PhD, Associate Professor E.T. Kolunin^1
1Tyumen State University, Tyumen

Keywords: adaptation, gymnastics practices, physical training, physical qualities, beginner training, football.

Background. The Russian Football Union has always given a high priority to the initiatives to develop a multilevel efficient training system. Specialists believe that an individual resource of each footballer may be mobilized and fully employed by the efforts to increase the move execution speed and, hence, the physicality building component of the training systems applied [1].

Special attention shall be given to beginner athletic trainings since childhood is a biologically sensitive period when the body and mind rapidly mature and individual health and working capacity is formed. Due efforts need to be taken to help the children shape up the right posture, good and efficient motor qualities and skills that soon must form a foundation for their athletic mastery and physical fitness [2, 4, 8].

Many coaches, however, are too focused on fast competitive accomplishments and tend to design and manage the training systems inefficiently by setting excessively high goals and requirements to physical, technical and psychological training of their athletes. It is not unusual that such forced trainings backfire by regress at the advanced training and sport excellence stages that may even result in a career-ending injury, overstress and overtraining [6]. The situation is further aggravated by the recent negative trends in the sport reserve health standards, with the sport statistics reporting growth in the sport-related injuries and musculoskeletal disorders diagnosed in beginner athletes [4, 7].

Objective of the study was to make an interim analysis of practical benefits of adapted gymnastics practices applied in the beginner football training process.

Methods and structure of the study. The athletes’ physical fitness was rated by the standard tests recommended by the valid sample curricula of sport schools plus the national physical training standards applied in the GTO Complex tests. The study was performed in the period of September 2015 to May 2017 at the Tyumen Football Club based in Tyumen. Subject to the study were 55 beginner footballers born in 2007 split up into Experimental Group (EG, n=27) trained as required by our training model with application of the adapted gymnastics practices, and Reference Group (RG, n=31) trained under the regular training system developed and applied by the Tyumen FC specialists and including just a few gymnastic exercises.

Study results and discussion. The ‘adapted gymnastics practices’ applicable in other sports mean herein a set of sequential training exercises geared to contribute to the standard training systems with the relevant gymnastic exercises and techniques making a special emphasis on the trainees’ physicality building and musculoskeletal system disorders preventing practices; with the training sequences and practices intended to effectively remove the individual barriers for progress at the sport excellence stage in view of the individual sport specifics and individual traits of the leading athletes [5].

The first-year Experimental Group training process was designed to assign 35% of the training time to the adapted gymnastics practices largely unspecific (at this stage) for football and including sets of teamwork developing, body conditioning and acrobatic exercises and jumps. The gymnastics exercises were applied in the warm-up and warm-down phases on every training session plus a weekly EG full-time-gymnastics training was run in a gymnastics gym managed by a coach specialized in artistic gymnastics.

The 8-9 year old footballers’ fitness tests showed their significant (p<0.05) progress for the first year of the adapted-gymnastics-assisted trainings as verified by every test. By the end of the school year of 2015/16, the EG performance was better versus the RG (p<0.05) in the standing long jump test, pull-ups test, standing bends forward tests, shuttle run test and 60s sit-ups test [6].

In September 2016, upon summer vacations, the EG and RG footballers were tested once again, and all the fitness tests showed a sagging trend explainable by the children being negligent in the self-reliant trainings in July till mid-August. At the same time many of them showed notable progress in anthropometrical characteristics including increase of the body mass and length, with such progress known to be of a natural negative effect on the physical fitness rates.

At the adapted gymnastics practice assisted second-year training stage, the training process was designed with due account of the sensitive body development period, specific game requirements and still deficient physical qualities and abilities. The adapted gymnastics tools and practices at that time were focused on the technique and exercises facilitating the ball handling skills building (simulation exercises with/ without ball in the standard body conditioning practices), fall safety, body control skills and attention switchover on signal. Special complex coordination, speed- and speed-strength-building exercises mostly focused on the leg muscles were applied in the teamwork and standard formats. It was in June 2017 that the next physical fitness tests were performed: see Table 1 hereunder.

Table 1. Physical fitness test data of the 9-10 year-old footballers in 2015/16 (М±m)

As demonstrated by the above test data, the EG showed significant progress (p<0.05) of 0.67s in the 30m sprint test; 9.4cm in the standing long jump test; 7.6 times in the push-ups test; and 2.7 times in the pull-ups on a horizontal bar. All other tests also showed some progress albeit insignificant in fact (p>0.05). By the end of the second-year training stage, the EG progress was tested to be significantly higher versus that of RG in virtually every fitness rating test (p<0.05). We believe that the EG progress was largely due to the training process being assisted by the special adapted gymnastics practices.

The RG was tested with some significant progress only in the 3x10m shuttle run test (p<0.05) associated with the concerning regress rates in the following tests: regress of 11.1cm in the standing long jump test; regress of 2.4 times in the push-ups test; regress of 1.31 times in the pull-ups on horizontal bar test; and regress of 3.85cm in the standing bends test. We believe that the regress might be due to the inefficient design and management of the training process, ineffective exercises and poor execution control on the one hand; and the age-specific body growth with the associating sag in physical fitness on the other hand.

Having compared the study data with the model age-specific performance data, we found notable growth of the share of trainees tested with ‘above the average’ and ‘high’ physical fitness rates in the EG after the experiment versus the EG test data prior to the experiment. Furthermore, the study made it possible to find a close correlation between some efficient gymnastic exercises and progress in special physical fitness tests including figure-of-eight ball control, push-ups and ball juggling tests.

Conclusion. The study data and analyses demonstrated benefits of the adapted gymnastics practices for the beginner football training process as verified by the physical fitness rating tests and a close correlation between some efficient gymnastic exercises and progress in special physical fitness tests.

References

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Corresponding author: kolunin2@mail.ru

Abstract

The study analyses benefits of adapted gymnastics practices in the beginner football training process as verified by the footballers’ physical fitness rating tests in the period of 2015 to 2017. It should be noted that the children’s physical progress tests showed wavelike progress profiles largely dependent on the individual physical development rates and applied training methods. The adapted gymnastics practices applied in the Experimental Group (EG) of beginner footballers were prudently designed to ensure due body conditioning, health improvement and physical progress in the first training year. In the second training year, the EG trainings included the adapted gymnastics practices designed to simulate football skills, facilitate the football technical skills building and special physical progress. The study data and analyses demonstrated benefits of the adapted gymnastics practices for the beginner football training process designed with due account of the sensitive body development periods, kinesiological potentials and specific game requirements in the physical progress securing training process.  The study found close correlations between some efficient gymnastic exercises and progress in special physical fitness tests.