Entry #4 That Which Drives Us

To begin this blog I want you, my audience to think about an activity you have done recently. This can be anything from a sport, workout, social, or house hold activity. Now I want you to think about why you did that activity? What motivated you to participate in the activity? Some might answer because it is fun or relaxing, or it had to be done. This is the constant struggle in daily life. As our day passes how much time do we spend doing things that are "necessary" or for ourselves? First we must understand how we determine what is the different types of motivation and how do they affect our daily lives and the activities we are involved in. Specifically we will look at Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Amotivation types of motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is when a person does an activity for the sake of the activity and the satisfaction of the activity. The activity itself generally arrives spontaneously when the activity is of value to. 

Extrinsic motivation is when there is an outside push to participate in the activity such as a reward or punishment, shame or guilt. 

Amotivtaiton is when the person has no interest in the activity at all. Their engagement is without energy, intent, and they lack the willingness to take action. 

In the field of recreation, motivation is essential to the participation level of the public related to the product or activity you are introducing/maintaining. If you do not know who your audience is and why they are coming to the activity then you do not know how to structure and intrigue the consumer base. For instance, parks and recreation in cities usually have a little league or beginning level sport program. There are two factors that need to be considered with motivation parents and youth. The motivation for participation can differ between the youth and parent. The parents motivation can lean towards extrinsic if they want their child to join a sport to keep active and fit. This can be derived from the wanting to fulfill a societies standard on how healthy youth should be. Or it can more intrinsic because the parents value personally the sports for the holistic features it has. Examples my child is having fun, keeping an active life style to better health in future, my child is learning social skills, and I get to be involved with a sport I (as the parent) enjoyed as a youth or love to watch. 

In the child's scenario an extrinsic motivation is I play because I know my parent(s) really like this sport and if I participate in this sport I will get to spend time with them. Amotivation would be represented when the child only participates because the parents tell them they have to go. They would be the participant that would rather be looking at the flowers or bugs then watching/actively involved with the game. Intrinsic motivation can be found when the child tells the parent they want to play the a certain sport and will on their volition grab equipment to play/practice the sport. This is the youth that experience the first steps of flow. 

These are the features that recreation specialist need to consider when they create/modify a program. We have to consider what is it that people are looking to gain from the event? Is it knowledge, skills, personal satisfaction, or living up to a standard? When this is determined the next step is to create a program for the motivation of the population attending or wish to gain. For example why would a person choose one cooking class over the another? One class offered is basic skills class, how to hold and use a knife safely, temperatures meats need to be at, and so forth. Verses classes that teach participants how to use wine, herbs, and break down a whole animal, farm to table cooking. The motivation would be different for each. In the first example the participant possibly needs taught basics of cooking for self or others to eat meals at home, seen more as a necessity. Where as the how to incorporate herbs and wines would be for someone who has the basic skills and loves to cook and try new recipes. The audiences tone for each class will be different. 

Recreation exist because of motivation to do things other then provided for our basic needs. Whether you participate in recreation because you have to live up to standard inducted by society, out of personal satisfaction/fulfillment, or other aspects it is a component of human life. As recreation facilitators we have to understand the motivation and the needs for each motivation to reach the participants. 

Entry # 3: Serious or Specialization?

Recreation Specialization or Serious leisure, which is the future of Recreation? 

To grasp a basis of these two concepts we must define each one. Recreation specialization is when an individual is active in only one activity or sport. There knowledge and participation usually begin at a young age, some as early as five or six. Reinforcement is gained through peers during the course of the specialization during the activity and outside it. For example in sports you can see teammates reinforcing a behavior of free through during the game and others after by trophy's and stats for individuals success. An example of specialization would be an athlete that been playing a sport at an young age who continued to play only that sport as they went through schooling. 

Serious Leisure is the pursuit of an amateur, an individual that lacks certain skills or abilities to be considered a professional, hobbyist, or volunteer who launches themselves into a particular activity. Usually people who participate in serious leisure have a knowledge basis of the activity that is great but might have found the passion later in life and could not build the skills to take on the career as a profession. An example of serious leisure is an endeavors is an individual that likes basketball but views themselves as not having the skills to play professionally but instead will instead learn all players in basketball in NBA and college stats and life history, a Wikipedia person on the sport. 

Now many of you might be wondering what does these to classification have to do with recreation and its future. There has always been sports and its fans that support the players and know information about them. How does one change the concept of recreation or recreation majors? 

The answer is that recreation itself might not change but the people who teach it or organize the events will. When I think about who I was couched by when I played a sport I know that my couch played that sport prior to instructing others about it. But a recent trend is when individuals find an activity later in life, research it in depth, and use that passion to make a career of it. This relates to recreation and its future by who will be the ones directing the events. Is it going to the person who specialized in the activity at a young age who might not have the extensive knowledge of the history or science of how to achieve optimal results but has the skill set to teach and relate to the audience? That question is still unknown because some can argue there has always been couches that never played who developed the skills to teach later in life. Yes, I would agree with this but to take it a step further and ask is it better to hire a person with a degree or someone who presents the knowledge and passion for a position?

These are things that we must consider when hiring staff. There will always be those who will know more about an activity because they have a passion for it but does that qualify them to direct an activity? This is difficult to answer because a common feature of recreation majors is that they interested the field because they liked a certain activity and want to make that their career. Do you want some who has experienced the activity to teach it for relatedness or do you want someone who has built their knowledge over time who can also produce the desired results? As an employer you must take into consideration of who your clients will be. Are they going to come to you for results or the experience? If it is results then a person with in depth knowledge would be a better candidate. Vice versa is if you want to provided an experience first and results later then a person who the skills, relatedness, and specialization in the activity would be the better choice. 

As many of you are reading this you might be saying to yourself that a person who specializes in the activity also as a serious leisure for it as well. This is a valid argument but in my opinion the difference between the two the the amount of time given to the activity. Those who specialize might not wake up thinking about that activity, start doing it right away, and until they end their day. The example that comes to my mind is animals lovers specifically dog show owners. A judge of the event might know all the qualifications for a pristine show dog but they themselves might not know what goes into getting an animal ready, or exactly how long it takes for certain dogs to make strides across the floor without wasting a step. The judge might know the rules for judging the animals but they do not have the passion for the history of the competition. 

I do not have the answers as to the future of qualifications for who is more qualified to lead recreation activities but I do there will be and already is an impact of those who par tact in serious leisure believing that individuals are qualified to teach, judge, and manage an event they have a strong knowledge in.