Students participate in sports because of several reasons. A coach may effectively guide his team if he knows what motivates each player. In this article, the authors investigate the reasons why athletes sign up for sports. They designed a questionnaire with open-ended and close-ended questions which focuses on how students perceived sports, why they played, and how they hoped to benefit from the sport experience. Based on the questionnaire, the three principal reasons students gave for participating in sports were the excitement, socializing with peers, and developing healthier bodies. Neither winning nor competing was given as the primary reasons students participated, although competitive sports were favored over recreational sports by twice as many students. The questionnaire also showed that students were not influenced or deterred by the amount of time it took to participate in sport. Most of them responded that if the sport were fun and entertaining, they would play no matter how lengthy the practice or playing time. Moreover, the authors argue that effective coaches know why athletes sign up for sports, what they hope to get out of participating, and what their incentives are staying in the game. (Contains 1 table.)