Motivação e autoestima entre atletas paralímpicos do Estado da Paraíba

Abstract

Paralympic sports are the main way to promote adapted sports nowadays, because the paralympics. In the sports scenery we always have athletes who stand out. Among these athletes, we proposed to conduct research on the importance of motivation and self-esteem for the sportive performance of athletes of Paralympic athletics, especially in the context of Paraíba.The research is understood as qualitative and the research subjects were 06 excellent Paralympic athletes of Paraíba, being 02 women and 04 men. This research considered the studied athletes’ motivation and self-esteem from a semi-structured interview. The interviews were analyzed through content analysis, according to Bardin. The results of the research indicated that the athletes' trajectory was marked by financial difficulties; but the internal and external motivation propelled them to pursue an athlete's career until they became highlights. It could also be concluded that motivation and self-esteem were essential to athletes surpass themselves after failure situations. Thus, it is proposed more research be done about this subject, in order to increase the knowledge of this area. This researches will serve as the basis for the technical commissions of high performance athletes recognize the importance of working these factors as an essential part of their training, having on their team a sports psychologist, because just as physical training is important, athletes' emotional also needs preparing.