Associate professor, PhD P.V. Halo¹
V.G. Khvalebo³
Dr.Hab., Professor I.M. Turevskiy^2
1,³ Taganrog Institute named after A.P. Chekhov (branch of Rostov state economic university (RINKh), Taganrog
² Tula state pedagogical University named after L.N. Tolstoy, Tula

Keywords: prestart state, functional system, entropy, signal system

Introduction

Notwithstanding the fact that modern sport science has accumulated a vast experience in developing the prestart/ pre-competitive state control and conditioning mechanisms and skills, it apparently still needs a consistent understanding of the functionality structure of this state and its biological patterns being shaped up and individualized prestart conditioning and confidence building methods being offered (K.V. Sudakov, 2004; I.A. Sviatogor et al., 2005; V.V. Markin, 2008). It is not unusual for the prestart conditioning stage that the team coach, psychologist and every athlete prefer to rely on the personal experience and intuition rather than the individual variations of the specific body performance/ fitness indicators; and these traditional attitude largely complicates the athlete’s to better understand the actual resources of his/her own body (A.G. Dembo, 1974; S.A. Dushanin, 1978; R.O. Astrand, 1992; J.H. Wilmore, D.L. Costill, 2004). No wonder that the traditional attitude often fails to uplift the sagging attention and alertness, correct the slowing-down decision-making ability etc. Therefore, many authors tend to believe (A.A. Napalkov, P.O. Ratmanova, M.B. Kolikov et al.) that a prestart state optimization system design and application may be viewed as the most challenging objective of modern sport.

Objective of the study was to develop a biological-and-mathematical model to integrate mental and physiological aspects of the prestart state optimization methods and rate their contributions to the process.

Study results and discussion. Having thoroughly analyzed concepts offered by the above-mentioned publications, one can see that they rather add and clarify one another than fall in contradictions (see Table 1 hereunder), with every new hierarchical level being built up based on the previous one. Individual biological and mental qualities of every person are determined by the body traits as dominated by the individual vegetative nervous system qualities that determine the reflexes formation process; the psychomotor system, on the one hand, is based on the personal psychomotor potentialities that correlate with the nervous system qualities; and, on the other hand, is driven by the volitional control mechanism connected with the conscientious control level; with the highest emotions being a product of social interactions in contrast to the lowest emotions that are generated by the current bodily needs (e.g. fury and fear are triggered by the need in safety etc.).

Every control level offers its specific athletic performance improvement methods (see Figure 1 hereunder) that make the relevant contributions to the individual sport accomplishments. On Leven I, these methods may include skills building, different biological feedback (BFB) trainings, individual biorhythm corrections, pharmacological doping, nano-system applications (e.g. using artificial erythrocytes having much higher O₂-carriage rates than the natural ones) etc. Depending on sport discipline, actual parameters of such system may be determined using PWC170 tests; parasympathetic vs. sympathetic nervous response balancing tests; different electroencephalogram (EEG) correlations; electric potential application to acupunctural points; anaerobic metabolism threshold (AMT) method; electromyography (EMG) etc.

Table 1. Hierarchical structure of prestart state control levels

Level II includes verbal methods such as instillation, affirmation, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), autogenic training etc. Objective of the control process at this Level II is to shape up a volitional (i.e. conscientious and verbalized) goal-focused mindset. As demonstrated by actual practice and analyses of the competitive accomplishment records, high athletic fitness may not be always enough for success unless supported by high ability to mobilize and dedicate the personal volitional resources. Individual volitional fitness is dominated by the personal goal-focusing process driven by the relevant verbal constructs. Depending on the sport discipline, the goal-dedication system parameters may be determined and analyzed by a variety of questioning tools, mental tests including the FAM (Feel-Activity-Mood) tests, Spielberger-Hanin State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) tests, Schulte Table tests, EEG correlation analysis etc. It should be noted, however, that even the high volitional mobilization ability supported by the highest athletic fitness level may not always guarantee success in competitions unless the athlete has developed due mental self-control skills to keep his/her mental state and motor skill performance within the optimal frame parameters.

Figure 1. Prestart state optimization methods classified by the basic system control levels

Functional state control improvement methods

Level III conditioning tools have been non-applied by the popular western training practices and, by contrast, dominate in the eastern ones. As stated by V.F Sopov, these tools are designed to train mental self-control qualities; however, in the context of our system, the self-control toolkit refers to the level of super-modal systems. It is a matter of common knowledge today that no verbal self-control methods (like autogenic training, affirmations etc.) are effective enough unless supported by due mindset (or mental state). It is the mental states that trigger and control the individual consciousness restructuring process with subjective revaluation (or ‘reweighting’) of events in the training and competitive processes. Individual mental condition is closely interrelated with the personal existential orientation (often unconscious) that reflects the personal satisfaction with the accomplishments. The western tradition gives almost no special role to personal existential orientation with the only exclusion for a few exotic psycho-techniques like the existential therapy, the I.V. Smirnov’s mental correction methods and the adapted eastern psycho- techniques including dynamic meditation, phenomenological reduction, holotrophic breathing techniques etc. Frame parameters of the system are determined by mostly indirect means being loosely connected with the subject sport discipline for the reason that they refer to the highest hierarchical control level that goes beyond the limits of certain personality (that means that this control level refers to the society, biome etc.). Applicable at this level are such methods as socio-metric analysis, EEG correlations method, mental feedback factoring systems, Lusher PSYNTEC test etc.

For the purposes of the prestart state optimality rating on a systemic basis, the analyst may apply the relevant adaptation criterion (offered by A.V. Rotov et al., 1997) considered a special case of the vocational activity psycho-physiological state optimality criterion. This criterion has been tested in the operator’s state optimality rating exercise (by P.V. Khalo, 2007) as follows:

(1)

Where n – means the number of state variables under account; Р(х_j) – means the probability of the x_j variable being deviated from the ‘preferred’ state.

The probability rate of P(x) may be computed using the following formula:

(2)

Where   means the average value of the x biological parameter for the time period under analysis; δ- means the acceptable deviation from the individual norm;; σ  means the average quadratic deviation of the х parameter; and Φ  means the Laplace’s function.

The criterion is based on the calculated probability of the psycho-physiological parameter deviations from the preferred values that are initially assumed as average statistical norms followed by the frame values being individually adjusted for every athlete in the training process. Due consideration must be given to the personal type of the nervous system, interhemispheric interactions, sex, sensitive periods etc. As reported, for instance, by N.K. Volkov (1977), A.I. Churikov (2008) and some other researchers, athletes having strong nervous systems are recommended to be more active in the second half of the competitions; whilst the athletes diagnosed with week nervous systems should be most active in the first half of competitions. Contribution of every control level to the performance optimization process may be determined from the viewpoint of the entropy reduction in the functional system using the S. Kulbak’s factor S_K:

(3)

Where S_K≥0, p_i– means the probability of the i hierarchical level of real distribution, and   means the probability of the i hierarchical level of equilibrium distribution.

From the viewpoint of the entropy reduction in the S_K system, every next hierarchical level contribution to the state optimization process will be less than the contribution of the previous level. This means that the key role of the upper levels is to control the lower levels in the hierarchical structure.

One more principle of the prestart state optimization process is to ensure due incorporation of the athlete’s mental conditioning process into the training cycle on the whole. It is quite obvious that the prestart state optimization process design is determined not only by the current functionality factors but by the preceding functional objectives and accomplishments of the athlete as well. In a sport education system, for example, it is the acquired motor skill that is rated the main function of the system; in the draw-in micro-cycle – it is the body adaptation to the future strenuous workloads and the relevant skill development levels etc.; in the high-impact micro-cycle – it is the performance of the ready adaptive mechanisms under high workloads and the actions to optimize performance of the acquired skills, with the key objectives of the physical, special and integrated training cycle being attained; in the recreation micro-cycle – it is the accumulation of the nervous and mental reserves; in the prestart micro-cycle – it is the body fitness for the upcoming competitions; and only in the competitive micro-cycle the system goal is the highest accomplishment in the event. It should be noted in this context that every functional system of the next training micro-cycle may be viewed as following from the previous one. Therefore, a success of the prestart state optimization process will depend both on the vertical hierarchy of the body control systems and the horizontal hierarchy of the causes and effects lined up along the time axis.

Conclusion

The applicable prestart state optimization methods will be successful enough conditional on due consideration being given to the following factors: hierarchy of the actual need factors (designed based on the idea of the three key control levels) and the individual psycho-physiological traits (as determined by the nervous system type, interhemispheric interaction type etc.) of effect on the individual fitness for competitions; with the suitable individualized prestart state optimization methods being applied, including the relevant training cycle stages with account of the key hierarchical control levels; with the prestart state optimization process being managed with due account of the background mental fitness development levels, the actual needs and the individual psycho-physiological traits on every key hierarchical control level.

References

1. Galalu V.G., Halo P.V. Sistemny podkhod v metode transkranial'noy elektrostimulyatsii (System approach in transcranial electrostimulation) // Izvestiya Yuzhnogo federal'nogo universiteta. Tekhnicheskie nauki. 2006. № 6 (61). P. 281-287.
2. Setyaeva N.N. Psikhicheskaya samoregulyatsiya v podgotovke sportsmenov vysokoy kvalifikatsii tsiklicheskikh vidov sporta: monografiya (Psychic self-regulation in training of elite athletes in cyclic sports: monograph) / N.N. Setyaeva, A.V. Fursov. – Surgut: RIO SurGPU, 2010, 203 P.
3. Sopov V.F. Teoriya i metodika psikhologicheskoy podgotovki v sovremennom sporte (Theory and methods of mental conditioning in sport today) // Moscow: Moscow Department of physical culture and sport, 2010, 116P.
4. Orlov A.A., Pazuhina P.V., Turevskiy I.M. Otsenivanie professional'nykh kompetentsiy budushchego uchitelya FK kak sredstvo razvitiya tsennostnogo otnosheniya k zdorov'esberezheniyu shkolэnikov (Evaluation of future PE teacher's professional competences to develop value attitude to health protection among pupils) / Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury, 2014. - №11.- P. 98-101.
5. Halo P.V. Issledovanie printsipov postroeniya i razrabotka biotekhnicheskikh sistem dlya povysheniya effektivnosti otsenki i korrektsii psikhofiziologicheskogo sostoyaniya cheloveka-operatora (Study of principles of design and development of biotechnical systems for more efficient evaluation and correction of psychophysiological states of human operators) // Avtoreferat dissertatsii na soiskanie uchenoy stepeni kandidata tekhnicheskikh nauk (abstract of PhD thesis), Southern Federal University. Taganrog, 2007, 16P.

Corresponding author: frolovalexander@bk.ru

Abstract

The article is devoted to the pressing problem of development of means and methods of building of skills of forming an optimal prestart or pre­competitive state of an athlete. A brief historical analysis of solutions was carried out. The researchers explained a new system approach to design of a biological-and­mathematical model of formation of the pre­start state of an athlete taking into account the athlete's desire to achieve maximum athletic performance as an emerging special­purpose functional system, which includes three hierarchically organized control levels – vegetative, psychological and social. There were offered mathematical methods of calculation of the optimal criteria of prestart and pre­competitive states and the value of each of the proposed control levels on the basis of reduction of the Kullback's entropy in the functional system. All in all, the conclusions have been made, that the optimal pre­start state will be more effective, if to take into account a hierarchy of factors of relevant needs, individual phychophysiological characteristics of the athlete; cause­and­effect factors of the training cycle and the initial level of formation of various components of precompetitive state for each of the hierarchical control levels.