Dr. Sc. Hist. E.A. Kalinina¹
PhD L.M. Kieleväinen^1
1Petrozavodsk State Pedagogical University, Petrozavodsk

Keywords: sports, sambo, coach, educator, skills building.

Background. Modern Russian sport communities take special efforts to protect, revive and develop a variety of ethnic wrestling sports, with sambo formally ranked among the priority national combat sports subject to special promotion and development policies [8, 9]. Progress in sambo, as in many other individual sports disciplines, is known to heavily depend on the coach’s knowledge, skills, experience and personality qualities that may encourage or hamper individual competitive successes [5]. Some coaches’ opinion poll report the trainees being discouraged by disbeliefs in own abilities, low willpower, loss of interest in sports for different reasons, vague progress opportunities, laziness, slowness and many other factors. [7]. Sensitive and determined coaching service with high professionalism and personal role models is viewed by many as an indispensable basis for good competitive progress in active sports and healthy lifestyle upon retirement from them.

Objective of the study was to rate, by a questionnaire survey, and analyze the coaching service quality aspects (education mastery, theoretical and practical knowledge and experience, skills and personality qualities) for the athlete’s personality progress and competitive success, with sambo taken for the case study.

Methods and structure of the study. We analyzed, for the purposes of the study, memories and bibliographic sources; and run a questionnaire survey and interviews of the active sambo coaches serving at children's sports schools in the Republic of Karelia, active competitors and retired athletes still serving in the national physical education and sports sector.

Results and discussion. The Karelian sambo school was founded by Ilya Romanovich Shegelman, Technical Science Doctor, Professor of Petrozavodsk State University (PSU), Honored Trainer of Russia and Kazakhstan Republic. In 1969, he initiated a small sambo group at PSU being upgraded to a fully-fledged sambo school for the local students, with its experience fast promoted and rolled out in other regions. The first municipal sambo tournament was organized in 1969 by I.R. Shegelman, V. Fomin and N. Mamchur. In 1975 the sambo community organized the first Republic of Karelia sambo championship; and in 1976 established the Karelian Sambo Federation that was reformed to the Karelian Sambo and Judo Federation in 1999 (formally accredited for Sambo only) – and still headed by I.R. Shegelman, Senior Coach of the Republic of Karelia. This outstanding talent has trained many World, European and Russian sambo champions and above 200 champions of the Republic of Karelia in sambo, judo, hand-to-hand fights, mixed martial arts, plus an enthusiastic martial arts coaching team [2-4].

One of the key goals of modern sambo is the athlete’s personality progress in every life and health control aspect, high creativity in thinking, self-exploration and assertion agenda etc. Theoretical and practical training service shall help the personality progress and competitive success – largely dependent on the coach’s service quality and progress management ability geared to encourage both physical progress and sports-specific skills, qualities and experience, i.e. the individual sporting fitness, culture and spirit on the whole [6]. Every successful athlete or team is always backed by a coach whose merits and contributions cannot be overestimated. Highly successful coaches capable of training world champions are always unique.

Our analysis of the survey data and memoirs found a few most precious qualities mentioned by the trainers and trainees. First of all, it is a profound knowledgebase the practical experience is built on, with a special role often played by the knowledgebase scope that should cover every related knowledge field as well. I.R. Shegelman emphasized the importance of persistent self-education: “I have always worked hard to keep track of new developments in sports pedagogy and psychology, have read lots of reference literature in sports medicine, biomechanics, children’s sports service etc. My key goal is to teach the trainees how to think efficiently ... I have always told my trainees: your mission is good education first and foremost” [1].

Interpersonal relationship is reported as one more important factor for the coaching service success. A coach shall be always open for dialogue with a trainee to perfectly know his strengths and weaknesses, actual needs, individual traits and responses to workloads – to timely and efficiently manage the training system. However bright the coach’s personality may be, it should never dominate the trainee’s personality otherwise the latter is suppressed by the coach’s authority. A good coach is still and always indisputably authoritative in the trainee community as reported by the respondents.

Perfect goal setting is ranked high among the success factors. We found the initial goals of the beginner trainees. One of them reported that he ‘wanted to protect himself and his loved ones’ in the difficult 1990ies, and that is why opted for the ‘weaponless self-defense’ as sambo is abbreviated in Russian. One more sambo master wanted ‘to become stronger, assert himself in the peer community and protect himself’ [1]. With age these primary goals were reported to naturally change as the athletes focused on the competitive wins at the top level, to qualify for Masters of Sports, World Class Masters of Sports, join the national team and win the World Championships. Our survey showed the success always favoring the coaches who strived for perfection. Thus I.R. Shegelman emphasized in his interview: “I have always told my trainees that they should come on top and, when they opt for coaching careers, they should train champions”.

Coach's intuition was also ranked among the trainees’ success factors. A good coach always perfectly knows the trainee’s strengths, weaknesses, needs and traits, and manages his progress by a perfect instinct or “inner vision” that shows the way to success. Intuition is also needed to single out a gifted athlete. For example, I.R. Shegelman immediately recognized the gifts and great resources of young Maxim Antipov from the Karelian village of Pindushi who soon won the Russian and World Champion titles in combat sambo.

What personality qualities are critical for a sambo coach? Responses of the athletes referred to their own coaches’ personality qualities that inspired and governed them on the way to success. Above all, the athletes mentioned the role model provided by the coach, with his dedication, hard working, last for new knowledge, sincere love and respect to children. Modern sambo is a highly intellectual sport, and its ambassadors often go beyond the stereotyped popular concepts of athletic personalities. The respondents emphasized that “a coach should inspire the trainee by his belief that he is no worse than the others who compete at the top level, and the trainee needs to only work hard, develop healthy aggression and must-win mindset to win sooner or later” [1]. The trainee should become a sort of fanatic governed by some sports ideal or mission for fast competitive progress. This feel is either inborn or not and rather difficult for cultivation, and this is the reason why the coaches that may recognize the individual resource in a child, train him and make the national, World and European Champion are so seldom and precious.

Conclusion. The case study of the Karelian sambo school progress has found that many of its leaders have been successful in a few life domains other than sports – in law enforcement system, education, governmental agencies, where they were highly appreciated as determined professionals. The success of the Karelian sambo wrestlers has been largely due to the personality and professional qualities of its coaches with their comprehensive knowledgebase, skills and experiences, appreciation of sambo as a national heritage, perfect interpersonal coach-athlete relationships and succession in every aspect, preservation and promotion of the unique national culture and identity on the global sports arenas. Persistent progress in the theoretical and practical knowledge, perfect goal setting, highest responsibility, intuition, authority and good interpersonal communication climate were ranked among the key success factors of the Karelian sambo school by the sampled coaches and athletes. Success of the school has been proved by the actual competitive progress histories of its leaders.

References

1. Archive of Institute of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism of Petrozavodsk State University. 1-25.
2. Godinov A.N. History, state and problems of development of sambo in the Republic of Karelia. Nauchnye issledovaniya: ot istorii k praktike. 2015. V. 1. No. 2 (3). pp. 184-186.
3. Demidova T.V. Karelian sensei: 45 years in science and sports. Petrozavodsk: Verso publ., 2015. 64 p.
4. Kalinina E.A., Kozheev N.A. Problems of Sambo Development in Rural School. Actual problems of academic physical education. Proc. Int. research-practical conference, January 30-31, 2020. Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash State Agricultural Academy publ., 2020. pp. 182-185.
5. Kieleväinen L.M. On sambo implementation in educational institutions. Tourism and education: research and projects. Proceedings of national research- practical conference. Petrozavodsk: Petrozavodsk State University publ., 2017. pp. 243-246.
6. Lubysheva L.I. Sports education as basis of formation of personal sports culture. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury. 2012. No.6. pp. 96-99.
7. Mnatsakanyan B.H. Role of sports activity demotivation factors in perception of coaches and athletes. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury. 2015. No. 2. P. 53.
8. Pautov A.D., Velikodnaya A.A. Sambo as national idea of ​​patriotic education. Fizkulturnoe obrazovanie Sibiri. 2017. V. 38. No. 2. pp. 77-80.
9. Polubinskiy V.N., Senko V.M. Sambo wrestling. Minsk: Belarus publ.,1980. 141 p.

Corresponding author: kalinka46@yandex.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to rate, by a questionnaire survey, and analyze the coaching service quality aspects (education mastery, theoretical and practical knowledge and experience, skills and personality qualities) for the athlete’s personality progress and competitive success, with sambo taken for the case study.

Methods and structure of the study. We analyzed, for the purposes of the study, memories and bibliographic sources; and run a questionnaire survey and interviews of the active sambo coaches serving at children's sports schools in the Republic of Karelia, active competitors and retired athletes still serving in the national physical education and sports sector.

Results and conclusions. The authors' conclusions were based on the theoretical analysis and generalization of the archival and documentary sources, as well as the questionnaire survey and interviews with the sambo coaches and their trainees. The formula of success of the Karelian sambo wrestlers was derived. The ways the coach and his trainees could work together to achieve high sports results were defined. The authors state that the role of the coach (educator) in shaping the personality of a sports school trainee will always depend on his professional skills and personal qualities. The best coach will be someone who can shape and motivate his trainees to achieve the set goal, who can urge for action and its execution through the targeted pedagogical impact.