M.A. Korneva, candidate
A.S. Makhov, associate professor, Ph.D., member of Russian Paralympic committee
Shuya branch of Ivanovo state university, Shuya
O.N. Stepanova, professor, Dr.Hab.
Moscow State Pedagogical University, Moscow

Key words: motive, handicapped athlete with locomotor disabilities, Russian press, work-out session.

Introduction. The problem of weak motivation to sports classes of the significant part of handicapped athletes themselves is a subject of discussions of today’s researchers of adaptive sport [3-6].

Unlike Paralympic sport, adaptive sport develops in two directions: recreational and wellness sport and elite sport, and the main task of adaptive sport is involvement of the maximum number of persons with disabilities in physical exercises and sports occupations, and, hence, their socialization.

Despite its big social value, the goal of Paralympic athletes is to achieve results of the international level, take first places in international competitions, set national, continental and world sports records to set an example for children, teenagers and youth, society in general of coping with difficulties, spiritual and physical perfection and of leading healthy lifestyle [7].

Therefore, different adaptive sports that are not included into the program of the Paralympic Games are more attractive for people with disabilities of different nosologies, as most of them are lifelong disabled, have never participated in sports activities, in contrast to Paralympic sport where former athletes with acquired disabilities are found more frequently.

Russian press, which recently has got very popular among weightlifters without health limitations, became attractive for athletes with locomotor disabilities too. The main differences of Russian press from powerlifting bench are those that an athlete during his attempt should not fix the maximum possible for him bar weight, but lift it with a certain weight by the rules of competitions the maximum number of times for 5 min.

The purpose of the study was to consider the peculiarities of motivation of handicapped athletes with locomotor disabilities to participation in Russian press work-out sessions.

Materials and methods. Works of domestic and foreign scholars G.D. Babushkin, E.G. Babushkin [1] and others served as a theoretical basis for the study of motivation to participation of handicapped athletes with locomotor disabilities in Russian press work-out sessions.

At the same time we relied on the works of researchers who studied the motives and needs in physical activities and sports of people of different age (from adolescent to elderly) [9], fitness of deaf women aged 25-35 years by E.A. Osokina [8], peculiarities of motivation for a healthy lifestyle of persons involved in adaptive physical culture.

To identify a list of motives of handicapped athletes with locomotor disabilities to participation in Russian press work-out sessions a survey was conducted with athletes of the sports and recreational club for the disabled “Penguin” of the Shuya branch of Ivanovo state university as well as with the members of strength adaptive sports teams with locomotor disabilities from the towns and villages of Kineshma, Rodniki, Kokhma, Ivanovo, Puchezh and Savino. The results of the interviews are presented in Table 1.

Results and discussion. The processing of the surveys resulted in a list of motives of handicapped athletes with locomotor disabilities to participation in Russian press work-out sessions, as presented in Table 1.

Table 1. The list of motives of handicapped athletes with locomotor disabilities to participation in Russian press work-out sessions (n=37)

A questionnaire was designed to establish the hierarchy of importance and the structure of motives of handicapped athletes with locomotor disabilities to participation in Russian press work-out sessions. Based on it, a survey was conducted involving 91 athletes from 15 municipalities of the Ivanovo and Vladimir regions (the towns of Kineshma, Ivanov, Vichuga, Rodnikov, Furmanov, Puchezh, Kokhma, Shuya, Privolzhsk, Navolok, Zavolzhsk, Teykov, Komsomolsk, Savin, Gavrilovo-Posad, Gorokhovets, Kovrov). The respondents were asked to indicate the degree of importance of each of the motives listed in Table 1 on a 10-point scale (9-10 points – “extremely important”, 7-8 points – “very important”, 5-6 points – “quite important”, 3-4 points – “not very important”, 1-2 points – “does not matter at all”).

The study took place within the framework of the powerlifting championship of the Ivanovo region among athletes with locomotor disabilities in November 2011, the VII Sport Festival for the handicapped with locomotor disabilities of the Ivanovo region in May 2012. Data from the surveys were compiled into a single matrix and processed by the method of averages (calculations were made using the standard software package Microsoft Excel for Windows) and SPSS 12.

The results of the mathematical and statistical processing of the survey data are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Results of the mathematical and statistical processing of the data on the significance of the main motives of handicapped athletes with locomotor disabilities for participation in Russian press work-out sessions (n=91), points

As can be seen from Table 2, none of the motives were rated by the handicapped athletes with locomotor disabilities within the category of 5-6 points – “quite important” and of 1-2 points – “does not matter at all”.

Among extremely important motives the respondents cited № 1-5 – desires for “body build correction”; “proving that they can do better (“outperform themselves”)”; “self-assertion (getting a degree or a title)”; a desire to engage in a new sport. In this case, the leading motive in terms of importance is the following: “Russian press is less traumatic compared to other strength sports”.

These motives are of subjective importance due to the fact that the handicapped athletes are attracted by minimal traumatism of this sport that is new for them, in comparison with other strength sports, as well as by the possibility to assert themselves and prove to themselves that they are capable of more. 

The indicators № 6-13 belong to the category of “very important” motives: “to improve the health status”; “a desire to be useful to society”; “to develop own physical qualities”; “a desire to make friends, companions”; “to cultivate one’s moral and volitional qualities”; “getting new experiences (feeling of excitement, struggle, victory)”; “desire to show own abilities”; “to form the need for regular physical exercises”. This suggests that athletes with disabilities strive to make new friends and to be useful to society, their town and region, by achieving results in Russian press.

The desire to lead a healthy lifestyle and to find something to do outside one’s home has a certain value for the surveyed disabled athletes.

To determine the structure of the motives the survey results were subject to a correlation analysis (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were calculated); the correlation analysis results formed the basis for the construction of three correlation pleiads aimed at determining qualitatively homogeneous groups of motives of handicapped athletes with locomotor disabilities for participation in Russian press work-out sessions (Fig. 1-3, Table 3).

Fig. 1. Correlation pleiad № 1

Fig. 2. Correlation pleiad № 2

Fig. 3. Correlation pleiad № 3

Note: The numbers of indicators specified in the correlation pleiads correspond to the numbers of indicators in Table 1.

Table 3. Identification of the correlation pleiads reflecting the structure of the motives of handicapped athletes with locomotor disabilities for participation in Russian press work-out sessions (n=91)

Notes: power of pleiad - a number of attributes included into the correlation pleiad; strength of pleiad - an average correlation coefficient.

Conclusions. As a result of the conducted study we can state that participation of athletes with locomotor disabilities in Russian press work-out sessions is seen by them as a real way of self-assertion, social adaptation and integration into society, a way of getting new experiences and strengthening health, a desire for body build correction and leading a healthy lifestyle.

References

1. Babushkin, G.D. Formation of sports motivation / G.D. Babushkin, E.G. Babushkin. - Omsk: SibSAPhC, 2000. – 179 P. (In Russian)
2. Korneva, M.A. Analysis of the requirements of disabled athletes with locomotor disabilities to the organization and conduct of the training process in the Russian press / M.A. Korneva, A.S. Makhov, O.N. Stepanova // Uchenye zapiski SPbGUFK im. P.F. Lesgafta. – 2014. – № 1 (107). – P. 48–53. (In Russian)
3. Makhov, A.S. Adaptive sports in Russia and abroad: formation, organization, regulation: monograph / A.S. Makhov. – Мoscow: RUPF, 2011. – 196 P. (In Russian)
4. Makhov, A.S. The concept of management of development of adaptive sport in Russia / A.S. Makhov // Uchenye zapiski SPbGUFK im. P.F. Lesgafta. – 2013. – № 2 (96). – P. 96–101. (In Russian)
5. Makhov, A.S. The problems of management of development of adaptive sport in Russia / A.S. Makhov, O.N. Stepanova // Uchenye zapiski SPbGUFK im. P.F. Lesgafta. – 2009. – № 12(58). – P. 67–71. (In Russian)
6. Makhov, A.S. Theory and practice of control of development of adaptive sport in Russia  monograph / A.S. Makhov. – Shuya: Publ. h-se of Shuya branch of Ivanovo state un-ty, 2013. – 185 P. (In Russian)
7. Model law "On Paralympic Sport" 25.11.2008 № 31-13. (In Russian)
8. Osokina, E.A. Needs and motivations (guidelines) of deaf women aged 25-35 years to fitness classes / E.A. Osokina, O.N. Stepanova // Culture of health protection in the innovative environment of a new school: Proceedings of the All-Rus. (remote) theoretical-practical conf. - Shuya: ShSPU, 2012. – P. 161-165. (In Russian)
9. Stepanova, O.N. Marketing in the sphere of physical culture and sport / O.N. Stepanova. – Мoscow: Sovetsky sport, 2007. – 256 P. (In Russian)

Corresponding author: alexm-77@list.ru