Abstract:

The aim of this study was to determine whether elite wrestlers in Turkey are subjected to a talent test when they begin their wrestling. A total of 425 volunteer athletes who actively wrestling in sports clubs in 51 different cities of Turkey participated in the research. A semi-structured interview was used in this study which covered qualitative data collection techniques. The semi-structured interview form was developed by researchers. It was determined that no aptitude test was performed when 425 (75.52 %) of the 321 athletes wrestling actively began to wrestle in Turkey. On the other hand the talent test was evaluated to 104 (%24.48) wrestlers, 30 (28.84%) of them were evaluated in the wrestling competition, 52 (50% ) were evaluated by physical structure and 22 (21.15%) were evaluated by looking at the technical capacities of the athletes in the wrestling competition. As a result, it was understood that the majority of wrestlers haven't performed a talent test and that the talent tests which have been performed are inadequate. It is thought that the application of physical, mental, physiological and genetic tests together during the selection of talent in the wrestling sport is important in increasing the number of promising talented athletes.

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