The Comparison of the Expertise Acquisition Process Regarding the Amount of Exercise for the National and International Wrestling Medalists Based on Developmental Model of Sports Participation

The aim of this study was to compare the expertise acquisition process in the national and international wrestling medalists. For this purpose, 40 national and international medalists were selected through convenient sampling. The retrospective interview was used to record age of starting and the amount of wrestling exercises, physical fitness exercises, and psychological preparations. There was no significant difference between the two groups in age of starting wrestling. There was no difference between the amount of deliberate practice at the sampling phase (6-12 years) and the specializing phase (13-15 years), the difference in the amount of deliberate practice only occurred at the investment phase (above16 years). None of the wrestlers practiced psychological skills before age of 16 and only 20 percent of these wrestlers practiced psychological skills after the age of 16. The findings of this study can be informative and fruitful for sports planners, coaches and parents.