Identification of the Effective Factors on Professional Thinking and Lifestyle of Elite Futsal Players Based on The Grounded Theory

 Today, studying the concept of lifestyle and professional thoughts of elite athletes in different societies has become more important than ever before. On the other hand, by studying the background of the present researcher, he has investigated more research works in this field based on the components of lifestyle and professional thinking, and he has tried to find the root cause of the emergence of a certain thinking or lifestyle among elite athletes. It has not been done; therefore, the present research work was conducted in order to identify the effective factors in the formation of lifestyle and professional thinking of elite athletes.

 The current research work was conducted using a qualitative method and a contextual approach using a systematic design. In this research work, the samples were first selected purposefully, and the sampling process continued as a snowball and was completed by conducting an in-depth semi-structured interviews with 21 experts and reaching the theoretical saturation criterion. Then by analyzing the text of the interviews, observations were made, and the researcher's notes were coded. Validity and reliability of the generated codes were confirmed by four participants.

 First, by analyzing the text of the interviews, 107 open codes were identified and categorized in the form of 30 sub-categories and 5 main categories. Then in the social coding stage, the link between the categories under the title of causal conditions: individual conditions, background conditions: effective factors in the formation of personalities, situational situations: the philosophy and thoughts of coaches, the central category: professional thinking, strategies: the role of the federation, clubs and sports organizations; and

the objective components of lifestyle were determined in the form of the code determination paradigm. In the coding phase, the components of the coding paradigm were explained and the model was drawn.

 According to the results of the current research work, professional thinking is the inner and mental dimension of professional lifestyle, which shows itself objectively and outwardly in the components and sub-components of lifestyle; also it is necessary to work on the professional thinking and lifestyle of an athlete from the basic age until the person reaches the stage of self-awareness. In this case, when a person reaches professional levels, the professional lifestyle is internalized for him, and he automatically observes the professional principles. The results of this research work can be used to help administrators, coaches, and athletes for efficient educational planning and moving towards professionalism.