Annals of Applied Sport Science (Dec 2017)
The Effective Factors in Promoting of Iranian Sport National Teams
Abstract
Background. Today, success in international and championship sports comes with various benefits because of a sense of national pride, economic profitability, as well as diplomacy. Objectives. The aim of this study is to identify and analyse factors that are effective in promoting the national teams of Iran. Methods. This study used a mixed method and data was collected through desk studies, interviews, and questionnaires. The study population consisted of managers, coaches and players of the national team as well as academics in the field of sports science. Sampling was at the purposeful stage, and 12 interviews were conducted until reaching a theoretical saturation. At the stage of distributing questionnaires, 384 participants were randomly selected using Cochran's formula. Factors affecting improvement of the national team were identified after desk studies and semi-structured interviews. Ultimately, these factors helped form a questionnaire and after confirming its validity by 12 experts and reliability by Cronbach's alpha test, with reliability coefficient 0.94, the questionnaires were distributed to the samples so that the importance of these factors is determined in the promotion of national teams. Results. In desk studies and interviews with experts, 20 factors affecting the promotion of national teams were identified. Analysis of the data was obtained by the questionnaire by binomial test that showed that the effect of 16 factors out of the 20 is significantly higher than the average. Friedman's test results also showed that the main factors affecting the promotion of national teams include talent find, base teams, financial resources, coaches, facilities and equipment, procurement competition, and management stability. Conclusion. Planning on the factors can contribute to the promotion of national teams.
