The Journey of Female Athletes: Overcoming Barriers and Exploring Motivations - An In-Depth Examination of Emotional Experiences

Year 2025, Volume: 10 Issue: 2, 163 - 185, 30.06.2025

Muzaffer Toprak Keskin

https://doi.org/10.25307/jssr.1568130

Abstract

This study explores the motivations, challenges, and emotional experiences of seven female athletes involved in various sports disciplines at Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University. The research gathers data through individual interviews with successful female athletes who offer in-depth insights into their experiences. The study employs a phenomenological qualitative research design. The focus of the study is on the phenomena of female athletes' sports motivations, barriers, and emotional experiences, with the data analyzed using traditional content analysis. Key themes include intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, societal challenges, emotional responses to gender stereotypes, and the role of family and social support systems. To further explore the athletes' emotions, NRC (National Research Council) sentiment analysis was used, which analyzes eight primary emotions and polarity intensity mapping to examine emotional tendencies. Despite facing societal and gender-based barriers, the athletes demonstrated resilience and expressed positive emotions such as joy, trust, and empowerment. The study emphasizes the need to develop targeted strategies to help female athletes overcome challenges and increase their long-term participation in competitive sports. The findings aim to contribute to discussions on gender equality in sports and provide valuable insights into how elite female athletes navigate gendered expectations in the sports world.

Keywords

Female athletes, Motivational factors, Sentiment analysis, Societal barriers, Sports psychology

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