UNDERSTANDING THE SPORTS INDUSTRY THROUGH THE LENS OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION STUDENTS:

A WORD CLOUD ANALYSIS APPROACH

Abstract

In today's era, physical education and sports science students play a significant role as the future builders of the sports industry in various fields and contribute to its development. Understanding their attitudes towards the growth of the sports industry, predicting future trends, and evaluating the possible effects of
these trends is of great importance. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating and analyzing the attitudes of physical education students towards the sports industry. The method of this research is textual data analysis using word cloud analysis. Undergraduate physical education students answered question about the basic and important features of the sports industry from their point of view. In the word cloud analysis, 46 distinct words were identified, with the top five being equipment, entertainment, money, trade, and education. The results of this research show that physical education students consider the sports industry as a multidimensional and comprehensive entity that goes beyond mere physical activities and includes economic, social, and cultural dimensions. They emphasize the importance of advertising and branding, strengthening social connections through sports, and creating job and business opportunities. These findings indicate that educational and research programs at universities should pay special attention to these dimensions in order to prepare students to face the challenges and opportunities in this industry.