Study of the expectations and reasons for participations of the female athlete in some selected branches of sports (Wrestling, weightlifting, boxing, taekwondo)

In this study it is aimed to determine: the socioeconomic status of the female athlete participated in the sports branches such as wrestling, weightlifting, taekwondo and boxing, the reasons for participation and their expectations from those sports branches. The data collection tools used in this study are: a personal information form developed by the researcher himself and the scale "Sports Preferences and Expectations" which underwent validity and reliability processes (α=0.78) initially. Before applying the scale the female athlete were informed about the purpose of the study and the important points of the scale. The questionnaire was conducted by distributing the forms to the female athlete groups at the regional or national competitions or at the camps of the national teams. The universe of the study consists of: 352 female athletes in total who are the licensed sports players participating in national and international competitions in four branches as listed below: 184 wrestlers, 100 weightlifters, 38 taekwondo players and 30 boxers. While the obtained data is being assessed the demographical information is examined by frequency (f) and percentage (%) methods, in comparison of the variables of two groups; Independent Samples T Test and One Way Variance Analysis (ANOVA) were employed. Besides that, in order to determine the sources of the differences found by the variance analysis the LSD test from the multiple comparison tests was used. The confidence interval was taken as 95 % and the values p < 0.05 are accepted as statistically significant. According to the results of the study it was found that: the income level of 76.4 % of the female athlete preferred the branches Wrestling, Weightlifting, Taekwondo and Boxing is below the minimum wage, and the education level of the parents of 71.8 % is primary school graduate. Consequently it was observed that the children of low-income and low level education families had preferred the aforementioned branches. Furthermore the purposes of the female athlete were fixed as follows: 85 % aims to represent the country and to be a national sports player, 81.8 % likes the branch and 80.4 % wants to make a sportive career in the future.