O.V. Kostromin¹
A.V. Zaitsev^1
1St. Petersburg Mining University, St. Petersburg

Keywords: students, physical education, motivation, competitive process, boxing.

Background. The academic Physical Education discipline generally designed to make up for the physical inactivity in the university period is commonly recognised being still incapable to solve every problem of the students’ psychophysical adaptation to the education process and physicality building for their future professional careers [1, 2]. The largely inadequate initial physical fitness rates of the university entrants and their poor physical progress rates in the academic period associated with low motivations for physical practices are indicative of the crisis situation in the education system at present [4]. This situation forces the academic and research communities to actively look for new educational technologies to both cultivate healthy lifestyles and build up motivations for sports and physical practices [3]. 

Objective of the study was to optimise the academic physical education system at the technical university based on sportization of the educational process.

Methods and structure of the study. A questionnaire survey of the Mining University students showed 38% of the respondents being motivated for the academic physical education only by the need to pass the standard tests; and 34% of the respondents reportedly willing to go in for sports but unable to do that due to the inadequate supply of and restricted access to sport groups. Many respondents were found fully aware of the importance of due physical fitness in many aspects including the future professional career making albeit totally unmotivated for motor activity and, hence, showing only formal acceptance of the academic physical education. Furthermore, 28% of the students reported being enthusiastic about the sport disciplines catering for their individual interests. The students’ motivations for the academic physical education may be improved by the efforts to step up the emotional aspects and content of the physical training process and provide better opportunities for building the competences necessary for the social adaptation and interpersonal relationship with the peers having alike interests, knowledge and physical resources.

The proposed competitive education model is different from the traditional physical education sessions both in the process objective (that is to ensure due engagement in the modern sporting culture and persistently build up individual sporting lifestyle) and the much higher competitiveness of the education process to ensure due knowledge, skills and abilities being built up in the trainees.

The role of competitiveness in the traditional academic physical education system is very limited as it is more often than not restricted by the team relay races, albeit even this simple academic contest is appreciated by students as highly beneficial in many aspects including: maximal personal commitment for the sake of the team success; highly emotional context of the events; and high appreciation of success. This is the reason why every competitor reports only positive emotions and attitudes to the event and high willingness to compete next time in the similar events. It should be noted that the sports-intensive physical education is designed to secure due competitiveness of the process not only in the academic competitions as such but also in the regular education and academic athletic training process too.

Subject to the study were the first-year academic boxers who were trained using a set of test boxing exercises within the frame of the pilot competitive model of academic physical education. The competitive physical practices were tested to improve the students’ physical progress and the emotional appeal of the practices, whilst the team game environment was found to help the trainees master the sport-specific skills and techniques. The set of the test boxing exercises was proved highly beneficial for the technical and tactical boxing skills mastering and excelling process plus contributing to the students’ physical and mental progress. It should be noted that every exercise was designed with a special emphasis on its competitive aspect measurable by the relevant progress/ success scoring system giving the means for the competitors to be fairly ranked and the best of them nominated. The practices were found to have a high individual motivating effect on the trainees plus facilitating the team progress as verified by the group technical and tactical performance and physical fitness rates [3].

Study results and discussion. The test data obtained under the study made it possible to identify and discuss the most efficient competitive practices that showed the highest benefits in the first-year academic boxers’ training process.

Boxing Footwork Combination exercise was designed to encourage competitive spirit in the trainees, with each of them required to demonstrate in the ring the individual footwork skills and qualities in a fluent sequence of standard movements in the individual interpretation, with a 1 minute break, with the individual performance being scored in points. Due diligence in training and execution of this exercise was found to heavily contribute both to the footwork skills in the ring and to the fighting spirit and mental fitness of the trainees.

One man standing still exercise was designed as a competition of two boxers imitating a fight, with one of them acting as a coach who stands still and tries to hit the moving opponent by a sudden round stroking movement of the wrist. This practice was found highly efficient in developing the feel of distance, reaction to the hand movement, ability to perform sham tactical actions and for the special endurance development. 

Stop Boxing exercise is designed as a group boxing competition with elimination for errors. The boxers will start the exercise in a prone face-up position. On a certain verbal command of the coach they will raise their heads whilst all other commands will be ignored. Subject to a standard response are the following commands: box, stop, box with a slap, stop with a slap, and slap only. The exercise was tested to develop attention, concentration ability, self-control and the ability to concentrate on and fulfil commands of the coach.

Punching exercise is designed as a group boxing competition with each boxer striving to land as many punches as possible on the target within a preset time interval as follows: by one or two hands; a few repetitions of single combination; and a few repetitions of a few different combinations. This exercise may be used both as a component of a training system and a special speed-and-strength endurance building practice. Punches will be counted in the process to rank the trainees and nominate the best competitors.

Team versus team exercise is designed as a match of two boxing teams fighting in a conditional or freestyle format. The exercise helps develop the individual and group competitive skills with the relevant physical and mental qualities; plus gives an opportunity for a trainee to try the role of coach, timekeeper, referee or team supporter [4]. The practice is designed to cultivate teamwork skills and the feel of versatility of sport as a basis for the individual sporting culture and sporting lifestyle on the whole.

Conclusion. The set of competitive academic practices outlined herein – albeit still incomplete in the scope and content – may be considered a design model for vocational academic sport disciplines and the relevant physical training systems. The initiative to design and implement competitive academic practices within the frame of the popular academic sport disciplines was tested to both facilitate the sustainable motor skills building process and make the training process more emotionally appealing thereby forming the relevant motivations for the academic Physical Education discipline. Generally, a high priority in the objectives and practical action programs within the curricula of the academic Physical Education departments is to be given to the initiatives to find new ways, methods and opportunities to engage university students in academic sports and cultivate due sporting lifestyles with time.

References

1. Kostromin O.V., Chistyakov V.A., Novoseltseva O.O. Struktura pedagogicheskoy kontseptsii sportizatsii fizicheskogo vospitaniya v tekhnicheskom vuze sredstvami sportivnogo kluba [Structure of education concept of sportization of physical education in technical university via sports club]. Uchenye zapiski un-ta im. P.F. Lesgafta, 2013, no. 1 (107), pp. 180–185.
2. Kostromin O.V., Rudenko G.V., Chistyakov V.A. Kriteriy effektivnosti sportizatsii fizicheskogo vospitaniya v tekhnicheskom vuze sredstvami sportivnogo kluba [Efficiency criterion of sportization of physical education in technical university via sports club]. Uchenye zapiski un-ta im. P.F. Lesgafta, 2016, no. 10 (140), pp. 94.
3. Lubysheva L.I. Konversiya vysokikh sportivnykh tekhnologiy kak metodologicheskiy printsip sportizirovannogo fizicheskogo vospitaniya i «sporta dlya vsekh» [Conversion of high sports technologies as a methodological principle of sportizated physical education and "sport for all"]. Fizicheskaya kultura: vospitanie, obrazovanie, trenirovka, 2015, no. 4. pp. 6-8.
4. Sychev A.V. Sotsialno-pedagogicheskaya adaptatsiya pervokursnikov k obucheniyu v vuze (Na primere fakulteta fizicheskoy kultury i sporta). Dis. kand. ped. nauk [Socio-pedagogical adaptation of first-year students to university studies (Case study of physical education and sports department). PhD diss.]. Tambov, 2004, 172 p.

Corresponding author: panfilio@spmi.ru

Abstract     

Presently the national education system reports the students’ motivations for the academic Physical Education discipline being on the fall, and the situation requires active theoretical and academic efforts being taken to find new educational technologies to reverse this negative trend. However, a statistical report by a research team from Saint Petersburg Mining University showed most of the students still having certain motivations for sporting practices. We applied boxing practices to bolster up the academic physical education by the sporting component and tested the method efficiency. The tests showed some growth of the students’ motivations for the physical education and training practices and fast progress as verified by the relevant physical fitness rates. We have developed a list of exercises that may – albeit unlikely be considered final in the scope and content – be recommended for practical application in competitive academic physical education in vocational sports. The competitive physical practices within the frame of the standard and most popular academic sports were tested to improve the students’ physical progress and the emotional appeal of the practices and thereby build up their motivations for the academic Physical Education discipline.