major contribution in terms of helping arrange and obtain the funding for the tournament was made by Rector of Harbin Institute of Technology Prof. Zhou Yu
and President of the Harbin Association of International Sports Cooperation and Exchanges Zhang Xia. The survey questions were designed by Prof. N.M. Pes-tereva, based on recommendations from the Student Basketball Association of Russia. To assess the level of statistical significance of the survey results and test the null hypothesis, the authors employed Pearson's chi-squared test.
Results and discussion. A key benefit of this sociological research study is that it has provided the opportunity to analyze in real time the motivation of students who have been quite successful in basketball and in school. Table 1 lists the survey's key questions and possible answers. Table 2 displays the consolidated data on the authors' statistical assessment of the survey results.
It was established that, thanks to their motivation and the fact that they started to play basketball early on in life, the respondents had managed to achieve optimum results. These students, who had been doing an active sport since childhood, had achieved significant athletic results and top physical condition. These basketball players' success in school was evident too - they were attending top universities in Russia and China. The future professional activity of these students is unlikely to be associated with just physical exercise and sports - there could well be future Humanities scholars, economists, managers, IT specialists, engineers, and biotech-nologists among them (Pestereva, Kholina, & Qi, 2019). Thus, as a competitive sport, basketball may be stated to have had a significant effect in terms
Table 1. Questions and Possible Answers in the Authors' Survey of Russian and Chinese Student Basketball Players
Question Possible answers
1 What age did you begin playing basketball? prior to seven years of age; between seven and 10; between 11 and 15; between 16 and 18
2 Whose idea was it that you choose basketball? it was my own choice; I was influenced by my buddies; it was a suggestion from my parents (a member of my family); I got into it by accident
3 Where (in what setting) did you first start to play basketball? a basketball court in the neighborhood I lived in; in preschool; in a children's sports school; in high school; in university
4 What motivated you to do basketball in the pre-college period? support from my parents and admiration from my friends; my results, awards, certificates, and publicity; deriving pleasure from taking part in tournaments and playing basketball; self-esteem
5 What was the motivation behind your interest in going to a Russian college to get a higher education? opportunity to play basketball; opportunity to play on a university basketball team; financial support provided by the college for being on its basketball team; opportunity to improve as an athlete
6 What would some of the benefits be if you attended a foreign college? opportunity to attain a fluent command of the country's language and get to know its culture; opportunity to play basketball in comfortable conditions; opportunity to play on the college's basketball team; opportunity to learn foreign training methodologies; I haven't planned this yet
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Table 2. The Authors' Test of the Null Hypothesis (H0) and the Level of Statistical Significance (P) of the Survey Results Using Pearson's Chi-Squared Test
Numbers of the Assessment of the null hypothesis for the results of the authors' sociological study
ques-tions from Russian students Chinese students
Table 1 X2 A emp X 0.01 Hj X2 emp X 0.01 Hj
1 13.668 11.345001 H1001 18.334 1 1.345001 H1001
2 11.001 11.345001 H 0.05 1 '1 12.334 1 1.345001 H1001
3 36.000 11.345001 H1001 11.668 1 1.345001 H1001
4 9.001 11.345001 H 0.05 1 26.666 1 1.345001 H1001
5 4.334 11.345001 H0 - - -
6 5.042 6.335001 H 0.05 1 45.334 1 1.345001 H1001
Note. Designations: H - null hypothesis (j = 0, difference between the distributions is not statistically significant, H0; j = 1, difference between the distributions is statistically significant, H1); x2emp - empirical frequency, x2005 - critical value of the theoretical frequency, significance level P - 0.05; x2001 - critical value of the theoretical frequency, significance level P - 0.01.
of shaping the students' social, moral, and physical personality traits.
Conclusion. The research reported in this paper helped establish the following: (1) there was a lot in common in terms of why both the Russian and Chinese students chose basketball (e.g., deference to the parents, learning to play basketball mainly in a children's sports school); (2) around 30% of the Russian respondents started to do basketball prior to seven years of age, whereas all of the Chinese respondents started to do it at the age of seven; (3) 70% of the Chinese respondents were motivated to do basketball in the pre-college period by prizes, gifts, etc., whilst a major portion of the Russian respondents (42%) prioritized self-esteem and deriving pleasure from playing basketball; (4) with the Russian respondents, one of the key motives for doing basketball was the opportunity to take part in international tournaments; (5) in choosing a college to attend, many of the Russian and Chinese respondents took account of the opportunity to continue doing basketball, as well as the availability of financial assistance.
References
1. Golovkova T.S., Asadullaeva O.V. (2016, May). The effect of playing basketball on senior high school students' motivation for success. Paper presented at the Osnovnye Voprosy Teorii i Prak-
tiki Pedagogiki i Psikhologii [Key Issues of Theory and Practice in Pedagogics and Psychology]: 3rd Research-to-Practice Conference, Omsk, Russia. (in Russian). Available from https://bit. ly/37XLCzK
2. Koval L.N., Alekseeva E.N., Shevchenko A.M. (2019). Revisiting a person's motivational orientation in student sports. Vestnik Tomskogo Go-sudarstvennogo Universiteta, 438, 176-179.
3. Lubysheva L.I. (2019). Sports i socialization: The sociological context. Teoriya i Praktika Fizich-eskoy Kultury, 9, 95-96.
4. Shumova N.S., Baikovskii Yu.V., Siuntse L. (2019). The link between the structure of the personality and the efficiency of players on Russian and Chinese student basketball teams. Teoriya i Praktika Fizicheskoy Kultury, 5, 17-19.
5. Pestereva N.M., Kholina V.N., Qi J. (2019). The Russian market for exported educational services: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Network University. European Journal of Contemporary Education, 8, 574-586.
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