Exploring the importance of school sports in the process of the participation to sports

Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore the decision-making processes of students participating in in-school and out-of-school sports activities and the factors that affect this process in depth during leisure. Material and Method: The universe of the study consisted of 31,500 licensed students who participated in school sports activities in secondary schools and high schools in the provinces of Erzurum, Malatya and Van in the 2019-2020 academic year. The sample of the study was determined by the Critical Case Sampling Method and 105 people were included in the sample group, considering the saturation point. Thematic Analysis Method was used to analysis the data. Results: The analysis was evaluated in two main categories as internal and external factors. Under the category of internal factors, the main themes of attitude, motivation and personality have emerged. The attitude theme revealed subtheme of the willingness to contribute, the motivation theme revealed the subthemes of interest, love and commitment, while the personality theme revealed the subthemes of personal development, career planing and leisure. Under the category of external factors, however, subthemes of reference groups, family, peers and culture emerged. It was observed that the reference groups theme revealed the subtheme of sports teacher and trainer. Conclusion: Findings from this study in the context of leisure experiences revealed that students' perceptions in decision-making processes regarding their participation in sports activities in and out of school are very positive and their perceptions coincide with the theories and models in the literature, as well as their consistent and accurate discourse. The findings within the attitude, motivation and personality themes supported the view that the perceptions of students in their participation in school sports activities can be explained by internal factors. Although it is accepted that the behaviors of the students participating in this study have an important place in their participation in school sports activities, it was concluded that reference groups, family, peer and culture themes in the context of external factors have a positive contribution to the participation of students in sports. Key Words: School sports, sports participation, motivation, leisure experience, thematic analysis.