Designing a Model of Obstacles to the Development of Judo in Iran

In recent years, we have witnessed some successes and failures of our country’s national judo players in major international competitions, including the World competitions and Olympic Games, which have caused a lot of concern among sports officials. The aim of this study was to design a model of obstacles to the development of judo in Iran.

The study is of a mixed type with an exploratory sequential design. The statistical population of this research was composed of 16 experts in the qualitative phase, and 52 heads and vice presidents of the federation, provincial sports delegations, and elite athletes in the quantitative phase, all selected through a targeted sampling method. A semi-structured interview based on Strauss & Corbin’s (1997) Grounded Theory and a researcher-made questionnaire based on the results of the qualitative section were used in the qualitative and quantitative phases of this study, respectively.  . To analyze the data in the qualitative section, directional analysis was used and in the quantitative part, the structural equation model was utilized with the help of Smart PLS 3.2.7 software.

The results of the qualitative section showed that the main category of the research is obstacles to the development of judo in Iran, which includes 65 codes and 11 subcategories such as structural obstacles, infrastructural obstacles, sports obstacles, communicational obstacles, management obstacles, cultural obstacles, economic obstacles, educational obstacles, competitive obstacles, lack of direct development, and lack of indirect development in the form of five main categories of causative conditions, contextual conditions, interveners, strategies, and consequences. The findings of the quantitative section also showed that causative conditions (β=0.34, t=2.10), contextual conditions (t=0.22, β=0.52), and intervening conditions (β=0.20, t=2.45) affected the obstacles to the development of judo in Iran. Also, the obstacles to Irans’ judo and Kurash development have a significant effect on strategies (β=0.91, t=34.09) and strategies on outcomes (β=0.74, t=3/113).

The causal, contextual, and intervening conditions can affect the obstacles to the development of judo in Iran, and the Federation of Judo and Kurash of Iran can achieve the desired outcomes in reducing obstacles to the development of judo in Iran by formulating appropriate strategies.