Associate Professor S.Sh. Namozova¹
Dr.Hab., Professor Sh.Z. Khubbiev¹
PhD L.V. Shadrin¹
PhD, Associate Professor N.L. Ilyina^1
1St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg

Keywords: morpho-functional profile, psychological profile, academic athlete, academic sports.

Introduction. A multi-level system of academic sports favors students’ physical fitness being enhanced (S.Sh. Namozova, 2016). However, their activity on this enhancement leaves much to be desired. Hence, the level of sports skills of modern students is relatively low. The comparative analysis of physical fitness indicators in the university students of the 80-90s of the XX century and today’s students revealed that the latter lag far behind in terms of physical condition, endurance and aerobic motor activity (I.A. Lysova, Y.V. Nechushkin, 2012). The reasons for this are: increased and more complex load with each training course; shortcomings in the organization of academic physical training and sporting activity; students’ inability to combine high-quality studies with regular exercise; insufficient trainer’s skills, negatively affecting the quality of athletic training; a sharp decline in class attendance from course to course due to the lack or loss by students of motivation to sports activities; deterioration of students’ health due to a decreased level of their functional status, etc.

Objective of the study was to determine the ways to improve students’ sports skills based on their morpho-functional and psychological profiles.

Results and discussion. The morpho-functional profiles of the StPSU students contain the mean values obtained in the boys and girls engaged in football, track and field athletics, basketball, rugby, volleyball, karate, mountaineering, ultimate, dance sport, swimming, rowing, wrestling. The low morpho-functional indices in the students are due to their low physical fitness at the time of entering the university (Tables 1, 2).

Table 1. Morpho-functional profiles of male students engaged in academic sports (mean values, boys, n=82)

Therefore, the morpho-functional profile indices of the academic athletes were as follows: height, weight, systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the boys and girls were within the normal limits; the mean and maximum values of heart rate (HR) of both boys and girls gave rise to concern. Increased HR is, obviously, the result of heavy mental and intellectual loads imposed on the students, hypodynamia and irregular exercise.

Table 2. Morpho-functional profiles of female students engaged in academic sports (mean values, girls, n=72)

The vital capacity (VC) indices indicate an insufficient level of aerobic abilities in the boys, while in the girls it was within the normal limits. The Stange’s test results testify to the good potential, in both boys and girls, for body’s oxygen supply; in terms of regular exercise they can achieve a high fitness level. The Genchi’s test results reflect an unsatisfactory level of body’s oxygen supply and general fitness of the students, i.e. their unrealized potential. As regards the average "willpower index", we can say that in the boys it was about half as high as the normal value, while in the girls it increased the normal value by almost a third. Thus, girls are capable of displaying willpower, while this ability in boys is low. All this affects the usefulness of training loads and success in athletes’ competitive activity. Using the Romberg-3 test we found that the students’ results had exceeded the satisfactory level twice as much. In regard to the PWC 170 test, it should be noted that the mean values of physical working capacity of the male students had exceeded the upper power threshold by more than 2,5 times, and that of the female students – by 1.5 times; the maximum values for the boys - 8640, for the girls - 7987).

The test results of the boys suggest for the conclusion that during sports activities their physical loads are far from the limit values, and therefore they do not display great willpower, and consequently, it remained undeveloped. In addition, during the training sessions, the boys generally improve their sports skills, while they need an integral all-round sports training. Given the morpho-functional state of the academic athletes, it is important to develop their aerobic abilities. For this purpose, it is necessary to include more cross country running, multiple speed and strength endurance-building exercises with the ultimate involvement of slow oxidative and rapid oxidation-glycolytic muscle fibers. What is important here is intensive energy consumption, which does not cause muscle hypoxia. There is a need for special training of the respiratory system, oxygen utilization mechanisms. It is characteristic that at high PWC 170 test results, athletes have insufficiently developed aerobic abilities, oxygen supply to the body and overall fitness level. The "willpower index" in the boys was almost half as high as the normal values, and this rather characterizes their psychological capabilities.

The psychological profile is usually made of: temperament, character, ability, personality orientation, intellect, emotionality, communicative, self-esteem, etc.

The study (March-April 2017) involved 90 academic athletes of 17 to 25 years of age (58 boys and 32 girls) engaged in football, hockey, basketball, ultimate, academic rowing, and dance sport. 38 of them were students of the College of Physical Culture and Sports, Economics and Technology of StPSU, 52 – students from various faculties in StPSU.

The athletes’ profiles were made based on the monitoring data obtained in the StPSU national teams specializing in different sports (Table 1). For this purpose, we analyzed: type of nervous system (using the tapping test by E.P. Ilyin); motivation for sports activities (using the express methodology by G.V. Lozovaya); motivation focus (to achieve success, to avoid failure) (using the methodology for the study of the dominant type of athletes’ motivation by N.B. Stambulova); differentiated assessment of the states of reduced working capacity ("fatigue-monotony-satiety-stress") (using the methodology by A.B. Leonova, S.B. Velichkovsky, adapted for athletes); sociometry - to determine psychological climate in a team and to identify business and emotional leaders. The study data are similar in both the groups, since the Student’s t- test did not verify any significant differences in the indices of the boys and girls.

Table 1. Distribution of indicators of academic athletes based on monitoring data

The generalization of the data obtained showed that academic athletes are often characterized by a "weak" (sensitive) and "average weak" nervous system, which enables them to distinguish between superweak signals of different modality (muscle, visual, auditory, etc.). This helps to act accurately in uncertain game situations and provides a subtle reflection of interpersonal relationships, rapid learning, easy mastering of learning material, quick inclusion in the work. Such students are inclined to manage and display leadership qualities. It can be assumed that it is the sensitivity of the nervous system that helps the academic athletes to adjust well to the need to combine university studies and sports activities.

The following motives for sports activities predominate among academic athletes: external motivation as obligation, he is doing sports rather because he feels that he owes somebody, has to make his parents, trainer, administration happy, possibly under the pressure of circumstances, etc., but this may result in losing own desire to strive for something; the trainer must understand that such a motive of the athlete was not leading, but complementary, reinforcing; motivation to achieve success – for the work, in the pursuit of own goals, solution of the tasks set, overcoming difficulties; self-improvement motivation, sport serves as a sphere of development and manifestation of physical and psychological qualities. Here, it is motivation for success that predominates. It is important for students with the motivation to avoid failure to do their best. They should get such an opportunity, otherwise they will lose interest in sports.

The analysis of the states of reduced working capacity ("fatigue-monotony-satiety-stress") revealed the students’ instability, dependence on duration, nature and intensity of physical, mental and emotional loads (Table 2). It should be noted that the study was conducted during the active participation of academic athletes in a competition and at the end of the second semester, which led to an increased loading.

According to the study data (Table 2), most of the academic students coped with the increased educational and competitive loads, their state of reduced physical working capacity was moderately pronounced. They had high stress tolerance and this helped them deal with stress.

Table 2. Distribution of reduced performance statuses in college academic athletes (Coll) and university bachelors (Univ)

It is characteristic that the level of manifestation of adverse states in college and university students is not the same. The latter display the states of reduced working capacity more pronouncedly and more often than the former. Trainers must take this into account, as long-term exposure to fatigue or stress can lead to deterioration in academic performance, sports performance or refusal from sports activities. An academic athlete needs help in the organization of his day regimen, finding balance between work and rest, redirection of training toward stress tolerance building, but this should not be done during the session.

Conclusion. Sports training with due regard to students’ psychological profile should include: ​​strengthening of relationships between personality characteristics necessary for competitive activities; organization of the training process according to the advances in the modern sports theory and practice; provision of psychological follow-up of sports activities; orientation on elite athletes’ personal profiles; formation of the mechanism of achievement of the maximum sports result; consideration of motivation for sports activities, students’ expectations from training session and competition; creation of a favorable psychological climate in a sports team and in cooperation with the trainer.

The study was supported by the Russian Research Foundation Grant financing under the Project #14-50-00069 “Translational biomedicine at StPSU”, St. Petersburg State University.

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Corresponding author: khubbiev@gmail.com