High School Students’ Awareness of Track and Field: The Case of the IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships

This study aims to analyze the effect of the IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships on high school students’ awareness of the sports of track and field in the host city, Istanbul Turkey. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were applied to the data collected from total 5,262 high school students before and after the event. Two groups of questions were asked of the students as participants and spectators. The main empirical findings indicate that the most significant factors that inhibit high school students’ ability to participate in track and field activities are lack of interest and time. Also, more than 25 percent of the students said that factors keep them from participating in track and field are lack of knowledge of how to participate and lack of access to a track/facility. Additionally, it was observed that female students who are interested in track and field would like to learn and participate in these activities more so than their male peers. Another significant finding is that this tournament considerably increased awareness of both female and male students. At this point, this study tries to draw attention to the importance of sponsoring this kind of sports organization for students and encouraging local and governmental sports authorities to host events in their cities