A.E. Bolotin, professor, Dr.Hab., Honored Worker of Higher Education of the Russian Federation
V.V. Bakaev, Ph.D.
St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg

Keywords: archers, indicators of competitive readiness, focus area of training effects.

Introduction. Archery is an Olympic sport in which a high level of athletes' skills is characterized by good morale, excellent technical shooting skills and competitive readiness. Requirements to the level of readiness of archers for successful competitive performance have notably increased. Due to the specificity of competitive activity, sports skills need to be displayed in a variety of indicators of readiness, so they need to be clearly defined [1].

Experience shows that not all archers are ready enough for effective competitive activity. Many of them have great difficulties with coping with stress and physical loads, which adversely affects the accuracy of shooting. It is obvious that owing to poor competitive readiness of archers new approaches to organization of their educational and training activities are required. Unfortunately, this problem is yet to be scientifically justified in methodical literature. Thus, the educational model of archers' training for competitions remains undeveloped; the mechanism of integral use of the didactic means, forms and methods of technical, tactical, moral and psychological and physical training has not been explored; the indicators of readiness of archers for effective competitive activity have not been studied or identified. However, the sports theory foundations confirm that it is combined application of technical, tactical, moral and psychological, physical training methods that are essential to make athletes ready for competitions.

The problem analysis conditions allocation of the following contradictions:

– between high requirements for archers and insufficient scientific basis of combined application of technical, tactical, moral and psychological, physical training methods for competitive activity with due regard to the indicators of athletes' readiness in this sport;

– between the need for improvement of the readiness of archers for effective competitive activity and insufficient theoretical justification of the indicators of their readiness for it;

– between great potentialities of the technical, tactical, moral and psychological, and physical training methods for the purpose of formation of readiness of archers for effective competitive activity and the weak effect of their implementation due to insufficient substantiation of the indicators of readiness.

The purpose of the research was to justify the indicators of readiness of archers for effective competitive activity.

Materials and methods. In order to allocate the indicators of readiness of archers for effective competitive activity the performance of elite athletes in Russian championships and other major international tournaments was analyzed. Coaches and athletes were surveyed, and a correlation analysis of individual indicators of readiness for competitive activity of archers and their competitive performance was carried out. More than 100 people were involved in the study.

Results and discussion. As part of the study, the rank structure of the indicators of competitive readiness of archers and their effect on athletes' competitive performance were determined (Table 1).

Table 1. Analysis of the correlation of successful competitive performance of archers with indicators of their readiness for it

Ranking of the indicators of archers' readiness indicates that the key ones are: moral and psychological readiness of athletes (r= +0,73) and well-developed skills in smooth aiming, launch of an arrow, completion of the shot (r= +0,68). Coaches and athletes noticed that, having set their minds on high results, archers experienced great difficulties. They point out that not all athletes can relax and concentrate on smooth aiming before launching an arrow. Most of them hasten when completing the shot, too. All this prevents from unlocking technical potential during competitions.

Correct nocking of an arrow and change-over to holding of a bow (r= +0,63) might also be referred to the main indicators of readiness, as well as well-developed skills in proper positioning of the arms and upper body of an archer (r= +0,49). Thus, coaches note that, at the beginning of drawing, it is important to keep the nock stable at the eye level. In order to change-over to holding of a bow some time is required to redistribute the drawing force to the lover back muscles, which demands of athletes their subtle muscle coordination. Unstable skills in such coordination have a negative impact on the shooting performance.

Competitive performance is much influenced by regular breathing at the time of shooting and positioning of an archer's head towards his shoulders (r= +0,47), as well as by the good use of the wind and other adverse environmental factors during competitions (r= +0,43). Coaches emphasize that breathing must be abdominal, reducing blood pressure, heart rate and unrest in athletes. When taking a deep breath an athlete should focus on the mark, and when exhaling slowly - on the feeling of tension being released. Herewith, the feeling of tension being released should be felt from head to toes to relax tight muscles and to make a better shot. Competitive experience has shown that regular breathing helps cope with the adverse impact of the wind and other environmental factors.

Competitive performance is least affected by the well-developed arrow nocking skills and the stable equilibrium position when setting up for shooting (r= +0,38), as well as the skills in proper drawing of a bowstring and accurate positioning of the legs and feet (r=+0,35). It has been found that most archers behave inconsistently when positioning their legs and feet, which leads to maldistribution of pressure applied on them. Herewith, leg pressure distribution is significant for the archer's body balance. Specifically, it has been established that most top archers use the stance when their legs are shoulder-width apart, since at this position the body mass is evenly distributed on both feet, which provides the feeling of equilibrium. The well-developed skills in nocking of an arrow and proper drawing of a bowstring have a positive impact on the archers’ competitive performance. Stable hand position when anchoring a bow secures the arm in the same position.

Conclusions. In the present study the key indicators of the archers' readiness for effective competitive activity have been identified. Taking into account these indicators and working on them, the focus area of training effects can be determined more accurately during pre-contest training of athletes.

References

1. Bolotin, A.E. Pedagogicheskaya model’ podgotovki strelkov iz luka k sorevnovatel’noy deyatel’nosti (Pedagogical model of pre-contest training of archers) / A.E. Bolotin, V.V. Bakaev // Uchenye zapiski universiteta im. P.F. Lesgafta, 2014. – №10(116). – P. 23–27.

Corresponding author: a_bolotin@inbox.ru