PhD E.A. Zyurin¹
PhD E.N. Bobkova²
Dr. Med., Professor V.N. Morozov¹
Dr. Med., Professor S.A. Poliyevsky^3
1Russian Federal Research Center for Physical Culture and Sports (VNIIFK), Moscow
²Smolensk State Academy of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism, Smolensk
³Russian state university of physical education, sport, youth and tourism (scolipe)

Keywords: senior population, physical activity, physical fitness, motivation, GTO Complex tests, GTO Complex test results

Background. As things now stand, benefits of the GTO Complex for different population groups are widely recognized by communities and decision-makers due to the great contribution of the GTO Complex to (1) the popular health protection and improvement initiatives and (2) the people’s physical fitness, labor quality, active longevity and defense resource building and mobilizing efforts. This is the reason why the modern GTO Complex is viewed as a programmatic and regulatory framework for the mass physical education, with a high priority given to its design and content including the classified GTO Complex test system to secure and rate progress in the common physical qualities and motor skills and provide a basis for a healthy lifestyle of every socially active individual.

Analyses of the available study reports, statistical data, special materials and online resources on the subject show that the mass physical training process design and management for the GTO Complex tests to secure the process quality and consistency on a sound methodological basis – will provide a foundation for success of the mass physical education and sports in Russia.

Objective of the study was to analyze the mass physical fitness test data for a variety of national population groups in the context of the GTO Complex tests.

Methods and structure of the study. The methods applied for the study purposes were as follows: monitoring, opinion polls, formal questionnaire surveys, comparative analysis, systemic studies and mathematical statistics toolkit for data processing.

The group physical fitness was rated as provided by the GTO Complex test system for different age groups (GTO classes) and group test standards. Given in Table 1 hereunder is the summary of the GTO Complex test reports for different population groups, with successful qualifications for the GTO Gold, Silver and Bronze Badges in the period of 2016-17, as provided by the Federal Statistical Report GTO-2.

Table 1. GTO Complex test reports for different population groups with qualifications for the GTO Gold, Silver and Bronze badges in the period of 2016-17

Study findings and discussion. The statistical data shows the growing popularity of the GTO Complex tests as verified by the registered and tested population that was reported to grow by 70.9% (732,978 people) in 2017 to 2016; and the statistically meaningful growth of the qualifications for the GTO badges by 10.9% for the same period; with the share of qualifiers staying virtually the same.

Of special interest for the analysis is the age structure of the GTO Complex test data arrays: see Figure 1 hereunder. The shares of successful tests by age classes were found to grow for the school age groups and fall for the adults, with the data showing where special efforts need to be taken to activate and mobilize some population groups for the GTO Complex tests.

Figure 1. Variations of the successful GTO Complex tests by the age classes/ groups

Thus, Class 1 showed 2.2% progress (from 8.5% to 10.7%) of the successful tests in 2017 to 2016; whilst Classes 2-3 were tested with regresses of 1.6% and 5.5%, (from 13.2% to 11.6% and from 17.1 to 11.6%) respectively. The senior schoolchildren showed significant regress in the successful test totals by 13.2% (from 35.4% to 22.3% for the year). Particularly sharp decreases of the successful tests were reported for Class 6 in the both years; with the gender-unspecific successes dropping from 35.4% to 9.6% on the way from 16-17 to 18 years of age in 2016; and from 22.3% to 8.6% in 2017 [1]. The adult population groups (Classes 7 to 11) showed very low if any interest to and successes in the GTO Complex tests.

On the whole, the GTO Complex test success statistics showed regress in 2017 to 2016, with some significant progress reported only for Class 1 (by 2.2%) and Classes 7-9 (by 4%, 3.6% and 1.9%, respectively). We believe that this negative trend is due to the GTO Complex reinstatement drawbacks as the system lacks accessible and efficient mechanisms to lure different population groups into the GTO Complex tests and the poor group motivations for the tests [3].

We performed a questioning survey to profile the public attitudes to the physical education and sports (on the whole and the GTO Complex in particular, with 17 thousand people in different regions of Russia sampled for the survey, to find the following:

• 51.7% of the sample believes that physical education and sports is critical for good physical form and health;
• 14.8% of the sample ranks physical education and sports among the key tools for individual self-fulfillment;
• 22.3% of the sample confesses being largely reluctant to physical education and sports and non-accepting compulsion to physical education and sports practices; and
• 11.2% of the sample reported totally unsporting attitudes, with the physical education and sports activity viewed as wasted time [1, 5].

Group satisfaction with the physical activity was rated by a questioning survey, with 500 young people (100 schoolchildren, 250 students of vocational training establishments and 150 university students) and 750 adults sampled for the survey. The survey data and analysis showed that 63% of the student group rates their own physical activity sufficient under the valid curricula; and 23% complement it by the off-class training service for satisfaction. Most of the adult group (53.3%) rates that their physical activity excessive. It was also found that physically active/ sporting adults much more often rate their physical activity insufficient (27%) than their non-sporting peers (6.7%). This trend was found in every adult professional groups regardless of how physically hard it works.

One more emphasis in the study was made on the physical activity rating criteria. The relevant multiannual studies and experiments by the Russian Federal Research Center for Physical Culture and Sports (VNIIFK) team made it possible to recommend the following physical education and sports rating criteria: physical education and sports volume measurable in the time actually assigned for the practices for some calendar period; physical education and sports intensity ratable by the cardiovascular system work i.e. HR; physical education and sports distribution over the calendar period; and the physical education and sports forms for the dominant physical activity versus the required workload. Every physical education and sports rating criterion will be applied to recommend the most effective physical education and sports forms, volumes, schedules and intensities.

Experimental sporting groups provided with individualized physical education and sports services by the school sport clubs reported the human resource outflow of 18.3% per year versus the 46.9% in the peer reference groups [3]. Most of the young people who left the groups reported a dissatisfaction with the physical education and sports service forms and practices. The study found that the physical education and sports activity tends to evolve towards habitual forms when the practices are prudently customized to the age-specific and individual needs of the groups.

Conclusion. The study data give the grounds to conclude that the popular physical education and sports in Russia shall be put on a systemic basis to secure progress in the GTO Complex tests. It is also recommended to prudently apply a variety of motivations to effectively engage communities in the customizable physical education, health and sport practices to facilitate success of the Russian Physical Culture and Sports GTO Complex reinstatement project. The measures will be designed to spur up the public interest in systemic physical education and encourage physical activity and progress to improve the health standards and working capacity.

References

1. Bobkova E.N., Zyurin E.A., Kurentsov V.A. et al Issledovanie otnosheniya vzroslogo naseleniya Rossiyskoy Federatsii k fizicheskoy kulture i sportu, podgotovke i vyipolneniyu normativov Vserossiyskogo fizkulturno-sportivnogo kompleksa GTO [Study of the attitude of senior population of the Russian Federation to physical education and sports, training and implementation of Russian Physical Culture and Sports GTO Complex standards]. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki, 2017, no.  6,pp. 67-74.
2. Zyurin E.A., Masyagina N.V., Kurentsov V.A. et al Issledovanie rezultativnosti vypolneniya normativov VFSK GTO I–VI stupeni kak faktora, opredelyayusрchego fizicheskuyu podgotovlennost detey, podrostkov i studencheskoy molodezhi Rossiyskoy Federatsii [Study of efficiency of implementation of RPCSC GTO I-VI tests as determinant of physical fitness of children, adolescents and students of the Russian Federation]. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki, 2017, no. 5, pp. 43-47.
3. Zyurin E.A., Shepeleva N.A., Petruk E.N. Sravnitelnaya kharakteristika fizicheskoy podgotovlennosti obuchayushchikhsya, prozhivayushchikh v razlichnykh federalnykh okrugakh Rossiyskoy Federatsii, po rezultatam testirovaniya normativnykh trebovaniy kompleksa GTO 1-6-y stupeni [Comparative characteristics of physical fitness of students living in various federal districts of the Russian Federation, based on testing of I-VI GTO regulatory requirements]. Fizicheskoe vospitanie i detsko-yunosheskiy sport, 2017, no. 4-5, pp. 22-26.
4. Zyurin E.A., Kurentsov V.A., Syafukov M.R. Upravlenie fizicheskim vospitaniem uchaschihsya obrazovatelnykh uchrezhdeniy v usloviyahk deyatelnosti shkolnogo fizkulturno-sportivnogo kluba [Management of school physical education within school physical education and sports club]. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki, 2017, no. 3, pp. 45-49.
5. Zyurin E.A., Kurentsov V.A., Krylova Y.A. Analiz faktorov, opredelyayushchikh otnoshenie shkolnikov k fizkulturno-sportivnoy deyatelnosti [Study of factors to determine attitude of schoolchildren to physical education and sports activities]. «Problemy sovershenstvovaniya fizicheskogo vospitaniya studentov»: mater. mezhdunar. nauch-prakt. konf. Vladimirskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta» im. Aleksandra Grigorevicha i Nikolaya Grigorevicha Stoletovykh» [Proc. Intern. res.-practical conf. of Stoletovs VSU "Problems of improvement of academic physical education"], October 10, 2016. October 10 2016. Vladimir, 2016, pp. 64-67.

Corresponding author: info@vniifk.ru

The study analyzes the mass physical fitness test data for a variety of national population groups in the context of the GTO Complex tests; group progress in the tests; correlations of the local communal physical/ sport activity with the progress in the GTO Complex tests; and the ways to cultivate interest in and stimulate people for habitual physical education and sports. The methods applied for the study purposes were as follows: monitoring, opinion polls, formal questionnaire surveys, comparative analysis, systemic studies and mathematical statistics toolkit for data processing. The population group physical fitness was rated by the relevant age-specific classified GTO Complex tests. The study data give the grounds to conclude that the popular physical education and sports in Russia shall be put on a systemic basis to secure progress in the GTO Complex tests. It is also recommended to prudently apply a variety of motivations to effectively engage communities in the customizable physical education, health and sport practices to facilitate success of the Russian Physical Culture and Sports GTO Complex reinstatement project. The measures will be designed to spur up the public interest in systemic physical education and encourage physical activity and development to improve the health standards and working capacity.