Considering that life-long health behaviors are mostly acquired during adolescence, the participation of individuals in early adolescence in games and sports activities at schools should be increased. It is socially important to raise awareness about developing behaviors that are in line with the spirit of fair play and instilling these behaviors in children at the earliest possible age, in addition to ensuring active participation. Thus, the aim of this research is to determine the perceptions of sedentary children in early adolescence towards the concept of fair play through metaphors and drawings. This study was carried out within the scope of phenomenology, one of the qualitative research designs, in order to determine the perceptions about the concept of fair play. A total of 71 students in the early adolescence period between the ages of 11-14, studying at secondary education levels in the city center of Ankara, participated in the study on a voluntary basis in the fall semester of the 2022-2023 academic year, In order to obtain the data, a personal information form was applied to children in early adolescence and the children were asked “Fair play is like ......; because ......” and draw a picture reflecting their thoughts on the concept of Fair play. The data collection tool was applied by the researchers themselves. Through content analysis, similar expressions were brought together under appropriate categories and presented, and the drawings made were examined. With the evaluation of the data, 67 metaphors were collected in 4 different categories, since the 4 metaphors that the children produced in total 71 metaphors did not contain any meaning. While it was determined that the participants developed metaphors in the "respect element" and "cooperation element" categories related to the concept of fair play, these categories were followed by the "friendship element" and "justice element" categories.
Fair play, early adolescence, metaphorical perception, qualitative research.