Investigating the Academic Motivations of NCAA Gymnasts In and Out of Season

As National Collegiate Athletic Association athlete exploitation has become a growing concern (Grasgreen, 2011), it has become increasingly more important to examine the nature of how athletes are spending their time. The purpose of this study was to examine whether motivations change when Division I athletes are in season compared to out of season. A survey was distributed to Division I women’s gymnastics teams from the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Results were assessed based on the factors of academic motivation and their differences during the varying times of the academic year.In this study, individuals from five MAC schools participated. It was concluded that, while academic motivations in season and out of season differed, there was not one season that was more academically demanding than the other. Participants reported feeling busier when in season, although being busy was not found to concretely impact their academics in negative ways. Participants were found to be motivated year-round by their own high expectations and wanting to decrease stress but were more motivated when in season to get ahead on academics to avoid having to focus on academics while traveling to away competitions.