A STUDY ON MOTIVATION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ON SWIMMING POST IMPACT OF COVED-19 PANDEMIC

Millions of people in China and billions worldwide have experienced significant disturbances in their everyday lives because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has also impacted sports practice. Following COVID-19, the Chinese government put regulations that limit public gatherings and mobility, thereby affecting sports events and activities. The researchers used a quantitative approach (online survey) to determine the most significant goal orientations and swimming participation motives among Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology (GDUPT) students infected with COVID-19, those not infected, and those who do not know whether infected or not. According to the four basic types of orientation—social orientation, experience orientation, factual orientation, and result orientation—the motivations for participating in a sports event were analyzed to determine the correlation between psychological motives and swimming participation. The findings indicated that the three kinds mentioned above swimmers had similar goals and interpretations of their swimming activity but with some significant differences. As a result, the present research findings offer insight into the motives to engage in swimming among groups of university students based on their COVID-19 infection status. These findings may aid physical educators in analyzing student behavior and incorporating the findings into their daily practice, particularly in the strategic planning, instruction, and execution of university sports activities.