The Relationship Between Perceptions of Winning and Achievement Goals of Female Basketball Players

The aim of this study was to measure the levels of perceptions of winning and determine the achievement goals of female basketball players, and to investigate the relationship between the two. Ninety-two female basketball players between the ages of 16 and 31 (Xage=19.45± 3.46; Xsportage= 6.97± 4.64) participated in this study. In order to measure the participants’ perceptions related to winning, the “Perception of Winning Scale”, developed by Okur and Güven (2012), was used. The "2x2 Achievement Goals Questionnaire”, developed by Conroy et al. (2003) and adapted for Turkish by Kazak Çetinkalp et al. (2009), was used to determine the achievement goals of the participants. Descriptive statistics, Pearson Product-Moment Multiplication Correlation Analysis, and the independent t-test were used to analyse the data. The participants scored high on the Perception of Winning Scale, while their highest mean scores on the 2x2 Achievement Goals Questionnaire were on the “mastery approach” subscale. Pearson correlation analysis revealed the existence of a statistically significant and positive correlation between winning perception and performance-approach and between winning perception and performance-avoidance. The results of this study indicated that the participating female basketball players perceived winning as being ahead of others, being superior to or not being surpassed by others, and not being behind others. We thus concluded that they attributed winning to external factors