The aim of this study is to examine the orienteering athletes’ dependence on nature. Descriptive design, one of the mixed research models, was used as the research model. The research was started with quantitative data analysis and ended with qualitative data analysis. In the quantitative study, the sample of the study consisted of 415 athletes. In the quantitative research, ''The nature relatedness scale'', developed by Nisbet and colleagues in 2009 and adapted to Turkish by Çakır and colleagues in 2015, was used as data collection tool. 19 athletes participated in the qualitative research. In the qualitative research, semi – structured interview form was used as data collection tool. In the quantitative part of the study, it was seen that the commitment of athletes to nature had positive level. Significant differences on their commitment to nature was also found among athletes according to their ages, their sport years, their status of being national athlete and monthly average income of their families. In the qualitative part of the study, the commitment of orienteering athletes to nature has emerged as three themes as nature awareness, as general thoughts about orienteering and as nature – orienteering relations. As a result, it is concluded that orienteering athletes have a high dependency to nature, nature dependency increases according to age, sporting age, success and income, competitions are conducive to spend time in nature, and social environment which athletes give value during competitions and activities constitutes an important acquisition and learning environment.
Orienteering, Outdoor Sports, Nature, Dependence to Nature