OBJECTIVES The purpose of present study was to analyze the differences in sports enjoyment and exercise adherence according to the level of participation in sports clubs among college students, and to identify the correlation and influence between sports enjoyment and exercise adherence in sports clubs.METHODS Data were collected from 150 college students participating in sports clubs, and a nonprobability sampling was used to select the study subjects. The final 140 responses were used for the analysis, excluding 10 that did not complete the questionnaire or were not sincere in their responses. Oneway ANOVA, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were conducted to analyze the data, and the following results were obtained.RESULTS First, there was a partially significant difference between sports enjoyment and exercise adherence according to the level of participation in sports clubs among college students. In terms of the difference by participation frequency, college students who participated in sports clubs more than three times a week had higher perceived competence in the sports enjoyment than those who participated once or twice a week. Club atmosphere was higher among college students who participated three or more times per week than among those who participated twice per week and higher among those who participated once per week than among those who participated twice per week. The practice and benefits of sports enjoyment and the predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing of exercise adherence were higher for students who participated twice and three times a week than for students who participated once a week. In terms of difference by participation period, students who participated for 18 months or less, 24 months or less, and more than 24 months were higher than students who participated for 12 months or less on the perceived competence of the sports enjoyment and the predisposing of exercise adherence. Second, the effects of sports enjoyment on exercise adherence showed that perceived competence, practice and benefits, and club atmosphere of sports enjoyment influenced predisposing of exercise adherence, and perceived competence and club atmosphere influenced enabling of exercise adherence. Finally, wins and competition and club atmosphere of sports enjoyment influenced reinforcing of exercise adherence.CONCLUSIONS We found that there is a significant relationship between sports enjoyment and exercise adherence among college students participating in sports clubs.