Turkish exchange program tips off

Of the initial group of 50 applicants, Karagulle and Sencan were chosen from a field of 10 finalists interviewed later that year by Matthew J. Robinson and David A. Barlow, both associate professors in the Department of Health, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences.

At the time, Robinson and Barlow were in Turkey as part of a program funded by a $251,000 grant from the U.S. Department of State’s International Sports Programming Initiative. A key provision of the grant, cosponsored by UD and the Turkish Basketball Federation, is the selection of two aspiring basketball coaches from Turkey, who will earn master’s degrees at the University while serving as graduate assistants to men’s and women’s head basketball coaches David Henderson and Tina Martin.

In March 2004, Sencan and Karagulle learned that they had been chosen. “It was the best day of my life when I found out that I had been accepted. I must have made at least 50 phone calls,” Sencan says.
“When I found out I was accepted, I felt like my team had just won the TBF championship,” Karagulle says. “I felt like I was the one selected to receive the championship trophy.”

Drawing on their coaching experiences in their native Istanbul, Karagulle and Sencan say they are able to identify the similarities and differences in the way coaches in Turkey and the United States approach the sport.

“I try to learn the mindsets of the American and European players and coaches and combine them,” Sencan says. “In America, the players tend to have more athletic ability, while the emphasis in Europe is more on fundamentals.”

He notes that while many of the drills used by Henderson and his staff mirror those used by coaches in Turkey, the most notable difference is the individuality of the perspectives and philosophies that American coaches bring to their sport.

“During seminars in Turkey, you may have several coaches giving talks and demonstrations, but their perspectives on the game are pretty much the same,” Sencan says. “In America, you see coaches challenging the methods and philosophies of their peers. This is great because you learn many things by being exposed to all these different viewpoints.”

As a coaching assistant for the UD men’s basketball team, Sencan has many responsibilities, including editing game videos and analyzing game results.

“It’s been great for me, learning about the game and training methods,” he says. “All of the coaches have been nice to me, and I really enjoy being a part of all this.”

Karagulle says she sees many similarities in the way women’s basketball is played and coached in Turkey and the United States.

“While the women in America are a bit more athletic, the emphasis in both countries is on fundamentals,” she says. “For that reason, there is not a great deal of difference in the way the sport is coached and played in both countries.”

Karagulle says she likes the idea of using sports to help individuals understand and appreciate cultural differences while working toward a shared goal.

“I like the team philosophy, and I think that as a world, we can be a team,” she says. “I like the idea that the world can be a place where people from different countries can work together.”

Before leaving home for UD later in the summer, Karagulle and Sencan were on hand in Istanbul in June to welcome a group from the University. The group, consisting of Robinson and sport management majors Lindsey Greer, Connie Martin and Mike Slattery, all CHNS ’05, spent two weeks in Turkey. Slattery is co-captain of the Fightin’ Blue Hens men’s basketball team, Martin played women’s lacrosse for three years at UD before a career-ending injury, and Greer is co-captain of the women’s lacrosse team.

“Tugba and Cem were our unofficial tour guides while we were there,” Robinson says. The trip was sponsored by an International Research Expedition Grant from UD’s Center for International Studies.
The group’s Istanbul itinerary featured meetings with representatives from various Turkish sporting organizations, including the Turkish Olympic Committee and the Fenerbache Sports Club. Fenerbache sponsors teams in basketball, soccer and track and field.

“We learned that we all have a lot in common and that the potential for developing long-lasting relationships is very good,” Robinson says.

Greer, a health behavior management major with a concentration in sport management, says she enjoyed the chance to meet with her Turkish counterparts and experience the local culture.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” she says. “Turkey is a lot more modern than I thought it would be, and I found that both groups share a lot of the same interests.”

Robinson says that getting a chance to see how sports are played and managed around the world usually turns out to be an enlightening experience for visitors and their hosts. Because of their time abroad, he says, he and his students have changed the way they look at sports.

“Sports are a great way to build friendships and relationships,” Robinson says. “I think we all walked away from this experience with a better understanding of ourselves and others.”

—Jerry Rhodes, AS ’04