Abstract:

Recreational running is increasingly widespread and could therefore be seen as the obvious target for those hoping to encourage greater public health through exercise. Recreational runners attribute different meanings to running sport. The aim of this study is to determine the perceptions of the recreational runners related to sport concept by using metaphor method. This study was conducted within the scope of the phenomenological method, which is one of the qualitative research designs. Because the phenomenological method aims to determine the experiences, perceptions and meanings of individuals about a phenomenon. The study group consisted of 229 recreational runners, residing in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa and Antalya, who want to contribute to the research on a voluntary basis. In obtaining the data, a personal information form was applied to recreational runners and "running ...... it is like this; because ...." were asked to complete the sentence. The collected qualitative data were analysed by content analysis method. Expressions that are similar to each other through content analysis, opinions are gathered and presented under certain categories. With the evaluation of the data, it was observed that the recreational runners produced a total of 229 metaphors. These metaphors were collected in 4 different categories. While the participants were determined to develop metaphors most in the categories of "element of rehabilitation" and "element of fun-happiness" on the concept of sports club, these categories were followed by the categories of " element of importance/necessity ", "element of focal point".

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