Professor, Ph.D. N.Yu. Mel'nikova
Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sport, Youth and Tourism (GTsOLIFK), Moscow

Keywords: history of physical culture, sport, Olympic education, vocational and educational discipline, historiography, source study, scientific outlook.

Introduction. The history of physical culture and sport is of essence for the formation of the advanced model of physical culture and sport based on realization of their value potential in the interests of development of man and society. The study of the peculiarities of development of physical culture and sport in different periods helps explain the patterns of historical continuity, promotes a sophisticated understanding of the processes occurring in this sphere. This is particularly relevant in the XXI century, the age of intelligent information civilization, when such personal qualities as the level of axiological development, capacity for honest self-regulation of behavior become much-in-demand.

The purpose of the study was to carry out a theoretical analysis of the historiographic grounds of the history of physical culture as a science and an educational discipline.

Results ad discussions. The beginnings of the historical studies in physical culture and sport date back centuries. The most vivid description of sports competitions and traditions in the field of physical education has come down to us from ancient Greece. It is where the Olympic Games - the most significant cultural and sports festival for early Greeks - had been held for more than a thousand and a half years, without interruption, every four years. Thanks to the extant literary sources and archaeological finds, as well as research conducted within the territory of Greece and other countries, we have gained the most valuable historical knowledge, taken later as a basis for a separate branch of historical studies, which is now the history of physical culture and sport.

The stage of the history of physical culture and sport as a science started setting with understanding and description of particular historical events, origin and development of the Olympic Games, exercises and elements of sports events for people of different countries and continents. 

The classroom discipline "History of physical culture and sport (history of PhC&S)" comprises three main concepts: "history", "physical culture" and "sport".

The term "history" comes from ancient Greek and means the narrative of the antecedents of human society. Ancient Romans said: "Historia est magistra vita" - "History is the teacher of life". In Greek mythology, Clio, daughter of almighty Zeus and goddess of memory Mnemosyne, was referred to as the muse and patroness of history, and Greek historian and author Herodotus (V century B.C.E.) - as the father of history.

The term "physical culture" (sometimes they used the term "bodily culture") originated in England and the USA in the 90s of the XIX century. In Russia, the term "physical culture" took off in 1908-1910. At that time, physical culture was interpreted as human and social activity focused on physical education, physical training and health promotion.

The term "sport" comes from the Old Latin "disportare" - to entertain oneself. In Old French it transformed into "desport" - leisure, from which the term "le sport" was formed, which merged into German as "Sport" and English "sport". Gradually, the term gained ground throughout the world. In the Nordic countries, it matches the word "idrott", and in the Spanish-speaking ones it runs like "deporte".

In Russia, the term "sport" was first used in 1851. In the newspaper "Severnaya pchela" (Engl. "Northern Bee"), published by F.V. Bulgarin, the notion "sport" was interpreted as "all gymnastic exercises and amusements. It also includes hunting with hounds, target shooting, horse riding, hunting, fishing, sailing".

Sport, as part of physical culture, completes and extends it, since a competitive factor and striving for victory in wrestling were typical for man as early as in the very infancy of civilization.

The history of physical culture and sport is an integral part of the general civil history. It has been tracing the development of physical culture and sport from the earliest times. At the same time, it makes up the principal division of the sports science in general. the common patterns of emergence, formation and development of physical culture and sport at different stages of human society existence are the subject of the study.

The history of PhC&S is a science, which, studying and surveying bygone ages, helps thoroughly comprehend present and, to a certain extent, show the trends of future development. It is a specific department of historical and pedagogical knowledge. The history of PhC&S is the basis of liberal education in sports science.

In the history of physical culture and sport, they use specific subject research methods and investigation techniques. They include: historico-theoretical analysis, synthesis and systematization of historical literature; drawing a historical analogy, correlation and comparison; system, structural and statistical analyses; written questionnaire, interviewing and discussions; generalization of the practice and studying the experience of different nations and cultures.

The history of physical culture, having reached a certain level of development as a science and as an educational discipline, also took on applied significance - as a vocational and educational discipline, became an integral part of the educational process in higher and secondary specialized educational institutions in most countries, including Russia. It contributes to formation of professional knowledge, opening of the student's mind, cultivating in them the respect and love for future profession.

Historiography and source study serve as an integral part of the history of PhC&S, and the degree and level of knowledge in those determine the accomplishments of the history as an academic and science discipline. During its formation, the history of physical culture and sport took in the events and facts from the civil and military history, ethnography and archeology, history of pedagogy and medicine, history of culture. The subject of the history is closely correlated with the scientific disciplines on physical culture and sport from the sociological, theoretical-pedagogical, biomedical and sports-educational perspectives.

The history of PhC&S was made a feature within the system of theoretical-pedagogical disciplines studied at universities, academies and institutes of physical culture. It belongs to the core curriculum, helps future specialists learn a trade and promotes their pedagogical acculturation, trains for practical activity.

The history of physical culture and sport as a specific department of scientific knowledge started to form in Russia in the latter half of the XIX century. This was preconditioned by the increased interest of scientists, teachers and doctors in the issues of physical education, the necessity to teach on the courses and at schools of training of teachers of gymnastics for public educational institutions and special military cadres for army, military academies, gymnasiums and cadet corps. Thereafter, the process of formation of the history of PhC&S was based on the historical and pedagogical studies, best practices of teaching of this discipline in domestic and foreign educational institutions. Gradually, the theory developed by several generations of domestic historians was formed. They studied the problems of the General History of Physical Culture and Sport (N.I. Ponomarev, S.D. Sinitsyn, F.I. Samoukov, N.I. Toropov, G.D. Kharabuga, Yu.P. Simakov et al.), the history of physical culture and sport in Russia, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation (A.V. Grachev, E.Yu. Zelikson, D.A. Kradman, I.G. Chudinov, T.M. Kanevets, G.S. Demeter, Yu.S. Sholomitskiy, K.A. Kulinkovich, G.A. Butaev, A.E. Tsibadze, O.A. Milstein, L.A. Finogenova et al.), the history of international sports and Olympic movement (P.A. Sobolev, N.N. Bugrov, N.I. Lyubomirov, V.P. Koz’mina, A.B. Sunik, M.K. Saralaev, S.A. Romanov, R.M. Kiselev, B.N. Khavin, V.S. Rodichenko, V.V. Stolbov, N.Yu. Mel’nikova, A.V. Treskin, V.L. Steinbach, Yu.A. Fomin, Yu.A. Talalaev, S.I. Gus’kov, Yu.I. Filatov et al.).

The history of physical culture and sport rests upon various sources, among which the highest value is placed on the works by the prominent statesmen and public men, scientists, authors and poets. There is valuable information in the chronicles, archives, books, journals and other written sources. The archeological and ethnographical data testifying to the development of national physical exercises and games, fine art memorials, video- and photo material, reflecting the problems of physical culture and sport, are of special importance.

Special place in the source study of the history of the Olympic movement, the Olympic Games is held by the artistic legacy of their founder - French Baron Pierre de Coubertin, in particular his book "Olympic memoirs", first published in 1931 in Lausanne (Switzerland).

The special works on theoretical and methodological (N.G. Ozolin, A.D. Novikov, L.P. Matveev, A.A. Ter-Hovhannisyan, V.P. Filin, V.M. Zatsiorsky et al.), psychological and pedagogical (P.A. Rudik, S.T. Shakhverdov, A.Ts. Puni, I.N. Resheten’, V.V. Belorusova et al.), biomedical (N.A. Bernstein, A.N. Krestovnikov, M.F. Ivanitsky, I.M. Sarkizov-Serazini, N.V. Zimkin, S.P. Letunov, N.N. Yakovlev, D.D. Donskoy et al.), sociological and organizational management (V.I. Stolyarov, G.I. Kukushkin et al.) aspects of physical culture and sport, published in different years, are an important base of sources.

The works illustrating the historical aspects of physical culture are of particular interest. First of all, among these is the work by P.F. Lesgaft "Guidance on physical education of schoolchildren" (1888 – volume I, 1901 – volume II), in which the scientist is the first to give a systematized presentation of the history of physical education.

P.F. Lesgaft was able not only to do a historical survey devoid of politicization and ideologization, but also to make an objective critical overview of the ancient and contemporary systems and methods of physical education. He was the first to determine the periodization of the history of physical education.

The data series on the history of physical culture and sport are represented in the works by A.D. Butovskiy, E.A. Pokrovskiy and in such works as "Outline of gymnastic games of the ancient Greeks" by P. Tikhanovich (1886), "Brief course on the history of physical exercises" by G.A. Duperron (1924), "Physical culture and spectacles in the ancient Greek colonies of the Northern Black Sea Region" by S.A. Semenov-Zuser (1940), "Essay on the history of physical culture" by A.A. Chalov-Shimon (1926), "Essays on the history of physical culture" (ed. 1 – 1938, ed. 2 – 1940, ed. 3 – 1948, ed. 4 – 1949, ed. 5 – 1950, ed. 6 – 1964 and ed. 7 – 1967), and in the monograph "Physical culture and sport in the USSR" edited by F.I. Samoukov, V.V. Stolbov and N.I. Toropov (1967).

The source of the information is the retrospective reference in the sphere of physical culture (originated by K.A. Kulinkovich), comprising headings of articles, theses, textbooks, study guides, books of abstracts (1984).

In his doctoral thesis "Formation and development of the history of physical culture as a science in the USSR in 1917 - mid 80s" (Lvov, 1986) A.B. Sunik considers the works of domestic authors related to the history of physical culture, attempts to illustrate the formation of the Soviet history of physical culture as a science, outline its periodization. Going forward, A.B. Sunik published a number of works dedicated to the historiography of the history of physical culture in the modern period, where he broke away from the traditional class-specific Marxist-Leninist approach to covering specific historical events and did cover them from a present-day perspective.

Problems of the history of physical culture and sport, the Olympic movement are covered in the works of scientists, published in foreign countries: Petrova, Tsonkov, Kutosha, Vonneberger, Eichel, Simon, Skorning, Laskevich, Kohl, Parutka, Slivova, Kesl, Dallen, Mitchell, Bennett, Morton, Saurbir and Yuberhorz, Ivanovich, Eychel, Meze, Kuhn, Mlodzikovskiy, Porad, Dim, Muller, VanDallen, Meyer, Messerli, Boulogne, Dury, Lennarz, Schapelle, Kubler-Mabbott and others.

The works of foreign historians are crucial for the analysis and generalization of the factual material that widens our concept of the development of physical culture and sport around the world.

The scientific-theoretical, methodological basis of the history of PhC&S is formed by the system analysis of the historical phenomena, facts and events in the sphere of physical culture and sport at different stages of development of human society. The history substantiates the role and place of physical culture and sport, reveals the laws of their development.

The history analyzes physical culture and sport in motion, transformation, transition of their quantitative changes into qualitative ones, as a result of battle of the new and old ideas. The status and development of physical culture and sport are dependent on the material conditions of life of society, national peculiarities and geographical conditions.

Implementation of the scientific methodology in history is of particular theoretical and practical importance. When looking into the matter of physical culture and sport of the past generation, the history sets the stages and laws of their development, their place and role in the socio-economical and cultural life of society. Using the analysis of the accumulated human experience the modern practice of physical culture and sport can be objectively estimated and, preferably, the trends for their development in future can be set when possible.

Conclusion. The study of the history of physical culture and sport contributes to recognition of the priority of a socially active, spiritually rich, patriotically incited and physically developed personality with due regard to the experience of the national physical culture and historical traditions of education, as well as to solution of the issues of modernization of physical education in accordance with the necessities of the times.

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Corresponding author: history@sportedu.ru