PhD, Associate Professor A.V. Kubeev¹
PhD L.V. Vinokurov^2
1Federal Scientific Center for Physical Culture and Sports, Moscow
²St. Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Physical Culture, St. Petersburg

Keywords: swimming, cycling sport, sports reserve training system, physical education and sports, standard, regulatory provision, physical fitness, Unified Russian Sports Classification, Federal Sports Training Standards, sports training programs, top sports mastery stage, sports excellence training.

Background. The national sports reserve training system, its operations and performance indicators are always in the focus of attention of the federal, regional and municipal governments. Therefore, the Unified Russian Sports Classification system and the Federal Sports Training Standards need to be effectively harmonized to provide a basis for the coaching and other sports services in the national physical education and sports sector to ensure high training standards for and competitiveness of the national sports reserve on the international sports arenas, plus good physical and psycho-physiological health standards for the sporting youth and, hence, the national sports reserve training system on the whole.

Study of recent publications on the Unified Russian Sports Classification updating issues has shown the system being in growing demand and highly serviceable [1, 2], with many authors mentioning the growing role of the regulatory compliance and standards harmonizing aspects in the context of the physical education and sports sector digitalization processes. Some experts point to the mismatches between the Unified Russian Sports Classification requirements and goals of the sports training programs  [4], with a special attention to the alleged close correlation between the Federal Sports Training Standards based PSP samples on the one hand and the Unified Russian Sports Classification on the other hand. In reality, however, both of the systems appear heavily disharmonized due to the lack of synch in the relevant regulatory documents drafting, processing, discussing and approval processes. Therefore, it should be mentioned that the efforts to harmonize the Unified Russian Sports Classification and Federal Sports Training Standards systems should be given a top priority for success of the sports reserve training system in the Russian Federation.

Objective of the study was to run a correlation analysis of the Unified Russian Sports Classification and Federal Sports Training Standards systems in application to the special physical fitness qualifications, with the swimming and cycling sports taken for the case study.

Methods and structure of the study. The study was run under the cyclic sports (swimming and cycling, hereinafter referred to as selected sports) research project at the St. Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Physical Culture in 2019. We used a theoretical and historiographic analyses and mathematical statistics methods for the purposes of the study. The Unified Russian Sports Classification and Federal Sports Training Standards data array for the study covered the period of 2013-2020, with the data analyzed for correspondence of the regulatory frameworks, contents, requirements, norms and standards in both of the systems.

Results and discussion. The Federal Sports Training Standards requirements for admission to sports training groups and the Unified Russian Sports Classification based special physical fitness qualifications for the relevant sports disciplines assume that both of the systems are highly harmonized in the key standards and requirements. Thus the athletes qualifying for the top sports mastery stage under Federal Sports Training Standards in the selected sports need to be qualified Masters of Sports (MS) under Unified Russian Sports Classification or World Class Master of Sports (WCMS); and the athletes qualifying to the sports excellence training groups shall be qualified Candidate Master of Sports (CMS). Therefore, the relevant Federal Sports Training Standards for the special physical fitness shall be harmonized with the Unified Russian Sports Classification both in the sport disciplines and qualification ranks.

Our analysis of the Unified Russian Sports Classification and Federal Sports Training Standards for the special physical fitness qualifications in swimming sport has found that the valid "General and special physical fitness standards for qualifications for training stages” offer no one special physical fitness standard in fact. Thus, the Unified Russian Sports Classification and Federal Sports Training Standards in application to swimming sport were found to match only in the CMS entitled to qualify for the sports excellence training service and MS for the top sports mastery stage service. This is the only issue where the Unified Russian Sports Classification and Federal Sports Training Standards were found to be relatively harmonized.

At the same time, as provided by the federal statistical report Form 5-FC, in 2019 the national swimming sport community was estimated at 221,194 people [5], including 93,723 qualified and titled athletes that account for 42.37% of the total; with more than 57% having no formal qualifications or titles. It should be mentioned that 110,417 people are reported being trained in the swimming sports training groups – that is 16,694 more than the qualified and titled group. If we assume that all the qualified and titled athletes are trained under swimming sports programs, then the remaining 110,777 people (221,194 minus 110,417) are beyond the swimming sports programs, nobody of them is formally qualified Class I-III athlete and compete in the formal events. Such a ratio in the formally reported statistics cannot but be questionable, since the junior swimming population trained under the swimming sports programs appears overqualified under the Federal Sports Training Standards system.

Our analysis of the Federal Sports Training Standards requirements for the cycling sport versus the relevant Unified Russian Sports Classification qualification and titling standards and requirements showed the classification systems being in conflict both in the titles of sports disciplines and the standards as such. To illustrate this point, we give in the Table hereunder a comparative analysis of the Federal Sports Training Standards based special physical fitness standards for qualifications for the top sports mastery stage service in the men’s track cycling sport versus the relevant Unified Russian Sports Classification standards [3].

Table 1. Comparative analyses of the special physical fitness standards applied in the men’s track cycling sport for the MS qualification for the top mastery training service: Unified Russian Sports Classification (URSC) versus Federal Sports Training Standards (FSTS)

A comparative analysis of the above data shows that no one Federal Sports Training Standards standard for CPF matches with the Unified Russian Sports Classification standards for the same disciplines. Moreover, the standards are named differently (with only one exception) in both of the systems. We would mention the following typical case of the regulatory inconsistencies: the Federal Sports Training Standards sets for the ‘individual 4km race’ the norm “under 3 min 45 s” for top sports mastery stage qualifications (whilst the world record in this discipline is 4:10.534 as of 2013) – that is much slower than 25.5 s standard for top sports mastery stage qualifications. As a result, this Federal Sports Training Standards standard for MS or WCMS is obviously unrealistic.

A detailed analysis of the Federal Sports Training Standards for track cycling shows that none of the nine CPF standards matches with the top sports mastery stage qualification standards. It should mentioned that the Federal Sports Training Standards sets no selection criteria for the general and special physical fitness standards for qualifications to both of the training groups. This means that a prospect needs to meet every Federal Sports Training Standards standard, while the enrollment decisions might be governed by some summarized test benchmark set by the corporate regulations/ orders of the sports organizations.

Our analysis of the 2013 top sports mastery stage qualification requirements for the athlete’s special physical fitness under the Federal Sports Training Standards for the highway cycling and mountain bike cycling disciplines also found major disagreements in the special physical fitness standards for the top sports mastery stage qualifications both for men and women. The Federal Sports Training Standards for BMX cycling discipline gives no special standards for the special physical fitness.

Conclusion. Our comparative analysis of the Federal Sports Training Standards and Unified Russian Sports Classification standards for the special physical fitness required for the top sports mastery stage qualifications in the selected sports disciplines found multiple disagreements and mismatches in these systems of standards. The study demonstrates that the regulatory agencies in charge of both standards systems development process obviously failed to duly coordinate their efforts when establishing a regulatory framework for the sports reserve training system in our country.

References

1. Kubeev A.V., Oganesyan A.A., Mochalova M.S. Study of transformation of norms of Unified Russian cycling sports classification in highway disciplines group. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki. 2019. No. 5. pp. 10-15.
2. Kubeev A.V., Evtukh A.V., Mochalova M.S., Oganesyan A.A. Materials for substantiation of proposals for improving URSC (case study of cycling and swimming. Part 1. Development trends of ESCM, age and NTU of performance and assignment of sports titles and categories. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki. 2019. No. 6. pp. 9-14.
3. Order of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation of August 30, 2013 No. 683 “On approval of the Federal standard for sports training in track cycling sport”. Available at: https://www.garant.ru/products/ipo/prime/doc/70373008/ (date of access: 14.06.2019).
4. Chesnokov N.N., Morozov A.P., Volodkin D.A. Correspondence of URSC standards to requirements of exemplary sports training programs by sport. Physical Education, Sports, Science and Education. Proc. First nat. scientific conference with international participation, 29 March 2017. Churapcha: ChSIPCS publ., 2017. 335 p.
5. Available at: https://www.minsport.gov.ru/sport/high-sport/edinaya-vserossiyska/

Corresponding author: 1574373@mail.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to run a correlation analysis of the Unified Russian Sports Classification and Federal Sports Training Standards systems in application to the special physical fitness qualifications, with the swimming and cycling sports taken for the case study.

Methods and structure of the study. The study was run under the cyclic sports (swimming and cycling, hereinafter referred to as selected sports) research project at the St. Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Physical Culture in 2019. We used a theoretical and historiographic analyses and mathematical statistics methods for the purposes of the study. The Unified Russian Sports Classification and Federal Sports Training Standards data array for the study covered the period of 2013-2020, with the data analyzed for correspondence of the regulatory frameworks, contents, requirements, norms and standards in both of the systems.

Results and conclusions. Our comparative analysis of the Federal Sports Training Standards and Unified Russian Sports Classification standards for the special physical fitness required for the top sports mastery stage qualifications in the selected sports disciplines found multiple disagreements and mismatches in these systems of standards. The study demonstrates that the regulatory agencies in charge of both standards systems development process obviously failed to duly coordinate their efforts when establishing a regulatory framework for the sports reserve training system in our country.