Applicant R.G. Ganiev¹
Ph.D., Associate Professor S.G. Fomin²
Ph.D., Professor O.E. Likhachev^1
1Smolensk State Academy of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism, Smolensk
²Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sport, Youth and Tourism (GTsOLIFK), Moscow

Keywords: prevocational training, structure, content, basketball player.

Introduction. Owing to the fact that current programs for basketball players of groups of sports skills perfection and for elite players have been designed without regard to such an important fact that sports can be a profession, a job, it is necessary to elaborate an initial prevocational sports training program. The main purpose of training of athletes in these groups is to ensure their victory in sports competitions. There is no mention in any of the current programs that the athlete is a future professional. Naturally, pre-season training of an athlete is one thing, but training of young man to be a professional athlete is somewhat different. It is a more diverse, versatile process, which includes studying essential features, specifics in the actual professional sports training and studying the theoretical aspects of the profession: legal, psychological, self-training technique and others.

The purpose of the research was to study the structure and content of the program of initial prevocational training of junior basketball players.

Results and discussion. The first thing to be determined when designing such a program is the age from which such a targeted prevocational training can be started, as this process is very costly, so only the most gifted athletes with a high chance for further contract of professional athlete are selected for this. There are very few candidates like that. Our statistics are not correct, but experience has proven that, most likely, their number does not reach one percent of those engaged in basketball in each age period.

The most optimal age from which prevocational training can be started is 16-17 years, which corresponds to the 10th-11th grades of school. In other words, by this age young people have already received general secondary education and are entering the period of selection and preparation for the future profession. At the age of 16-17 years they start planning their future career and preparing for it deliberately. As a rule, young athletes of this age have 6-7-year experience of training in various Youth Sports Schools, Specialized Children and Youth Sports School of the Olympic Reserve, and we can rather accurately predict their possible future and probability of successful enhancement of their professional career in sports. At this age, it becomes possible to try and consciously, purposefully change the motivation of young athletes for basketball training. Before this age, schoolchildren are mainly guided by their desire to play, improve their physical fitness, compete. From now on, they are on the way to shifting their motive dispositions in basketball training from "the needs to play" to "professional career", "job". Professional sports is a tough job, accompanied by a variety of restrictions, injuries, mandatory requirements, but at the same time it is prestigious and well-paid.

In addition, according to the active Russian Legislation, when basketball players attain the age of 16-17 years their parents can enter into professional contracts in their names.

The development of such a program implies, above all, the determination of the structure and content of the sections this program will consist of.

In our opinion, the program should have the following approximate structure:

- section of model characteristics - reference points (anthropometric characteristics, indices of physical fitness and technical skills) set up to today's basketball players - candidates for experts in playing positions. This sections contrasts with those of the current programs for basketball players of groups of sports skills perfection and for elite basketball players. The main difference is that these programs should be designed with due regard to the characteristics of the best foreign athletes, as these legionnaires are the subjects of competition in the Russian sports "market". Orientation entirely on the level of fitness of Russian athletes, as it is common nowadays, has resulted, for example, in the predominance of legionaries (over 60%) in the Russian basketball teams-participants of the VTB united league.

- theoretical section concerned with the foundations of legal knowledge (not included in contemporary programs) - professional competency in sports (theoretical section), legal rules and requirements for professional basketball as a profession. It studies the specifics and conditions of work of professional athletes, contract laws (employment agreements). It helps solve the problem of formation of professional motivation, contributes to the assimilation of the system of values, as well as enables athletes learn the psychological structure of professional activity that meets the contemporary standards of professional sport.

- section - advanced curriculum in a foreign language (English). Today's  globalization of professional sports places heavy demands to the knowledge of the major language of sports communication - the English language. It can be observed that even during the Russian basketball championship, when giving gaming guidelines, the Russian teams coaches speak English, since the teams include legionnaires of different nationalities. Half knowledge of English may be one of those factors that prevent a professional athlete from building a rewarding career.

- section - profound medical knowledge and skills: technique of self-control over physical condition, fundamentals of dietology, accidents prevention and first aid for injuries; the required level of such knowledge is much higher than young athletes actually possess. This is due to the fact that professional athletes train a lot on their own and have very tough regular season, which often results in injuries.

- section - organization and specifics of organization and methodology of individual training in professional basketball. Young athletes find it most difficult to adhere to the requirements of this provision, as the peculiarities of the Russian system of school and family education lead to the formation of increased infantilism, unreadiness to live and work self-dependently in terms of severe competition. Unwillingness to put forth tremendous efforts, follow the regimen required for career growth, without which it does not seem possible to be successful under modern conditions of severe competitive market economy [1, 2]. It should be clear in their mind that no one is going to train them for the upcoming season. Professional basketball players must attend their first training being already prepared for the upcoming season.

Conclusions. Since the 1992 Olympics (Barcelona, Spain) professional athletes from all sports have been allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. The US basketball team, made up of professional athletes, superstars of the US National Basketball Association, were the first to compete in these Olympic Games.

The admission of professional athletes contributed to the restructuring of training and career development of elite athletes. Nowadays, almost all Russian sports are facing an acute problem: if not particularly create a modern organization, but at least restructure the current organization and methodology of prevocational training of junior basketball players - candidates for pro athletes in terms of the changed conditions of the world sports.

References

1. Likhachev, О.Е. Metodika individual'noy samostoyatel'noy podgotovki vysokoroslykh professionalnykh basketbolistov v period mezhsezon'ya (Individual self-training technology for tall professional basketball players in off-season) / O.E. Likhachev, A.S. Fomin // Teoriya i praktika fiz. kul'tury. - 2012. - № 2. - PS. 63
2. Likhachev, О.Е. Problems of professional basketball in Russia / O.E. Likhachev, V.A. Korshkov, A.V. Mazurina // 18 Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science /12-15 June Barcelona 2013- Spain/ Book Abstracts. Edited by: Balagure N., Torrents C., Vilfnova F., Cadefan J., Narrago R., Tsolakidis E.,  2013.- P.890.

Corresponding author: loe3@yandex.ru