Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part E (2025)

The significance of this study lies in employing a relatively modern approach—autonomy-based learning—and investigating its effect on acquiring selected wrestling holds in Greco-Roman wrestling. The study aimed to design an educational program based on autonomy and to examine its impact on learning certain wrestling holds. The researcher hypothesized that there would be statistically significant differences between the pre- and post-tests of the experimental and control groups, in favor of the experimental group.
The experimental method was applied using pre- and post-tests for both groups. The research community consisted of junior wrestlers from Al-Ezzah Sports Club (N = 12). The sample was selected by systematic randomization (lottery method) and divided into two groups: experimental (n = 5) and control (n = 5), while two wrestlers were assigned for the pilot study. Thus, the research sample represented 83.33% of the population. The pilot study was conducted on wrestlers outside the research sample.
The pre-tests were administered to both groups, followed by the main experiment, which lasted for 8 weeks with 3 instructional sessions per week (Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday), totaling 24 sessions. The three wrestling holds under study were distributed across 8 sessions for each hold. Each instructional unit included the three stages: preparatory, main, and concluding. The sessions also incorporated scientifically designed exercises prepared by the researcher, who, being a wrestler himself, was well-versed in constructing such exercises.
The instructional unit began with the presentation of the educational program in the preparatory stage, prior to warm-up, to avoid disrupting the cognitive processes of the junior wrestlers. In the main stage, the principle of repetition was emphasized to reinforce the motor program of each skill, in addition to providing immediate feedback on performance. The control group, however, continued training under the traditional coach-centered method, which relied on direct demonstration and explanation of the skills.
After the post-tests were administered, results were tabulated and statistically analyzed. Based on the findings, the researcher concluded that the autonomy-based educational program had a significant positive effect on enhancing the performance level of learners by broadening their cognitive capacities and enabling them to generate novel solutions to different situations, regardless of their difficulty. The researcher recommends employing visual stimuli in the learning process, as they produce positive outcomes.