A Study of Motivations and Barriers to Participation in After-School Sports Among High School Students in Keelung City

[[abstract]]This study aims to understand the motivations and barriers of high school students' participation in after-school sports in Keelung City, by studying the survey results of a questionnaire constructed by the researcher. The data were analyzed by Descriptive Statistics, Independent Sample T Test, ANOVA Analysis, Scheff?’s Post Hoc Comparison, Pearson's Correlation Coefficient and other statistical methods. The results are summarized as follows: 1. The current survey shows that 330 respondents (29%) engage in sports up to twice a week after school. 2. The strongest motivation for after-school sports is "physical fitness," while "interpersonal needs" among the weakest. The barrier that hampers after-school sports comes mainly from "structural impediments," while "interpersonal obstruction" has the least effect. 3. To test for differences among the background variables and participation motivations and barriers, only “grade” is insignificant to sports barriers. Other variables (“gender,” “school type,” “grade,” “after-school tutorial,” “sports club participation,” “after-school sports participation behavior”) all reach significant difference to sports motivations and barriers. 4. Among all the factors, only the motivation "to escape" and the barrier of "structural impediments" are positively correlated. The rest of the variables are all in negative correlation. The research finds that the more a student is motivated to participate in after-school sports and clubs, the less the obstruction factors are in effect. Therefore, it is highly recommended for the high schools to open their stadiums to all students after school and to offer more sports clubs to the students. As a result, sports barriers will be reduced, sports motivations enhanced, and sports will become a life-long habit for each student.