ABSTRACT

Background: This study generally examines the physical, intellectual, and moral pedagogy of Turkish people in their traditional wrestling. Born in the depths of the Paleolithic Age, wrestling has managed to survive in all cultures until today. This is because it tends to give meaning to expressions of physicality.

Aim: To find an answer to the questions “How and what were the pedagogical elements of these trends?” and “What can it contribute to today’s athlete training?”.

Methods: The descriptive identification and comparative methods of qualitative approach were used in the study. The researches of M. Türkmen, a traditional sports specialist, were taken as references in this study.

Results: The study was limited to Turkish peoples. In the conclusion, it was seen that traditional wrestlers, who are trained with master-apprentice training in Turkish peoples from past to present, emulate their masters as role-models. The ancient Turks, who had lived the steppe-nomadic life, had to be strong, combative, and durable by nature. They had to reach a collective consciousness as well as the intellectual and moral aspects. People who grew up with all these aspects were called “alp”, which stands for the wrestler at the same time. “Alplik”, which gives its place to Persian term “pehlewan” in the XII. Century, was the right of nine conditional seculars and another nine conditional spiritual world achievement.

Conclusion: It was understood that some of these pedagogies coming from the Pehlewan tradition contributed and would contribute to contemporary sports education.

Keywords: Turkish peoples, traditional wrestling, pedagogy, culture.