The Sports Talent Measurement Unit, which Izmir Metropolitan Municipality directs the future of children between the ages of 8-10, has now started to serve in the districts as mobile. First of all, trainers wandering around Kemalpaşa from neighborhood to neighborhood measure children's sports skills free of charge and guide them to the right branch. Having discovered the tiny talents of İzmir, the unit will have toured all 30 districts by the end of the year.
Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç SoyerThe "Sports Talent Measurement and Orientation Program", which was initiated in line with the goal of transforming İzmir into a sports city, set out to reach talents in 30 districts of İzmir. Within the scope of the works carried out by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Youth and Sports Department, the talent measurement unit, which serves at the only center in the Ice Sports Hall in the Bornova Aşık Veysel Recreation Area, aims to spread sports all over İzmir and to discover young talents and make sports a part of their lives. made mobile.
First stop Kemalpasa
In the application, which was first started in Kemalpaşa, the sports trainers of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality visited the neighborhoods of Kemalpaşa one by one with their equipment and completed their free talent measurements. After scanning the neighborhoods, the teams measured the children in the district center on the tennis courts at the Kemalpaşa Municipality Sports Hall. While the little ones enjoyed doing sports in the measurements that Kemalpaşa residents showed interest in, the parents had the opportunity to discover the branches most suitable for their children's competencies. The talent measurement unit aims to tour all 30 districts by the end of the year, especially the surrounding districts after Kemalpaşa.
“We are like nails and flesh with the Metropolitan”
Kemalpaşa Mayor Rıdvan Karakayalı, who stated that he supports the studies for the discovery and training of athletes in his district, said, “Izmir Metropolitan Municipality chose Kemalpasa as the pilot region out of 30 districts. First, we worked in the towns and now we are in the center. We have a large number of students. In which branch our students have talent, we will meet with our parents and start training them. Since I am a physical education teacher, I attach more importance to these studies. We have raised very good young people. Our support will always continue. For me, as long as there is no sport, art, education and culture, there will be no country, no state, no people. It is very important to save our children from bad habits and direct them to such good things. We welcome more students. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality is always with us. We could not have done this measure of ability. We are like a finger and a nail with the Metropolitan. Thank you very much to our president Tunç. We were also happy that the measurements started from Kemalpaşa.”
“The most important project to spread sports culture”
Hakan Orhunbilge, Head of Youth and Sports Department of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, who gave information about the application, said, “First of all, we are doing many projects to spread the sports culture in Izmir and to popularize sports from childhood, but this is the most important one. Our president, Tunç, is following this project closely. We have measured approximately 5 thousand of our children so far. In Kemalpaşa, we reached 500 children. We gave you the opportunity. Feedback is very good. When we did this in our only center in Bornova, it was not possible for us to reach everyone at this rate. By increasing the number of measurements in a very short time, we aim to direct children to the branch they are talented in and to popularize sports in that branch. Because children cannot be successful in branches where their abilities are limited and they break away from sports. We don't want that either. We also meet with our parents. We think that the overall love of sports by these children and the involvement of parents in this business will increase the sports culture in İzmir.”
“Very important for talent discovery between the ages of 8 – 10”
Dilara Özdemir, Sports Trainer of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Youth and Sports Department, who talked about the importance of the 8-10 age range in discovering the talents of children, said: “After the neighborhoods of Kemalpaşa, we are finally measuring our children in the center. We implement an extremely fun, enjoyable and beneficial activity for children. The aim of our project is to prepare our children in the unexplored regions of İzmir for their sports life by discovering them at the ages of 8, 9 and 10, which we call early childhood. Our goal is to direct our talented children to suitable branches in line with their orientations. From the age of 8, our children have brought their psychomotor skills to a certain point. In this respect, the 8-10 age range is the right age range to direct them to sports. Our expectation is that we want our parents and citizens to bring their children to these measurements and participate in this free application.”
“I want my child to be both moral and healthy”
Dilek Arıcan, one of the parents from Kemalpasa, who expressed their satisfaction that Izmir Metropolitan Municipality is visiting the district by district and directing the future of the youth, said, “We are very glad that such a thing has already happened. We also had in mind to discover our child's talent, but we did not know how to act or what to do. It was very useful for us. I thought my child had an aptitude for sports. I want it to progress. I also played volleyball for a long time, but only to a certain extent. But I want my child to progress. We want our child to come to a good place both in terms of morality and health," he said.
Veli Yakup Çakır said, “It is a good application. It is aimed to select children who are prone to sports. My son is here, we are fighting for him too. Whatever talent the child has, we will follow in his footsteps.”
Talent data reported to families
Within the scope of the program, trainers affiliated to the Ministry of Youth and Sports put the little athletes through a series of tests. In the one-and-a-half-hour free tests conducted in cooperation with Ege University, children's fat is measured first, and then balance and flexibility are checked. The data on the abilities of the children, who are tested such as long jump, hand-eye coordination, arm strength, sit-ups, 5 meters agility, 20 meters speed, vertical jump, are calculated as percentages and presented to the parents as a report. Thus, families have the opportunity to evaluate their children's abilities and tendencies instead of trial and error method.
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