About Us
Başarı Sports Academy is a sports academy in Kartal, Istanbul, founded in 2007 by Vedat Timuroğlu. It runs thirteen programmes: physical preparation for the BESYO, Sports High School, PMYO, MSÜ and POMEM examinations, and sports schools in eight disciplines for children from the age of four. Karate is taught by the senseis of Kartal Karate Akademisi, which operates from the same address: Behzad Yaghoubian and Homa Yaghoubian.
The academy began in 2007 in a single hall with a handful of athletes. The claim then was no different from the claim now: measure where an athlete is before telling them what to do. That was not a common approach in Turkey at the time; in most places everyone followed the same programme and the only variable was how much of it an athlete could endure.
The first growth came from exam preparation. Working with BESYO candidates made one need obvious: to build the course at true dimensions and repeat the simulation as often as required. Rented facilities could not deliver that — you cannot rehearse exam day on an hourly hall booking.
Today the academy runs thirteen separate programmes across two branches: exam preparation and sports schools. The approach has not changed. Measurement comes first, the order is not broken, and fatigue does not count as progress.
Vedat Timuroğlu
Founder
Since 2007
Vedat Timuroğlu founded the academy in 2007 and is known in Turkish sport as Vedat Hoca. He sets out his approach to sport and the story of how the academy was built on his own page.
Meet Vedat Timuroğlu“The worst thing you can do to an athlete is ask for something they are not ready for. The second worst is not asking once they are.”
Our aim is not to increase the number of athletes but the number of people who stay in sport. Starting a sport at eight is easy; still doing it at fifteen is hard. The most common reason for quitting is not a lack of talent but a badly planned programme.
So every programme here starts from the same question: can this person carry this load safely? If the answer is no, we rewrite the programme rather than trying to fit the person to it.
On the pitch, in the pool or in the dojo, the first thing learned is a rule: wait your turn, listen to the coach, stop when told. These rules come before technique, and a child carries them from training into school and home.
When progress is individual and measurable, a child compares themselves with who they were yesterday, not with others. A belt, a course time, a first length: near, concrete goals are where a shy child gains confidence fastest.
The karate and self-defence programmes train distance management, blocking and evasion. The aim is not to fight; it is to notice danger early, know how to walk away, and protect yourself when you have to.
Respect for an opponent, a coach and a teammate is learned inside the sport. A child who trains to short, clear commands also learns to give their attention to one thing.
We do not write a programme without measuring. Speed, jump, endurance and movement quality are recorded, and how far you are from your target becomes a number.
The programme is written on top of those numbers. The order is not broken: movement quality first, then strength, then speed. Measurement repeats through the block.
Exam day holds no surprises. You will already have lived the course, the cut-off time and the tension of the moment, many times over.
Every programme starts with measurement. Speed, jumping, endurance and movement quality are recorded, measurement is repeated through the term, and the results are shared with the athlete and the parents.
We also use AI-assisted tools in training planning and progress tracking. The coach always decides: the tools help organise measurements and draft the plan, and it is the coach who sees the athlete and sets the load.
Karate is taught together with Kartal Karate Akademisi, which operates from the same address as the academy. Classes are led by Sensei Behzad Yaghoubian, an international referee and coach, and Sensei Homa Yaghoubian, an international champion, who are also responsible for belt gradings, competition preparation and the tournament squad.
Sensei Behzad Yaghoubian
International referee and coach
0501 366 56 30Sensei Homa Yaghoubian
International champion
0544 373 74 79Opening hours: Monday – Saturday · 09:00 – 21:00
Programmes: Karate
Programmes: Swimming
Programmes: Volleyball
For the exam-preparation programmes and the other sports schools, call us and we will tell you where your group trains.
We do not write a programme without measuring first. After the assessment you will see, in numbers, how far from your target you actually are.
