A Comparison of Enjoyment Levels between NCAA Division I, Division III, and NJCAA Division I College Football Players

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in enjoyment levels between NCAA Division I, Division III, and NJCAA Division I college football players. A secondary purpose of this study was to examine any differences in enjoyment between college football players receiving athletic scholarships, and those who were not receiving scholarships. A third purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in levels of enjoyment between freshmen and senior college football players. Participants (n = 167) were current members of one of three college football teams. The Intercollegiate Sport Enjoyment Inventory (ISEI) was administered to all participants. The following research questions were posed: 1) Will athletes receiving a scholarship, either partial or full, have significantly less enjoyment than those not receiving a scholarship? 2) Will Division III athletes have significantly higher levels of enjoyment compared to Division I athletes? 3) Will freshmen have significantly higher levels of enjoyment than seniors? 4) Will the reasons for participation differ between Division I, Division III, and Division I Junior College athletes? 5) Will the reasons for participation differ between scholarship and non-scholarship athletes? 6) Will the reasons for participation differ between freshmen and seniors? Results indicated that there were no significant differences in enjoyment between scholarship and non-scholarship athletes. No significant difference in enjoyment between Division I and Division III athletes were found. There was no significant difference in enjoyment between freshmen and senior athletes. No significant difference in reasons for participation was found between Division I, Division III, and Division I Junior College. There was no significant difference in reasons for participation between scholarship and non-scholarship athletes. Finally, no significant difference in reasons for participation between freshmen and senior athletes was found. Results showed that the most common reason for participation in college football among all participants was Love of the Game. Results also found Competition to be the aspect of college football the participants enjoyed most, whereas Time Commitment was the aspect of college athletics the participants enjoyed least. Results from this study did not support the previous research that sport enjoyment is effected by the awarding of extrinsic rewards