I.N. Nikulin, associate professor, Ph.D.
V.N. Irkhin, professor, Dr.Hab.
V.V. Sokorev, associate professor, Ph.D.
Belgorod state national research university, Belgorod

Key words: history of development, student training, research work, sports achievements.

The established 45 years ago faculty of physical culture has become a real source of experts in the sphere of physical culture and sport. Pazovnikov Alexey Aleksandrovich, veteran of the Great World War, was the originator of the faculty, followed by other deans, elected after him: V.T. Nastenko, A.N. Sedashov, A.P. Isaev, V.I. Kurilova, A.G. Nametchenko, V.A. Savchenko, V.V. Sokorev and I.N. Nikulin.

For its 45-year history the faculty has transformed into an educational, scientific and sports center, playing a remarkable role in development of the region. Over 5 thousand experts working in educational institutions, sport schools and associations of the Russian Federation and abroad have been trained on the faculty. At present the faculty provides training in the following specialties and vocational educational programs: “Physical culture” with the qualification of teacher; “Physical culture for the handicapped” (Adaptive physical culture) with the qualification of specialist; “Pedagogical Education” (Profile “Physical culture”) with the qualification of bachelor; “Physical culture for the handicapped” (Adaptive physical culture) with the qualification of bachelor; “Physical culture” with the qualification of Master; Master’s program “Theory and technology of physical education”. Notes of thanks from education authorities, school boards and parent-teachers’ association; numerous rewards (merit certificates, contest winners’ certificates, awards); publications in local and central press, covering certain professional experience of single graduates, are the testimonies of the positive evaluation of the quality of bachelors’, teachers’ and experts’ training and rather high level of their theoretical preparedness and methodological orientation.

Nowadays over 800 students, graduates and postgraduates study on day-time and extramural departments of the faculty. The educational process is carried out by five chairs: theory and methods of physical culture (head of the chair, professor, Dr.Hab. F.I. Sobyanin), sports disciplines (head of the Chair, associate professor, Dr.Hab. A.V. Voronkov), medicobiological basis of physical culture (head of the Chair, associate professor, Ph.D. V.K. Klimova), physical education № 1 (head of the Chair, associate professor, Ph.D. V.L. Kondakov) and physical education № 2 (head of the Chair, associate professor, Ph.D. S.V. Goncharyuk), which is a place of work of highly qualified specialists, including 4 doctors of science, 24 Ph.D.s, 5 Honored workers of physical culture, 2 Honored trainers of Russia, 2 Russian world-class athletes, 7 masters of sports and 4 Honored workers of higher professional education of Russia.

Material and technical base of the faculty is being constantly improved to raise the quality of training. The educational and sports complex of Belgorod state university named after S. Khorkina was set in operation in 2007 and consists of several objects: swimming pool - eight 50-meter lanes, diving towers and boards, special gym and "dry" swimming hall; indoor track with a 200 m track in a circle, sectors for pole vault, high and long jumps, multi-purpose playing hall for learning and sports competitions in volleyball, basketball, football, handball, gymnastics competition and warm-up halls. In addition, the complex has at its disposal gyms, kickboxing hall, halls for aerobics and sports dances, chess club and medical rehabilitation center. In general, the faculty has one of the best material and technical bases in Russia. In many aspects it was thanks to the merits of the faculty of physical culture that in the academic year 2011-2012 the University took the 2nd place for the best organization of physical culture and sports activities in the open public All-Russian festival and contest of educational institutions of secondary and higher vocational training.

The Faculty is proud of its sports achievements. Its graduates are Honored masters of sports, Olympic medalists, World, European and Russian Champions. It is enough to mention such names as: Svetlana Khorkina – two-time Olympic champion in gymnastics, repeated World, European and Russian champion, Honored master of sports; Yuri Kutsenko - silver medalist of the Moscow Olympics-1980 in track decathlon and Honored master of sports; Gennady Shipulin - Honored trainer of the Russian Federation, President of the volleyball club "Lokomotiv – Belgorod"; Sergey Tetyukhin - Olympic champion in London-2012, silver medalist of Sydney Olympics, bronze medalist in Athens-2004, winner of the European Champions League, repeated champion of Russia, Honored master of sports (volleyball); Dmitry Musersky and Dmitry Il’inykh - Olympic champions 2012, silver and bronze medalists of Russian championship, winners of the EKV Cup, Honored masters of sports (volleyball); Sergey Baranov, Vadim Khomutskih and Alexey Kuleshov - Olympic bronze medalists-2004, winners of the European Champions League-2004, repeated champions of Russia, Honored masters of sport (volleyball); Alexandra Korukovets - Olympic silver medalist-2004, Honored master of sports (volleyball); Evgeniya Nikonova - bronze medalist of the European Basketball Championship 2005, participant of Olympics-1996 and 2000, Honored master of sports; Oleg Utenin - World Cup champion, champion of Europe, fivefold champion of Russia, Honored master of sports (kickboxing); Danilenko Oksana - Russian world-class athlete, champion and world record holder in 2006 in shooting; Nesterova Margarita - member of Russian swimming national team, champion and winner of the Russian Cup, participant of the World Championship and Olympics-2012, sixfold record-holder of Russia, Russian world-class athlete; Berestovaya Inna - silver medalist of the European kickboxing Championship, champion of Russia etc.

Students of the faculty defend the honor of Belgorod at international and All-Russian competitions: Olympic Games, World, European and Russian Championships etc.

At present the students of the faculty are such titled athletes as: Timur Mamedov - Honored master of sports of Russia, World Champion, two-time champion of Europe and Russia in armwrestling; Volobuev Anton – Russian world-class athlete, winner of European championship in 4x400 m relay race, winner of the Russian championship in athletics in 200-m run, silver medalist of the Russian championship in athletics in 400-m run, silver medalist of the Russian championship in relay race; Ryabchikov Egor - Russian world-class athlete, bronze medalist of the World Cup, European and Russian champion in kickboxing; Suvorov Nicholay - Russian world-class athlete, silver and bronze medalist of European Championship, Russian champion in shooting; Khandov Dennis - master of sports of Russia, Champion of Russia in shooting; Zolotukhin Vadim and Solodilin Dmitry - bronze medalists of the first Youth Olympics in Singapore (2010) in volleyball.

The teams of the faculty were repeated winners of university, municipal and regional sports events. The university armwrestling team, directed by I.N. Nikulin and A.V. Voronkov, won bronze in the Russian Open Championship among universities in 2008. The women's basketball team "University" is a regular participant of the “Chernozem’e” Championship of the central federal district, silver medalist in 2007 and winner of the Championship of the central federal district in 2009.

Every year the faculty organizes a sports festival in 13 sports: football, volleyball, basketball, athletics, futsal, weight lifting, armwrestling, swimming, skiing, handball, table tennis, gymnastics and chess. Teams from every course and the teachers’ team participate in the festival.

Teachers of the faculty establish long-term creative relationships with their colleagues from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, the faculty of physical culture of Transdnistrian state university named after T.G. Shevchenko, Kharkov academy of physical culture, Russian state university of physical culture, sports and tourism, Saint Petersburg state university of physical culture named by P.F. Lesgaft, Saint Petersburg research institute of physical culture. The chairs have regular theoretical and practical conferences with scientists from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and other countries taking part in it. The first International Congress "Problems of physical education: content, orientation, methodology, organization" was held in 2009 thanks to the efforts of the faculty.

The faculty teaching staff is actively involved in research and educational and methodological activities. At present two university research and educational centers are in operation on the faculty: sports and recreational technologies (directed by A.A. Gorelov) and “Education and health” (directed by V.N. Irkhin), regional research laboratory “Problems of the content and organization of physical culture in educational institutions” (directed by F.I. Sobyanin). The faculty research activity is carried out in the following directions: "Development of health-focused university educational process" "Medical and educational technologies of students’ health protection in university educational system" (V.N. Irkhin), "Culturological aspects of the content and organization of sports movement" (F.I. Sobyanin), “Psychological and educational technologies of improvement of mental and exercises performance, release of university students’ stress within studies" (A.A. Gorelov); “Health and behavior of Belgorod students” (L.E. Pakhomova); “The rules of development of power properties in ontogenesis” (I.N. Nikulin) et al.

Advanced training courses have been opened as a part of the cluster "Health improving" within the following programs: "Modern educational technologies in the activity of primary and secondary teacher of physical culture" (L.E. Pakhomova); "Health-saving educational technologies" (V.N. Irkhin); "Integrated rehabilitation of the handicapped based on the method of hippotherapy" (V.K. Klimova).

Federal advanced training courses within the programs "Modern technologies of athletes’ training in armwrestling", "Modern technologies of organization and judging of armwrestling competitions", "Theory and methods of bodybuilding", directed by the Dean of the Faculty I.N. Nikulin, are very popular.

The problems of improvement of sports selection in children's sport schools based on the genetic analysis, courseware of classes of physical culture, formation of pupils’ sports needs, creation of health technologies and development of "Health Schools" in regional comprehensive institutions are being actively worked on the faculty. Faculty scientists make researches within university and All-Russian grants, self-supporting issues on the regional and municipal levels, exercise scientific control of regional and municipal experiments on such topics as "Technology of creation of educational systems of health schools " (V.N. Irkhin), "Modernization of classes of physical culture based on the individually focused approach within rural schools", "The content and organization of school classes of physical culture based on national, outdoor and sports games" (F.I. Sobyanin) etc.

The faculty has a specialized Dissertation Committee on the specialty 13.00.04 – “Theory and methods of physical education, sports training, recreational and adaptive physical culture (Chairman - professor, Dr.Hab. A.A. Gorelov). 12 master's theses have been made and defended by the teachers of the faculty only for the period of 2007-2012.

The faculty teaching staff is actively involved in organization of advanced training of comprehensive school teachers, trainers and instructors, they give lectures in Belgorod regional institute of Professional Development and Training.

In addition to sports occupations, students of the faculty take an active part in various spheres. Scientific study groups are organized on the faculty, along with students’ scientific community. In 2005, student A. Krivtsov won the All-Russian contest for the best student’s work, student V. Bocharova won the All-Russian contest of students’ research works in natural, technical and humanitarian sciences (Saint Petersburg, 2006), postgraduate I.I. Makhov got the diploma for the best author educational program for the system of extended education "Young all-round tourists" (Moscow, 2006) and won the All-Russian contest for teachers of extended education (Saint Petersburg, 2007). In 2011 students A. Kopteva and S. Gridneva won the All-Russian contest of students’ and postgraduates’ research works "Innovative technologies in the educational process" with their scientific report on the topic "Analysis of effectiveness of hippotherapy in physical rehabilitation of children with infantile cerebral paralysis". Postgraduate student A.A. Konik took the first place in this contest with the topic - "Technology of improvement of students’ exercise performance by means of bodybuilding".

The faculty students’ team of the Club of the smart and the merry (KVN) was the winner of the university KVN league in the academic years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. Recently the faculty students’ volunteer group has become famous in the region. Students take part in the activities: "Young regional volunteer ", "We are here", "With warm words, good actions", "Let’s color the world together", "Devotion", "Package to soldier". Sports and pedagogical Olympic games are held every year. Various events and concerts such as "Teacher's Day", "About Mom with love", "Autumn Marathon", the concert "Hey, guys!" dedicated to Defender’s day are organized on the faculty, along with series of Health days held in the university natural park "Nezhegol” twice a year.

As followed from the 45-year experience, the faculty of physical culture of Belgorod state national research university has all conditions for training of experts with a high level of general and physical culture, capable of effective use of numerous means of physical culture, sport and tourism in their professional activity, focused on saving and strengthening of people’s health, promotion of mass and professional sport and involvement of various levels of the population in regular physical training and sports.

Bibliography

1. Nikulin, I.N. 45th Anniversary of Faculty of Physical Culture of Belgorod State National Research University! / I.N. Nikulin, V.N. Irkhin, V.V. Sokorev // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2013. – № 1. – P. 3. (In Russian)

Author’s contacts: nikulin_i@bsu.edu.ru