Getting and keeping school kids motivated in physical education is not the easiest task. Particularly for novice physical education teachers, that might seem to be “mission impossible.” Kids come to school carrying different cultures, different backgrounds, and different beliefs. Some kids are athletic, whereas others don’t like playing sports or participating in physical activities. Some of them enjoy competitive sports and others feel uncomfortable getting physical, for several reasons (Grieser et. all., 2006).

The Theory of Self-Determination (Deci & Ryan, 2000), which states that behavior is self-determined or voluntary, includes three types of motivation: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation (Moreno-Murcia, González-Cutre, & Chillón, 2009). One of the challenges for a physical education teacher is to be able to distinguish between the three types of motivation. This is an important factor as it helps the teacher identify the students’ motives in physical education. Extrinsic motivation derives from getting an external reward, such as a trophy, a certificate, a trip, or a social reward such as recognition, praise, a given title, and so on. The intrinsic motivation arises from within an individual and can be identified as participating in an activity because it is satisfying the person; the internal drive toward a particular behavior. Amotivation, the lowest level of self-determination, refers to the absence of the first two types (intrinsic or extrinsic motivation) representing a total lack of self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 2000). That is, amotivation represents this category of students who are not willing to participate in class for any reason. Understanding what best motivates the students, requires awareness of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation that regulate students’ behavior.