PhD, Associate Professor O.N. Nikiforova¹
PhD V.V. Seleznev¹
T.I. Prokhorova¹
¹Russian State Agrarian University - Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Moscow

Keywords: football, hearing impairments, physical fitness, functional fitness,

Background. The system of training of highly-qualified athletes is based on the development of their physical fitness as a cornerstone of the system [2, 5]. In turn, the high physical fitness level means the high level of adaptation of the functional systems of the female athletes’ body to training and competitive loads [3, 6]. In the course of their playing activity, female footballers are constantly forced to make short-distance moves, various turns, rolls, and rotations, keep their balance in the difficult game situations when the ball is hit with a foot or head in a single-support or unsupported position while counteracting against an opponent.

The physical and functional fitness tests will enable coaches to find optimal ways to increase the level of training of female athletes, structure a rational annual training cycle, choose an effective strategy of training of female footballers with hearing impairments for the major competitions of the season.

Objective of the study was to analyze the levels of physical and functional fitness of female footballers with hearing impairments.

Methods and structure of the study. The study was carried out in the preparatory period of the annual training cycle. Sampled for the study were 14 female footballers - members of the Russian deaf national football team: 3 Masters of Sport, 2 World Class Masters of Sports, and 9 Honored Masters of Sport. The degree of hearing loss ranged from total deafness to moderate hearing loss with at least 55 dB per ear. The subjects’ mean age was 25 years, and their sports experience - 13 years.

The research program included pedagogical testing of the physical fitness level: 30m run, 2000m run, standing high jump with no arm swing, standing long jump, standing triple jump, unsupported pistol squat on a take-off foot. The Conconi test (a 2-3-km run with an incrementally-increasing speed performed on a racetrack of the stadium) was conducted to assess the functional fitness level of the female footballers with hearing impairments. They were tested for the running speed at the anaerobic threshold level, HR at the anaerobic threshold level, and maximum HR.

Results and discussion. In football, as in any other sport, athletes’ anthropometric data cannot be disregarded when analyzing their physical and functional fitness levels. The anthropometric measurements taken as part of this study indicated the average values of height, weight, vital capacity and body mass, birth-death ratio and muscle mass percentage (Table 1) [4].

Table 1. Anthropometric measurements in highly-qualified female footballers with hearing impairments (n=14)

Given in Table 2 are the results obtained in the tests.

Table 2. Physical fitness rates in female footballers with hearing impairments

*Standard values in the healthy female footballers [4].

It was found that the running speed rates in the 30 m test (4.7 sec) and speed-strength rates in the standing high jump test (125.9 cm) corresponded to the stage of sport specialization of healthy female athletes.

In terms of endurance rates in the 2000 m run (7 min 9 sc), speed-strength rates in the standing long jump test (187.7 cm), and coordination rates in the standing triple jump test (678.4 cm) corresponded to the sport mastery excellence stage.

A certain gap (2-3-year retardation) between healthy and hearing-impaired female footballers is due to the slow progress of the latter in the motor skills mastering process (insufficiently developed coordination skills, uncertain movements), which becomes noticeable in the childhood [1, 6].

Having summarized all physical fitness rates in the hearing-impaired female footballers and having compared them with the standard values in the healthy female athletes, the female footballers with hearing impairments were distributed within the team in the following way: high physical fitness level - 34%, average - 40%, and below-average - 26%.

In the management of the training process of elite female footballers with hearing impairments, it is advisable to assess their functional fitness based on the indicators of adaptation of the oxygen transport and muscle systems during the Conconi test (Table 3).

Table 3. Functional fitness rates in female footballers with hearing impairments (2-3 km run with an incrementally-increasing speed)

However, despite the aerobic energy supply of the work performed at the high HR values, such loads may lead to the depletion of the body’s adaptive reserves. The threshold HR is reduced with the increase in the volume and intensity of training loads, which needs to be carried out throughout the entire preparatory period of the annual training cycle.

The ratio of the threshold HR to the maximum HR in the highly-qualified female footballers with hearing-impairments was 91-92% (Table 2).

Conclusions. The physical fitness level of the highly-qualified footballers with hearing impairments slightly lagged behind the physical fitness level of healthy female athletes (by 2-3 years). Their agility rate corresponded to the stage of sport specialization of healthy female athletes; the endurance, speed-strength, and coordination rates – to the stage of sport mastery excellence.

Footballers with hearing impairments should be distributed within a team based on the level of their physical fitness in the following way: high physical fitness level - 34%, average - 40%, below-average - 26%.

The subjects’ functional fitness level also indicated a lower level of training of the female football with hearing impairments as opposed to healthy female athletes. The anaerobic threshold level in the hearing-impaired female footballers was reached at the high HR - 178.9 bpm, thus indicating the need to increase the volume and intensity of training loads in the preparatory period of the annual training cycle. HR of 91% of the maximum can be used as a criterion for performing training loads aimed to develop aerobic capabilities of elite female footballers with hearing impairments.

The data obtained can serve as model characteristics of physical and functional fitness of female footballers of women's national deaf football teams.

References

1. Nikiforova O.N., Chesikhina V.V. Development of adaptive sports in the Russian Federation at the present stage (statistical analysis). Fizicheskaya kultura, sport – nauka i praktika. 2016. No. 2. pp. 48-54.
2. Nikiforova O.N. Study of socio-psychological adaptation and physical fitness rates of Russian women's national deaf football team. Adaptivnaya fizicheskaya kultura. No. 4 (76). 2018. pp. 47-51.
3. Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation order No. 70 dated February 3, 2013 “On approval of the Federal standard for football sports training” [Electronic foundation of legal and scientific and technological documentation, garant.ru system].
4. Seleznev V.V. Organizational and methodological foundations of training athletes with disabilities in specialized institutions. PhD diss.: 13.00.04. Moscow, 2013. 25 p.
5. Epifanov V.A., Epifanov A.V. Sports medicine. Moscow: GEOTAR-Media publ., 2019.-536p.
6. Cheshikhin V.A. Training system of skilled orienteering athletes with hearing impairment. PhD diss. Abstract. Moscow, 2012. 24 p.

Corresponding author: olganikiforova2014@yandex.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to analyze the levels of physical and functional fitness of female footballers with hearing impairments.

Methods and structure of the study. The study was carried out in the preparatory period of the annual training cycle. Sampled for the study were 14 female footballers - members of the Russian deaf national football team: 3 Masters of Sport, 2 World Class Masters of Sports, and 9 Honored Masters of Sport. The degree of hearing loss ranged from total deafness to moderate hearing loss with at least 55 dB per ear. The subjects’ mean age was 25 years, and their sports experience - 13 years.

Results and conclusions. The functional fitness rates in the female footballers with hearing impairments, in particular running speed at HR at the anaerobic threshold level, maximum HR, indicated that the level of training of the hearing-impaired female footballers was lower than that of the healthy female athletes. It is, therefore, necessary to increase the volume and intensity of physical loads in the preparatory period of the annual training cycle to achieve high sports results in the major competitions of the season. While the threshold HR, being 90% of the maximum, can be used as a criterion for performing training loads aimed to develop aerobic capabilities.

The data obtained can be used as the criteria of effective management of the process of training of highly-skilled athletes with hearing impairments.