Associate Professor, PhD K.E. Stolyar
S.Yu. Vit'ko
Postgraduate R.R. Pikhaev
I.V. Kondrakova
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow

Keywords: GTO, integrated physical fitness rate, Plekhanov’s Sport Complex.

Background. The integrated physical fitness rating system may be viewed both as a good motivation for physical education practices of people from different social strata and an efficient tool to explore the individual background physical fitness levels and offer relevant methods of fitness development [1, 2, 3, 5].

The importance of the Russian people’s physical health rating initiatives was recognized by the national government and reflected in the Russian Physical Culture and Sports Complex “Ready for Labour and Defence” (RPCSC GTO). The renewed GTO Complex was designed to contribute to the good old national Russian health improvement traditions that have been cultivated since the 1930ies. However, the more than 20-years-long break in the popular movement was obviously detrimental for the traditional culture of physical and mental health protection and improvement, with many people falling off the active health-centred physical culture and sporting activity. Therefore, special efforts need to be taken to encourage due self-training and self-rating activity of the university students, academic staff members and educators in the context of the renewed RPCSC GTO requirements [3, 4, 9, 10].

Objective of the study was to develop and test potential benefits of an integrated physical fitness rating system in application to the university students’ training for the GTO tests.

Methods and structure of the study. It was based on the GTO tests of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics students’ in the academic year of 2013-14 that the following problems were found:

• The University is in need of due conditions and facilities for some tests being performed in a safe and effective manner – for example, 120-130 m running tracks and good facilities for cross-country races;
• The traditional academic physical education curriculum that has been formed for the last 20 years gives virtually no way for a few test exercises being executed for one day in what may be called a combined athletic event;
• The university students are in need of a methodical training for the test exercises that require a variety of physical qualities being efficiently mobilized; and
• The students were found incapable of maintaining due physical fitness rates for the period of time required for the combined test exercises.

The questionnaire survey data under the study showed most of the tested students (above 75%) being unhappy with their test results. It should be noted, however, that the respondents reportedly showed better results in the in-class GTO tests in the academic Physical Education hours when only 1-2 test exercises were performed. This may be due to the students being poorly prepared for the competitive format of the combined tests and it was stressful for them and, consequently, detrimental for the test results.

The students, on the one hand, report being highly motivated for success in the GTO tests to qualify for the GTO badges and encouragements, whilst the educational process reports, on the other hand, show them poorly motivated for highly-intensive efforts to attain the individual best results in the tests.

The Plekhanov’s Sport Complex (PSC) was designed and implemented in the practical academic curriculum to address the above problems and attain the following goals:

1. Increase the number of students (bachelors, masters and post-graduates) going in for physical education and sport activities on a systemic basis;
2. Raise the physical fitness rates of the students to at least 90% of the students’ population being rated with the “above average” physical fitness rate;
3. Step up the students’ motivation for the physical fitness self-rating based on the modern information technology tools;
4. Give students background knowledge of the methods, tools and institutional forms of self-controlled training process for the GTO tests;
5. Develop the relevant competitive motor activity forms; and
6. Cultivate the students’ responsibility to the state for their own physical and mental health.

The PSC project implementation period included the following stages:

At the first stage (the 2013-14 academic year), a set of test exercises was put together to rate the key physical qualities including strength, speed, flexibility and endurance within the frame capacities of the available sport infrastructure of the University; draft rating system was developed; the relevant public promotion campaign was launched; and the PSC signage was developed. At the same stage, the set of selected test exercises was tested in the real academic education process.

At the second stage (the 2014-15 academic year), the system designers added a few test exercises to rate the coordination abilities; and the rating scale was further improved and arranged. The PSC was included in the academic education curriculum as a tool to rate the students’ academic progress in the optional sport disciplines.

At the third stage (the 2015-16 academic year), the fitness rating scale was further detailed; and we added a few test exercises – particularly the electronic shooting and swimming tests – to rate a variety of the applied motor skills.

The latest version of the PSC includes the following rating test exercises:

• 4 x 10 m speed rating shuttle run tests;
• Strength rating tests: pull-ups on the high bar for men; and dip ups for women;
• Flexibility rating tests: bents forward on a gymnastic bench;
• Speed-strength-coordination rating tests: standing jumps; and
• Applied motor skills rating tests: 50 m freestyle swimming test; and 10 m electronic shooting test.

The PSC program tests were designed for the following four qualification classes: Class III (bronze), Class II (silver), Class I (gold) and PSC Master. The qualification test rates were harmonized with the relevant GTO qualification test classes. To qualify for the PSC Master class, a student must show the highest rates in every test. The students qualified the PSC Masters may successfully pass the highest-level GTO tests to qualify for the Golden GTO Badge.

To assess the potential benefits of the Plekhanov’s Sport Complex (PSC) as a new institutional and practical system for the students’ training for the voluntary GTO tests, we completed an educational experiment. Subject to the experiment were the university students majoring in the Customs Service discipline, with the sampling being driven by the fact that the physical fitness of university entrants is subject to special university entrance tests to rate the professionally important general cultural competences of future graduates.

Study results and discussion. Practical tests of the PSC system in the academic education process showed the students’ progress as verified by the key progress criteria (see Table 1).

Table 1. Physical fitness test data of the university students majoring in the Customs Service discipline, n= 64

The above test data were interpreted as indicative of a sustainable growth of the average test rates across the sample that demonstrates the proposed new institutional and practical system for the students’ integrated physical fitness rating being highly efficient.

Conclusion. Practical implementation experience of the PSC in every academic discipline of the bachelors’ training system showed the university students being fairly enthusiastic about the initiative (as verified by the signing-up lists for the tests) and, as a result, more than 3000 students of the second, third and fourth academic years were successful in the GTO tests. In addition, the PSC efficiency was indirectly proved by the 3^rd place won by the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics team in the students’ competitions of May 30, 2015. The popularity and benefits of the PSC were recognized by a decision of the University Academic Council to include the PSC into students’ academic progress rating system as an integral part of the creative/ athletic rating component.

References

1. Averyasova J.O. Professionalno-lichnostnoe razvitie spetsialistov po fizicheskoy kulture i sportu v period modernizatsii vyisshego obrazovaniya (Professional personal development of physical education and sports specialists within higher education modernization) / J.O. Averyasova, G.B. Kondrakov, S.Yu. Vit'ko // Fizicheskaya kul'tura: vospitanie, obrazovanie, trenirovka. – 2016. –  № 3. – P. 73–75.
2. Averyasova J.O. Normativno-pravovye osnovy samostoyatelnoy rabotyi studentov po distsipline «Fizicheskaya kultura» (Regulatory framework of students' self-learning of "Physical Education" discipline) / J.O. Averyasova, S.V. Krasheninnikov. // Sb. nauch. st. Mezhdunar. nauch.-prakt. konf. Brest, 24-26 oktyabrya 2013 g. «Sovremennyie problemyi formirovaniya i ukrepleniya zdorovya» (Col. scientific papers of Intern. res.-practical conf. "Modern issues of formation and promotion of health") Brest, October 24-26 2013. - Brest: Al'ternativa, 2013. – P. 173-175.
3. Aktualnyie problemyi i podhodyi k vnedreniyu Vserossiyskogo fizkulturno-sportivnogo kompleksa «Gotov k trudu i oborone»: mater. Vseros. nauch.-prakt. konf. (Actual problems and approaches to implementation of Russian physical culture and sport complex "Ready for Labor and Defence": Proc. res.-pract. conf.) / Ural state ped. un-ty. – Yekaterinburg, 2014. – 138 p.
4. Andryushchenko L.B. Innovatsionnyie metodyi otsenki znaniy po distsipline «Fizicheskaya kultura»: ucheb. posobie (Innovative methods of assessment of knowledge in Physical Education: study guide) / L.B. Andryushchenko, I.V. Loseva et al. – Moscow: Timiryazev RSAU-MSAA (RGAU-MSKhA im. K.A. Timiryazeva), 2009. – 98 p.
5. Andryushchenko L.B. Monitoring fizicheskogo zdorovya studentov (Monitoring of students' physical health) / L.B. Andryushchenko, P.Yu. Allyanova / L.B. Andryushchenko // Sb. nauch. st. Mezhdunar. nauch.-prakt. konf. «Sovremennyie problemyi formirovaniya i ukrepleniya zdorovya» (Col. scientific papers of Intern. res.-practical conf. "Modern issues of formation and promotion of health") Brest, 24-26 October 2013. – Brest: Al'ternativa, 2013. – P. 65–69.
6. Tsutsaeva M.V. Innovatsionnyie aspektyi protsessa obucheniya i kontrolya fizicheskogo vospitaniya v uchrezhdeniyah sistemyi vyisshego obrazovaniya: monografiya (Innovative aspects of training and monitoring of physical education in higher education institutions: monograph) / M.V. Tsutsaeva, T.G. Vyalkina. – Volgograd: Pub. h-se, 2016. – 163 p.
7. Shutova T.N. Fitnes tehnologii v fizicheskom vospitanii studentov (Fitness technologies in university physical education) / T.N. Shutova, T.E. Simina, M.Yu. Tochigin, A.G. Burov «Nauchnoe i obrazovatelnoe prostranstvo: perspektivyi razvitiya»: mater. Mezhdunar. nauch.-prakt. konf. (Proc. Intern. res.-practical conf. "Scientific and educational space: development prospects") / Ed. board O.N. Shirokov [ et al.]. – Cheboksary: Interaktiv plyus, 2015. – P. 143–146.

Corresponding author: stolyar@tushino.com 

Abstract
The article presents a draft integrated rating system designed to assess the students’ physical fitness for the GTO Complex tests. We have developed and implemented in practice the Plekhanov’s Sport Complex (PSC) designed to train, in a reasonably phased manner, people of different age, health and basic physical fitness groups for the GTO tests. Practical implementation experience of the PSC in every discipline of the bachelors’ training system showed the university students being fairly enthusiastic about the initiative (as verified by the signing-up lists for the tests) and, as a result, more than 3000 students of the second, third and fourth academic years were successful in the GTO tests. In addition, the PSC efficiency was indirectly proved by the 3rd place won by the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics team in the students’ competitions of May 30, 2015. The popularity and benefits of the PSC was recognized by a decision of the University Academic Council to include the PSC into students’ academic progress rating system as an integral part of the creative/ athletic rating component.