Motivation, in the Self-Determination Theory, is understood as the main key of the individual good psychological functioning and its general well-being. According to this theory, the "Pleasure" is the dimension that better explains the self-determinate human behavior. This study describes the juvenile tennis player motivational profile and explores differences in the average levels of the motivational dimensions that integrate the profile evaluated for the Inventário de Motivação à Prática Regular de Atividades Físicas e/ou Esportivas (IMPRAFE-126), controlled for the variable "Sex". A sample of 226 youthful tennis player (13 to 16 years old), of both sex. The results indicate the dimension that more motivates these tennis player, independent of the sex in analysis, is the Pleasure; followed, respectively, for the Competitiveness, Health, Sociability, Aesthetic and Control of Stress. Beyond this result to be an important aspect to the formulation of models of trainings, one of the main conclusions is that these study it confirms the base theory.
Motivation; Sport; Junior tennis players
