Parent expectations towards participation to extracurricular sport activity of high school students

Purpose: Extracurricular activities are the activities that are carried out inside and outside of the school after the class depending upon a plan and program, and that contain the traits designed for the various purposes. This activities are important for adolescents in terms of discovery the skills, interests and strengths, and creating a chance to get to know themselves. Besides, the activities provide to strengthen the relationships with persons in school, and to build up academic success and moral life factors. This study aims to determine the expectations of parents from the extracurricular sportive activities. Material: In research, interwoven single case study design, one of the qualitative research approaches, was used. Easy accessible sample was benefited for the selection of study group. Parents of 14 students studying in different high schools in the city center of Kirikkale in 2014-2015 academic years were included in the research. Data were obtained from the semi-structured interview form and applied a content analysis. Results: As a result of the obtained findings, it was figured out that expectations of parents from the extracurricular sportive activities are generally the contributions of activities on children to spend a quality leisure time. 5 categories were obtained as a result of analysis. These categories are "being a healthy individual", "keeping away from the harmful habits", "socializing", "keeping away from the bad circle of friends", "providing skill development" and "providing being an intellectual individual". Conclusions: As a result, parental opinions revealed that extracurricular sportive activities are important in terms of children spending a quality leisure time. Parents' expectations from these activities are also in this direction.