OUR NATIONAL SPORT:

JEREED

A SIGN OF BRAVERY

Horses have been the most sacred and indispensable animals for us – Turkish people.

Turks were born, grew up, lived, fought and died on horseback.

So jereed has been the mostimportant sporting andceremonial game of Turkishpeople for over centuries.

Turks brought this horse-riding game with

them in their journey from Central Asia to Anatolia

in the 11th century.

THE EQUIPMENTThe things you need are just the following:

A dried date, oak or poplar stick with blunt ends

Horse

THE RULES

There are two teams

Players are placed in rows of 6, 8 or 12 players in a large field

Jereed players, dressed in regional costumes, mount their horses.

How to play Jereed

With their right hand, Jereed players hold the first jereed – a long stick

they will throw while holding other jereeds in their left hand.

One rider from each side rushes forth towards the opposite side until they are within 30-40 meters of the other side. Then one player shouts the name of a player from the other team, challenging him to enter the game.

He then throws the jereed in his right hand to that player.

Later he turns around and he spurs his horse towards his own row.

The challenged player from the opposite team follows him and throws a jereed at the player who is running away.

Another player from the first row comes out and meets the returning rider.

The player from the second

row starts riding quickly to his row and takes his former place.

This time his rival chases him and throws a jereed at him. The game continues in this manner.

BENEFITS

Improving your fitness and well-being through horse ridingBoosting the cardiovascular systemStrenghtening our muscles

helps in improving the respiratory process of the body

improving concentration and reflexes

improving the coordination power of the rider, especially the eye and hand coordination.

improving the self-confidence of a person emergency situations.

easing stresses on the mind