Strategies of Rural Sport Development with an Emphasis on Native and Local Sports (Case Study: Golestan Province)

The aim of this study was to design strategies of rural sport development with an emphasis on native and local sports. The study was conducted based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. This method is based on mathematics and the questionnaire was completed by the elites. To analyze the data and to obtain the results, Expert Choice software was used. The results of this study showed that SO strategies (final weight=0.368) occupied the first place; WO strategies (relative weight=0.281) had the second place; ST strategies (relative weight=0.196) ranked the third one and WT strategies (relative weight=0.156) had the fourth place. So, the best strategies were the restoration, maintenance and development of natural physical environments with diverse talents in rural areas, holding native-local sport Olympiads (hosted by one or some close rural areas each year), the establishment of natural residences for ecosystems (eco tourists), the establishment of sport-joy carnivals in different rural areas, the enactment of rural sports, codifying and passing them in Native Local Sport Federation.