~ 306 ~ International Journal of Physical Education, Sports and Health 2016; 3(4): 306-309 P-ISSN: 2394-1685 E-ISSN: 2394-1693 Impact Factor (ISRA): 5.38 IJPESH 2016; 3(4): 306-309 © 2016 IJPESH www.kheljournal.com Received: 24-05-2016 Accepted: 25-06-2016 Mustafa Alahmed Faculty of Education, King Faisal University Saudi Arabia Aminuddin Yusof Faculty of Educational Studies, Department of Sports Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia Parilah M Shah Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Correspondence Aminuddin Yusof Faculty of Educational Studies, Department of Sports Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia Mediating role of academic attitude on sports participation and academic performance Mustafa Alahmed, Aminuddin Yusof and Parilah M Shah Abstract This study examines the mediating effect of academic attitude on the relationship between sport participation and academic achievement of student athletes in Saudi Arabia. A total of 102 subjects comprising of undergraduate student athletes from Saudi Arabia were randomly selected as the sample of this study. Participation in competitive sport is measured as frequency of the students’ participation in sports activities in a week (Wicker, Hallmann, Breuer, 2013) and whether the students are active members of sport university teams (Lindner & Kerr, 2000) or sport clubs (Dollman& Lewis, 2010). Academic achievement is measured by the formal academic report from the student athletes’ respective university. Survey of Study Habits & Attitudes (SSHA) by Brown and Holtzman (1956) was adapted to measure academic attitude. Result indicates a positive significant relationship between participation in competitive sport and academic achievement. Results also showed a partial mediation of academic attitude on the relationship between sport participation and academic achievement. It was concluded that when a student athlete developed a positive attitude towards academic achievements, the level of their participation in the sport competition will positively affect their academic scores. Keywords: Sports participation, competitive sports, attitude, academic achievement 1. Introduction Around the globe, including Middle East, university sports are becoming the common part of students’ life [1] . The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by Saudi University Sports Federation (SUSF) is working hard to improve the number of students’ participation in competitive sports (PCS), without jeopardizing the academic achievement (AA) of the student athletes. Nevertheless, university students in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia showed inconsequential percentage of participation in competitive sports events [2] . With the aim of maintaining a balance between academic achievement and participation in competitive sport, SUSF produced a policy that a student athlete has to maintain good academic achievement in order to participate in competitive sport events [2] . Studies on the relationship between academic achievement and participation in competitive reported inconsistent results; for instance, some studies reported negative influence of participation in competitive sport on the students’ academic achievement [3, 4, 5] . On the other hand, other studies also reported that participation in competitive sport positively influenced the students’ academic achievement [6, 7, 8] . It was even been reported that there is no significant correlation between competitive sport participation and academic achievement among student athletes [9] . It is important to note that none of those studies have been done in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In order to determine whether the SUSF’s policy can help achieve the balance between participation in competitive sport and academic achievement, it is important to study the two variables that might play some mediating roles on the relationship between participation in competitive sport and academic achievement among student athletes in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Specifically, it is important to pay attention to the factors that affects participation in competitive sport and academic achievement. The literature suggests that competitive sports participation at the university level is significantly affected by several factors such as the availability of sports facility in the university [10] , motivation [11] , and attitude [12] . Some studies suggest that attitude can be a common element between academic performance and competitive sports participation. Attitude has been reported [13] as an important factor in college students’ utilization of sport facilities and is one of the elements of competitive sports