Abstract - Social reception and understanding of combat sports and martial arts by both school students and adults
Background/Scientific Framework: Martial arts with their many centuries of history are perceived by public opinion as a carrier of many desirable values. Apart from the health benefits they are used for moral education, and the reduction of social brutality, as well as bringing positive models of behaviour, while complacency also being a source of well-being.
Problem and Aim: The paper aims to learn what both school students and adults think about combat sports and martial arts. The questions this gives rise to are: what is the public reception of martial arts and combat sports and what are the values of the training recognised by people who are not involved in Martial Arts training.
Material and Methods. The research uses the diagnostic survey method of with a questionnaire. As a research tool, a modified survey questionnaire on martial arts and combat sports was used for surveying N=192 people in total (Opole, Poland, 2015).
Results. The results obtained show that people not involved in the training have a favourable perception of combat sports and martial arts, while showing they also show discrepancies in opinions on the effect of training on spiritual growth and aggression, which is often perceived as a trait of people in training.
Conclusions. Untrained people rank at number 1 the possibility of achieving a high level of physical fitness, then secondly, self-discipline and a healthy and clean-living lifestyle when describing the benefits of close combat training. Different opinions were found on the effect the training on children and young people, which proves the need for more attention to be paid to the educational aspects of martial arts training activities.