ABSTRACT
There is little doubt that the health and well-being of young people is an important global concern due to rising levels of obesity and sedentary behaviours, and declining levels of physical activity (World Health Organization, 2018). Consequently, if we are to offset and reverse these trends, understanding the motivation and experiences of our young people when they engage in healthy behaviours, such as physical activity, has never been of greater importance. There is much debate in the literature regarding the role of lifestyle sports in engaging young people in physical activity (King and Church, 2015). It is argued that they have the potential to address the current concerns on children’s physical activity, health, and well-being (Gilchrist and Wheaton, 2011; King and Church, 2015). The contribution of physical education (PE) to this agenda is significant, since it is the one physical context that can access all young people, providing opportunities to learn new skills and activities, and develop the confidence to be a physically active individual. There is considerable empirical evidence to suggest that positive experiences of school PE influence young people’s attitudes, motivation, intentions and participation in physical activity outside of the curriculum (Barkoukis et al., 2010; Cox, Smith and Williams, 2008; Hagger et al., 2003; Standage et al., 2012). For this reason, it is not surprising that motivation for physical activity, and in particular PE, has been the focus of considerable research over the last 40 years. This research has employed a vast array of motivational perspectives to understand, explain, and engage young people in PE and sport settings. Of central importance in many of these theories is the notion of competence, which given our focus on lifestyle sports in this chapter is particularly interesting. Specifically, achievement goal approaches (Dweck, 1986; Elliot, 1999; Nicholls, 1989), which focus on how an individual’s definition of competence influences their motivation and experiences in a situation, provide an interesting insight into the potential of lifestyle sports to contribute to positive experiences of school PE.
